Stamp Carving at New Artists

A couple weeks ago in my 4th and 5th grade classroom at New Artists, I decided to switch things up a little bit from all the drawing we had been working on and get the creative juices flowing with a brand new project: stamp making. I remembered doing this when I was younger and I loved it, so I wanted to give the same opportunity to my little artists. Basically, it entails carving your own design in a rubber block, and then stamping your finished product on whatever your heart desires (although I would avoid the walls, I'm not sure Mom would appreciate cleaning that up!).

Here's how to do this project:

1) Start with a blank rubber block of any size, such as a Speedball Speedy-Cut Carving Block.

2) Sketch out a design with a pencil on your rubber block. Remember, designs will come out as a mirror image of how you carve them, so be sure to make letters or numbers backwards.

3) Once your design is made, you use special tools, (I used Speedball Linoleum Cutters) to carefully carve out the design you made on the stamp.

• Tip: I did this project with 4th and 5th graders but I made sure they were supervised with the tools at all times, they can be pretty sharp! 

4) Once your design is carved, it's time to get messy! You take a desired color of ink and use special rollers to apply the ink to your stamp. You must make sure the rollers are fully immersed in the ink in order to get a nice even print. Once the rollers are covered with ink, roll over the stamp 2-3 times so there are no colorless spots on your rubber, except for the design of course. 

5) Finally, it's time to stamp. Take your stamp and press it down on a piece of paper, making sure to press evenly (don't forget the corners!), and try not to move it around or it might smear. Once you feel like it's ready, slowly peal the stamp off of your paper and ta-da! You have a beautiful print made from your very own design. Pretty cool right? Hope you enjoy! 

-Annie