a guide to: make stamps!

First of all: Happy Easter to those who celebrate!
And second... Welcome to a new series on this blog: A Guide To!

Quarantine really brings the creativity craft monster in me to the surface. I feel like this lady over here. I've been drawing more, experimenting with watercolors and now I even made my own stamps, something I've wanted to do for ages. 

I will give you some tips and tricks to make your own stamp, if you read the above and thought: well, I want to make my own stamps too now. It's a proper do it yourself! And a fun and simple way to decorate pages, cards and maybe even cloth (if you're really getting into it)!

⭐︎ These are the supplies you need ⭐︎

- an eraser (or you can use a potato!)

- a gouge or knife

- ink

- paper

I first drew the design I liked on the eraser. I went for a little rainbow. It's a really simple shape, but the carving out a figure does take some practice. I suggest making a simpler design first, one that doesn't take too much carving. These are also the ones that look better as a pattern in my opinion!

Then, carefully, carve the eraser. You have to carve what you don't want to see on the paper. For example: I carved around the three bows so these would show in the final stamp on paper, and I wanted the rest of the square not to be visible. You could also swap it and carve out the three bows, so you see the outlines of the rainbow but not the inside on the stamp.

⭐︎ always cut in a direction away from your hands and body!

If you did all that, you have your own stamp and are ready to dip it in ink and stamp it on everything. If you're still not happy with the end result or some things are showing on the paper you don't want to see, simply carve out those bits (or carve them out deeper) and try the stamp again. (All my ink was dried out, so that's why the rainbow is a bit grainy...)

Hope you enjoyed this little diy!

Love,

Eva

♡