Create stamps similar to clear rubber stamps with silicone caulking. This idea has been developing in my brain for some time now. I finally tried it out and found that it works! This process is not perfect. Carving out the design perfectly level is impossible, and so is applying the silicone evenly, but I thought I’d put it out there it in hopes that other crafters could offer some ways to hone the technique.
Materials
- Paraffin or Beeswax block
- Pencil, awls, misc carving tools
- Sized copies of designs such as drawings or clip art
- Silicone caulking from the hardware store (to seal windows)
- A plastic palette knife or a scrap piece of card stock use as a spreader
- Acrylic block (or you can use the lid to stamping ink)
- Scissors
- Brush to sweep away wax shavings
- Tracing light box or window
- Lots of patience to wait for drying times ***
1. Transfer your design to the wax
- Trim your design
- Trace your design on the back of the same sheet of paper. Place your trimmed design on a window or tracing box and trace the design on the back of the paper with a pencil. Make sure to mark nice and dark.
- Transfer image to the wax. Place your image on the wax with the traced side down and trace it again on the front using medium pressure this causes the pencil markings on the other side to transfer to the wax.
2. Carve design into wax
- Using a pencil , awl or other sharp tool, carve the design into the wax. Make sure to remove as many of the shavings as you can while you carve.
- Use a brush to remove more wax shavings.
3. Fill carved areas with silicone
-Squeeze silicone onto the design and use a plastic palette knife or similar to spread over the design and push it into the carved areas. Try to spread the silicone on as evenly as possible. **Note: I have tried putting onto plastic to flatten and even the silicone but it takes way too long to dry that way.
4. Allow silicone to dry for 24-48 hours (depending on the thickness of the silicone) and then remove. Place face up and allow to dry for at least one more hour before stamping.
5. Stamp away. Trim around the stamp and then stick it to a clean acrylic block, ink and stamp away!
**Note: The first stamp will not be as clear as stamps made again from the same wax mold. That is because the first bit of silicone helps to remove more the wax shavings left behind when carving. Successive stamps should be a little clearer.
Mounting your Silicone Stamp
You will find that the silicone will not cling to acrylic that well. You may want to permanently mount your stamp to a scrap piece of wood to avoid the annoyance.
1) Trace your trimmed stamp onto a piece of craft foam and cut it out.
2) Glue them both to a scrap wood block using craft glue or more of the silicone caulking.
Another fantastic tutorial! Keep up the great work — I love to see what your crafty brain keeps coming up with.
(I think this might be my first comment… I am a long-time lurker, finally de-lurking.)
Thanks for commenting Kelly. I truly appreciate the feedback!
Awesome!!! I’m so happy with this tutorial. I began to carve stamps with linoleum and erasers (can’t have access to carving blocks) and always asked my self how to make acrylic stamps.
Well, now I can!!!!! Thank you so much!!!!!
This is such a great idea! I love all these different ways that you come up with on making stamps.
Thank you for the tutorial, we’ll try and let you know.
Wow – what a great idea! Thanks so much for sharing
Oh! Stunning!!
I LOVE THIS!!! I can’t wait to try it out myself. silicone caulking has so many uses…for Christmas presents this year I made cake plates and used clear caulking as my glue. I enjoy all of your tutorials!
Now, why didn’t I think of this before? Awesome and I cannot wait to try it out!
Good grief, you’re a genius!! Thanks for the ideas!
Thanks this is great. I wanted to do something like this but couldn’t work out what to use for a mould.
Your image transfer methods are absolutely brilliant! I’ve been working at this stuff myself but you have already cracked this code for us. Thank you so much!
To create a more level stamp you could use a dremel tool with the routing guide and one of the sharp routing bits.
If you plan on making a number of these, then the following steps will be useful.
1. Decide on a uniform size of beeswax/parafin that you will be using (either purchased size of block or cast by yourself)
2. Cut exact shape out of a material of the same thickness (one example would be cabinet grade wood)
3. Place beeswax/parafin in hole.
Now you should be able to use the Dremel tool routing guide with sharp/pointed routing bit to trace your markings on the beeswax/parafin while the routing guide maintains perfect depth. (depth is adjustable and you will have to set the tool down on the design after turning it on). The board around the beeswax/parafin will keep the routing guide from falling over (like it would if you reached the edge of parafin with out a board around it).
I haven’t tried this myself, but stumbled across your posting in search of something else. Hopefully this will help or spark some ideas in how to make your stamps more level.
This is a fantastic tutorial, great work. I have a suggestion for getting the back side of the stamp level. Make a frame out of cardboard from old boxes, put around the carved design and tack it onto the wax block with a couple straight pins so that it can be easily removed afterwards. Fill with silicone and use a palette knife or a ruler to level the silicone inside the frame. You may end up using a little more silicone but you would get a perfectly level stamp. Hope this helps.
Great tutorial–thanks! I’m wondering if carving the design into a plaster block might work? That would help with drying time because of the porosity of the plaster, then you might be able to use a glass plate or similar to flatten the back. I think I have some plaster somewhere . . . I’ll have to try this out.
Again, Thanks!
Cindy
Hi Amy
I just wanted to let you know that I wrote about your silicone caulk stamps in a post on my blog (with a link). I just love this idea! I hope you don’t mind.
Dawn
I just stumble upon this, but here is an idea… I make raised stamps out of a cheap clay. Then I can file them down flat. Once they are dry and you have filed them flat, seal them, make your plaster mold up, cover the clay mold in a thin layer of petrolium jelly, and push that into the plaster. It takes more steps, but solves the make the stamp flat issue.
My thoughts on making the back of the stamp level- With the image side up, gently rub the stamp against a piece of sandpaper on a flat surface- you could use a block of wood on top of the stamp or just keep the silicone in the mould to make sure equal pressure is being applied to the whole stamp. Seems like that would do the trick…
Hi
I love your site!
Just another thought on leveling your stamps without too much work: Take a thin level slice of beeswax, put it on a piece of glass, make sure you see glass wherever the design is supposed to be & fill with caulking.
would a warm awl help ? I’m thinking that the lines would be smooth and even without wax shaving bits.
What a cool idea! I’m a stamp carver, and this is a really unique way to make a stamp with a handmade look, but in silicone!
Absolutely AWESOME! I’m definitely going to try this. I don’t stamp often, but could really use some custom stamps. Making them on my own will give me the flexibility I need, and the ability to make them for my friends, too. How cool! This post (found through “StumbleUpon”) has really brightened my day. LOVE a little creativity in each and every day.