How to Make Rubber Stamp Art

Materials and Tools:

liquid polymer
substrate
damming foam
negative film
negative developing medium
glycerin
vellum paper
cutting knife
black felt-tip pen
plastic cover
soap
scissors
acrylic mounts
paper
picture frame
ink pads in various colors
chalk
ultraviolet-light machine
2 pieces of glass
paint roller
drinking straw

Steps:

1. Draw an image on vellum paper with a fine black marker.

2. To create the negative in the ultraviolet machine, cut a piece of negative the right size for the image, put the vellum on top of the negative and put it in the machine. Set the machine timer for three minutes.

3. To develop the negative, spray medium onto the negative and allow two minutes before wiping the medium off. The negative should be crisp and clear.

4. Position the negative on a piece of glass, spread a line of glycerin on the glass around the negative and cover the negative with a piece of plastic. Smooth all air bubbles out with a fluffy paint roller. Trim away any excess plastic with scissors.

5. Adhere four strips of damming foam around the negative. Pour clear liquid polymer over the negative. The damming foam will contain the polymer. Use a drinking straw to blow away any bubbles in the polymer.

6. Cover the negative with another piece of plastic. Place the top piece of the glass sandwich over everything.

7. Place the glass sandwich in the UV machine and cook the back of the stamp with UV light for two minutes. Open the machine and flip the sandwich to cook the front of the stamp for eight minutes.

8. Take it out, peel the plastic off and wash out the uncured polymer.

9. Cook it again in the machine for 10 minutes.

10. Cut around the image and mount the rubber on an acrylic base.

11. Prepare paper for printing by cutting it to size, inking the image with a stamp pad and stamping the main image in the center of the paper.

12. Apply a stamp pad directly to the paper around the stamped image to add background color.

13. Ink a rubber stamp to be used for an accent image and stamp it randomly in the background.

14. Ink a border stamp and stamp the border.

15. Write the desired words around the image with a black marker.

16. Place the finished image in a picture frame.