We get inquiries constantly regarding making custom rubber stamps. Here's what is required and some pertinant information for those of you who are serious about making your own custom stamps.
First thing you need to know is, it's not cheap. If you only need one custom stamp made go to Staples or Office max and have one custom stamp made pay the price they are asking and consider yourself lucky it was that cheap.
If you are interested in making several stamps or the same image over and over that's a different story. That's what we are going to talk about today...
We must start with an image. It should be black and white 300 dpi (minmum) the higher resolution the better the image will be when the stamp is done. We work with bitmap images. You can save your image in this format with various graphic programs. Check your computer to see the "same as" button and look for bitmap.
Not every image is stamp worthy. The most detail the harder time you will have getting a good stamp. The photos below show what I am referring to:
The first image is very detailed and may not be suitable for clay impressions due to the detail. The second image is much more open. This kind of image is suitable for almost all applications of rubber stamping.
Your image is now ready to be converted to a metal plate. This is expensive and should only be made if you are serious about making several images. You can use the polymer method which is a plastic that hardens. We make real rubber which is cured in a vulcanizing press.
The image must be made into a film negative first. Then that image is exposed to a metal plate. The image is transfered and then etched with an acid until the areas around the image if eaten away leaving your impression etched in the metal. The deeper the etch the better the image will be for inking and clay impressions.
Once we get the metal washed and ready the next step is to make amold of the metal plate called a matrix. This is baked in a vulcanizing press for 10 minutes at 300 degrees and melts the image into the harden board.
Once the matrix has cooled we can begin to make rubber sheets of the image by melting the rubber into the matrix boards again baking in the vulcanized press for 10minutes at 300 degrees.
The rubber is then cooled and hardens. The excess rubber is trimmed away and your rubber image is now ready to be use on fabric, paper, clay or whatever medium you desire.
If you have additonal questions or are intereted in custom rubber stamps please contact us via email: jjjn04@msn.com
...and please visit our WEBSTORE. We'd love to have you over.
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