The Marine trend, which we wrote about last week, is really setting sail among the D.I.Y. enthusiasts. The rustic feel of the trend is easily achieved making it by hand. One way to do it, is to make your very own stamp, on which you can carve an anchor, boat, or anything you wish. See how much fun it is!
A D.I.Y. stamp is one of the most fun ways to make your own prints and patterns, which you can use from anything from birthday cards to party favors, to gift tags and your own personal stationery. It is very easy to do, and also appropriate for children, fun for the whole family. We opted to use everyday household items, potatoes – as they make great stamps. Moreover they are very fitting to the marine trend with their rustic feel! You can use the same technique on rubber and soft linoleum.
To keep the designs with-in the marine theme, focus on the simple color chart of red, blue and white. Use wood, and rustic ropes and ribbons to go with the colors. You will need large potatoes, a knife for carving, a stamping pad and paper. Cut the potatoes in half, draw out the shape or form you wish to have and carve. You can use a template, I opted for free hand. Basically all you need to remember is to carve around the shape, so it will be the only one elevated from the background. This way, when you press it on the stamping pad, it will be the only area touching color. Also make sure to carve enough, as the potatoes tend to get squashed a little bit during stamping, so it might get messy.
Also keep in mind, the more you do it, the better you will get at carving the shape. If you wish to have something very precise, I would recommend using linoleum for the stamp. You might need a special carving knife for this, but it will be strong enough to keep in shape even with the smallest of details.
Step 1. Choose a large enough potatoe for your design, cut the potatoe in half, use a template or draw the image free hand. Carve the inside area of the potatoe, so the image is “elevated” from the background.
Step 2. Once the potato stamp is ready, try it out on an extra piece of paper. Press the stamp on the stamping pad, after a while you will see how strong and how long you will need to do this. If there is any area of the stamp getting color on it, that should not, carve it off. Also, you might need to do this after a while, as I said, the potatoes tend to squash a little bit.
Once the stamp is working as you wish, take the paper you want to use. Fitting to the marine topic, I used Color Style in red, saphire and pristine white. While printing, you shouldn’t be too careful with the lines or exact measurements, just keep it looking hand made.
Step 3. Try out as many patterns and shapes as you want. Get creative! The color from the normal stamping pads drys out very fast, with-in a minute, so you don’t need to worry about making a big mess!
