how to carve rubber stamp

1. preparing

essential

• [1] pencil of any kind, preferably the darkest you can get your hand on.
• [2] cutting knife, doesnt have to be precision knife, any paper knife will work. avoid kitchen knife.
• [5] something with round head. this thing will help you transfer the pattern from paper to rubber pad.
• [6] rubber pad. preferably thick one with a thin colored layer.
• [7] paper of any kind. but the semi-transparent baking paper works better.

non-essential

if you dont have those, dont worry, they help reduce some working time but you can do without just fine.

• [3] v-shaped wood carving chisel. good for removing rubber around a straight line
• [4] crescent shaped wood carving chisel. good for removing large area of rubber

2. draw things you want to carve

for this part, i’ll demonstrate with postal code boxes i currently need for the new year postcards

3. transfer the pattern to the rubber pad

turn the paper around and place it over the part of the rubber pad you want to carve

use a round head tool, it can be anything: leather burnishing tool, the handle of chisel, fountain pen butt, fortune telling ball, even your partner’s happy toys, as long as you can rub it on the paper without tearing.

keep the paper steady on the rubber pad, make sure it doesnt move around. rub the round head tool over the pencil lines to print the pattern on the pad.

• it’s fine to apply some force here.
• make sure you rub over all lines of the pattern.

when you’re done rubbing, the pattern should be mirrored on to the rubber pad

4. carving/cutting

the pencil lines will be the part you wanna keep, the rubber areas around them need to be removed. this will be the most tedious, time consuming part.

• avoid smudging the line while you carve
• work on easier parts first (straight lines, large curved lines,…)
• wood carving set is entirely not necessary but they are widely available so grab one if you can. even the cheapest set will be more than sharp enough to carve rubber. they will shave a good chunk off the carving time.
• if you ever become impatient, put it down then get back to it when you have time. remember, it only needs to be done, doesnt need to be done fast. there’s no deadline.

cut the piece off the big pad when you’re done carving

5. testing, clean up the carving

well done, you’re at the end of the process. now you can stamp it on a piece of paper to see how it goes. in the photo below, in the green circle are leftover rubber on the carving that i didnt carve off cleanly, if perfection is your thing then you can go back and carve them off. i like to keep it somewhat imperfect like that, not out of laziness but, i dont know, i really like the look of it.

6. finish

congratulations. you’ve come so far. i’m so proud of you. remember to put the tools away safely.