Enstamp

October 19, 2017 12:11 PM

So you want to make a stamp? This letterboxer will walk you through every step - from choosing your rubber to carving tips & tricks. If you want reclaimed materials, try corks or styrofoam. Or you can use paper strips infused with glue. The versatile potato may also be your friend.
posted by sibilatorix (7 comments total)

This is super neat!
posted by kitcat at 2:37 PM on October 19, 2017

Letterboxing is one of those hobbies that I've always kind of wanted to get into but never quite managed because of location, social anxiety, and an overwhelming amount of existing hobbies.
posted by elsietheeel at 4:15 PM on October 19, 2017 [1 favorite]

Very cool.
posted by delight at 8:20 PM on October 19, 2017

Laser cutters are great for stamps too. The burning rubber just smells absolutely awful though!
posted by mikhuang at 10:39 PM on October 19, 2017

In London there is this shop that will make custom stamps for you. Blade Rubber.

http://custom.bladerubberstamps.co.uk
posted by TheDukeOfChalfont at 12:54 AM on October 20, 2017 [1 favorite]

I use the pink stuff for my work almost exclusively. Since I print to plywood sheets, I needed a material that was flexible enough to conform to slightly warped wood. The fact that the pink stuff can be washed off and reused (no editioning!) is a huge bonus. Lately I've been playing around with mixing mediums - stamp ink for shading followed by printers ink for lines and detail. Each reacts to the wood differently.

Here's a quick Insta video of the reveal of one of my "standard" medieval Cthulhu pieces.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 4:03 AM on October 20, 2017 [2 favorites]

Well, I was researching this because I was thinking about carving stamps to print my business cards with. After further consideration, though, I just ordered a custom unmounted rubber stamp from rubberstamps.net - the unmounted ones are WAY cheaper than mounted ones.

I'd love to carve my own someday, but for now cutting a rubber sheet into a few pieces and mounting them to foam-and-wood backings seems a little more reasonable for what is ostensibly a business-card-making project. (-:
posted by sibilatorix at 9:55 PM on November 5, 2017