Get crazy with the Undefined stamp carving kit

 

Today I promised I'd show you a couple of stamps carved by my 12-year-old daughter, Sylvie. She started with a drawing on a piece of paper (bottom right). Then she carved the image from rubber provided in the Undefined stamp carving kit, which is on sale now. Finally, I stamped the image in Jet Black StazOn onto a wood block from the kit and adhered the rubber to the foam adhesive and onto the block for her very own stamp! I inked up the image with markers to see how it stamped on a postcard provided in the kit.

 

I was skeptical when the Undefined kit was announced at Convention 2013. But my daughter LOVES it. So, if anything, this would make a great gift for an older kid.

 

Here are the steps:

 

 

Draw your image on a piece of paper in pencil.

 

Turn the image upside down on the rubber and rub with your fingers. If it's too light, you may choose to trace over it with a bolder color, like my daughter did with an Island Indigo marker provided in the kit.

 

Using the smallest tool, guide it along the outside of your lines, turning the rubber to keep the rubber trench you're making as smooth as possible.

 

 

Peel off one side of the foam adhesive and stick it to the back of your rubber image. Trim off the excess. The rubber is THICK! (Note: See the lines on the big chunk of excess rubber? That's where Sylvie first tried out the tool before carving her stamp to get a feel for it.)

 

 

Before you adhere the rubber to the block, don't forget to ink it up and stamp it on the wood block. I used Jet Black StazOn ink.

 

 

My daughter created a simple anime card to share with a friend. Quite the personal touch, eh? I love it! And she was thrilled!

 

Tips: The Undefined stamp carving kit comes with four wood blocks, one chunk of rubber and one piece of foam adhesive, plus other stuff. I put the blocks on the rubber and drew around them and cut the foam apart to make sure I had enough for all four stamps. Then I did the same thing with the foam adhesive.

 

I stamped the bird image on card stock first to see how it looked after the initial carving. Then Sylvie smoothed out a couple of places using the carving tool. We re-stamped it and, once satisfied, stamped it on the wood block.

 

You don't need to carve super deep to get a good image! This simple bird image took three times longer to carve than the Garfield/Pookie image.

 

Let your imagination go wild! It really is fun, and very satisfying to see an image you've drawn come to life in a rubber stamp that may be used over and over again.

 

Here's the link for the Undefined stamp carving kit and item numbers. The whole kit is $19.95, and the refill kit is $9.95. You may place your order through my Online Store at http://therubberroom.stampinup.net. Thanks!