Inking stamps

       Rubber stamping, is also known as stamping. This is a craft that uses some kind of ink made out of dye or pigment that is applied on an image or a predefined pattern that was carved, molded, engraved or vulcanized, into a rubber sheet. The rubber is usually mounted on a more stable object like wood block, bricks or a plastic acrylic block. Temporary stamps that have simple designs can be also carved from a piece of potato. The coated rubberstamp with ink is then pressed onto any type of medium so that the colored image is transferred to the selected medium. The medium used is typically some type of fabric or paper. Other medium used in stamping are wood, metal, glass and plastic. Large volume batik employs liquid wax instead of using ink on a metal stamping pad. Commercially sold rubber stamps will fall into three categories: stamps that are used in the office, stamps that are used for decorating objects and those that are used as children's toys.

Pre inked stamps

       Pre-inked stamps are a bit different, the ink that is used to create the markings or impression is stored in the die (the die or die cast is that rubber part holding the desired design) and there will be no separate ink pad. Pre-inked rubber stamp inks will usually last longer compared to the self inking ink type but it is more costly. We can say that the quality of the pre-inked stamp impression is much better compared to the self inking custom stamp impression and it can also print text down to the size of 5pt text.

Rubber Stamp Inks

       There are many ways to build rubber stamp ink, and each method has its benefits. Whether your interest is in crafting or making ink for your own business, there is no requirement to buy new stamping pads when you are out of ink. You can create a variety of custom colors by mixing your own collection of homemade ink.

Simple Inks

       A simple way to replace the ink on your rubber stamping pad is to just utilize laundry bluing. If you are not very picky about the kind of color, this is a very simple, but effective substance that you can put directly into your rubber stamp ink pad and you can use immediately. Mrs. Stewart's Bluing is a very common brand that is widely available and can be found easily in the laundry section of most stores.

Rubbing Alcohol Ink

       This is more difficult, but it can still give you a relatively simple method to refill the ink of your stamp pad. In this method, you can use a fabric dye. With fabric dyes, there is a lot of control over the range of colors that you can use and there is also a wide selection on the intensity of the colors. Fabric dyes are commonly available in powder in various colors. You can prepare the colors and mix them before inking your stamping pad to create a unique color. The supplies for a simple basic, non-waterproof ink will include one package of fabric plus approximately 0.5 cup of rubbing alcohol. This can give you a very good quality homemade rubber stamp ink. To apply it to the stamping pad, you can either pour it very carefully and slowly over the stamping pad or you may use an eye dropper. If you apply too much ink, blot it with paper towels. You can make this recipe waterproof, just add glycerin. In this case, you will mix fabric dye with a just a small amount of rubbing alcohol to make a paste. Add about 5 tbsp of glycerin to your mixture until you have achieved the desired consistency. Pour this ink mixture over your stamping pad and your are done.

Stamp ink pads on Self Inking Stamps

       Self-inking stamps are usually characterized by using separate die and re-inking pad, it is incorporated into a very convenient spring-loaded mount. When you press down on the top of the mount, it makes the stamp impression. The stamp die usually rotates away from the pad and is held down to the area to be stamped. Self-ink stamps are priced in the middle, and they are a bit costly compared to conventional stamps, but they cost less compared to pre-inked stamps.

The amount of lines and the size of the mount determine the pricing of self-ink stamps. Usually, there are 6 self-ink mount sizes. Care should be taken not to bang or apply excessive pressure on the self-inking stamps. The stamps must not be pressed down firmly over the area that needs to be stamped and the pressure should be applied as evenly as possible. The advent of self-ink stamps gave way for consistent impressions and also allows for easy alignment to information on brochures and envelopes. A single ink refill can make thousands of impressions.

Custom pre inked stamp

       Today, there are lots of companies offering special, eraser-like rubber stamps which come in larger pieces and sizes; they are called custom rubber stamps. This is a kind of art that is gaining fast popularity. It is kind of art that is virtually unknown in Europe . Custom rubber stamps are typically used by non-professional artists because of the convenience it provides while using it. It can also mimic woodcuts, but they are rarely used in this way. The print that comes from custom rubber stamp is seen as work of art on its own.

There are other materials aside from rubber that may be used to produce a custom stamp. In fact, wood blocks may also used for the same art – it is just a matter of using another type of carving material. Wood is quite harder and so requires special tools work with it. In Europe , wood is commonly used, instead of using custom rubber carvings that are quite popular in the US . While wood is used widely in schools or hobby artists, plastic is usually restricted to professional artists due to the fact that it's hard to do and takes quite a long time to make.

There are several possible ways to change the look of customer rubber stamp. Commercial paints, pigments and dye inks all make different effects; they extend the use of rubber stamping from paper to wood, metal, glass, and other materials. Special ink pads can also be purchased which allows for embossing and there are also pens that can be used for ink stamp pads with lots of colors for a multi-color look. All of this creates possibilities for a mixed media art of several types. The use of rubber stamps can be used in combination with other materials to print customized trademarks for companies and corporate setting. Additionally, the use of custom stamping technique has become very popular with scrap booking. The types and variety of stamps that is available allow for different looks for any given page.