Purpose and Usage of Rubber Stamps

Most people’s idea of rubber stamping is confined to the blue, black or red-inked stamps used in business or office documents. But the reality is rubber stamping can also use various art forms and goes way, way back to the late 1800s. The stamp itself is made of molded, carved or vulcanized sheet of rubber which is mounted into a harder material such as brick, acrylic block or wood. The rubber is coated with ink then pressed into paper or fabric. There are rubber stamps that are made to be stamped on other materials such as glass, metal, wood and even rock.

The History of Rubber Stamps

Before rubber stamping became common, people back then use metal stamps that are usually made of brass. It was Charles Goodyear who was said to be the discovered the use of rubber for stamping. By mixing sulphur and rubber and putting it on a hot stove, he discovered the flexibility of the material. The process came to be known as vulcanization, named after the Roman god of fire, Vulcan.

Twenty years after that, James C. Woodruff produced letter moulds by experimenting with vulcanizers. With the help of his uncle, who was a dentist, and by using a dental pot, Woodruff was able to create quality art stamps. Dental pots are round vulcanizers used by dentists to create affordable denture bases.

It was around the early 1900s that the first picture stamps were used. German artist Kurt Schwatting used them for his collages. At present, the state of California is regarded as the home of art stamps, with the wide number of shops selling specialty art stamps. The craft of rubber stamping has grown enormously through the years because of the increase of classes and workshops worldwide.

Office Stamps

Rubber stamps are indispensable to everyday office operations. The more common variety of the stamps are used for mark the date on mail and other documents. Official stamps serve as seals or signatures which are used to validate documents. These stamps are stored carefully and its uses are permitted only to authorized personnel. Scrupulous individuals can get hold of these stamps and use it for forgery and other criminal purposes.

Technological advancements have made it possible for stamps to be done automatically. Using a word processor, one can mark each document while it is being printed. One needs an automated document marking software for this purpose. The stamps are created electronically, and allow the user to have a consistent solution for marking multiple documents.

Toy Stamps

The stamps are also used as toys for children. Commercial manufacturers create small stamps of different designs, colors and shapes which children can use easily. These toy stamps are normally sold in sets, and come with several ink pads of various colors. They also serve as educational stamps, where children can use them for art activities.

Artistic Stamps

Aside from business purposes, rubber stamping can also be utilized for artistic uses. Some artists create their own stamp design and carve them into the rubber sheets. They also use other materials apart from rubber to create these intricately-designed stamps. Wood and linoleum require special tools in order to be carved because they are harder than rubber. There are people who use just a single stamp design for their output, but there are others who use multiple stamps with different designs on a single art piece to create the desired effect.

Of course, not all people can create stamp designs or physical rubber stamps of their own. All they can do is to buy those ready-made stamps and use it as creatively as they could. The easiest way is to put stamps on cards and stationeries with or without existing designs. The simplest method is to buy a bare card and stamp the design right in the middle of it. It is better to choose a card that is the same shape and size of the stamp to be used. They can add more effect to the stamp design by manually adding color to the pattern. Shades of color can be added to the areas by using ordinary coloring materials such as crayons, pastels and watercolors.

Another creative way to use rubber stamps is to stamping the same design more than once in the card. A shadow effect of the design can be created, which can also be achieved by using several colors for the stamping. Aside from shadowing, the stamps can also be used to create a collage effect. Light and dark colors can be put into the stamps to add depth to the image.

The stamps can also be used to create an embossed look for the card. Additional materials such as embossing powder and heat gun are needed to achieve this effect.