Rubber stamps were much more popular about 10 years ago. Now, there is still a little section in the craft store, but there are so many other ways to get images onto paper with stickers, Cricut cut outs, computer print outs and more. Still, there’s something appealing about a stamp. A little instant picture or words immediately put onto paper.
We don’t do date stamping anymore at the library. We do use stamps for other things, like kids reading logs, our library expedition passport, and my notary stamp. We have a huge metal embossing stamp with the library’s name on it, it might have been from the 40’s or earlier.
Reading over the stamp books I have gotten a few cool ideas for projects. It was a great idea for our tin art, instead of having kids try to copy an image, just stamp one right onto the tin. There’s the usual suspects, like cards, stationary, planners and incentive charts, but I should also try making wrapping paper or stamping cloth. I can enhance the stamps by doing added glitter or 3D effects. I can seal a letter with a wax stamp.
I can also create my own stamps. Not just using potatoes. I did a scavenger hunt (GISHWHES) a long time ago and made a stamp for a geocache as one of the projects. It was the scavenger hunt mascot- I don’t even remember what exactly it was. I used an eraser and carved it. If you want to make more elaborate designs, you can invest in a large block of the material and special carving tools. Another good tool for stamping and block printing is a breyer, a rolling ink applicator.
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