Making your own Stamps

I really enjoy creating my own stamps and stencils to use in my art,

I love that it is another layer made from my hand 

and that I have repeating elements used in many ways in my work.

 

I use various different materials to make my stamps,

the owl is carved from a commercial stamp carving block and 

the chevrons above were drawn and carved by my 11 yo son

using a giant eraser from the supermarket bought for $2. 50

These stamps were made using layers of craft foam,

these stamps can be made very simply by drawing directly onto the foam with a heavy hand, I do periodically redraw the designs on my growing collection of these stamps as they get filled with paint but they are also very easy to repair in this way and a pack of 100 sheets of craft foam enables you to make a huge amount of stamps. I love using these for printmaking.

Birds are a perennial theme with me and I have loads of bird stamps

they can really make a journal page pop,

using them just with some ink of paint

or using them as a base (I stamp with white gesso)

then painting your bird as elaborately as you desire.