Years ago the only rubber stamps we knew of were cumbersome affairs with hefty wooden handles that stamped things like "Please Remit", or better yet "Paid in Full". If you wanted to make a picture you had to take out a few potatoes and carve the picture you wanted to stamp. Potato stamping is still an option, but it's MUCH easier to run down to your local stamp store, or grab a handy catalog. Just about any image you'd care to dream of is now available in rubber.

Types of Stamps
Rubber stamps come in many flavors now and the diversity can be confusing, especially at first. The "real" rubber stamp is made of "real" rubber, though the color may vary from red to pink to purple and blue. Co-polymer has recently made the scene and is abit less expensive to manufacture, hence is usually less in price. But most seasoned rubber stampers seem to shun polymer stamps, citing different reasons; polymer becomes sticky with time, polymer isn't as pretty as rubber and doesn't smell as good. (though the last two reasons are somewhat indicative of a true rubber addict) Whatever the reasons, polymer never has gained the popularity of rubber. Other materials are also used to make "rubber" stamps, such as plastic often found in very inexpensive children's sets.

One popular offering in the rubber market these days combines a hard foam mount with an actual rubber die. These stamps are often packaged in sets of related images and the fairly cheap cost of these stamps makes them very tempting. For the most part they are a good deal, but since the rubber is not trimmed close to the raised image there is often a problem with parts of the background printing unwanted stray marks. This can be overcome by using a very light hand when inking or by coloring with markers, but it is sometimes necessary to remove the rubber from the thick foam mount, trim it and remount it either on the foam or on a conventional wood mount.

Eraser carving
Eraser carving is gaining rapidly in popularity and although it may seem to mirror the old potato carving, in actuality very intricate designs can be produced. Many of the designs resemble old woodcuts and lend a certain rustic flair to the cards and other projects stamped with them. It would take another entire web page to instruct in the art of eraser carving so I shall move on . There are many good books available on the subject should you wish to learn more.

Stamp Anatomy 101
Most of the stamps you will encounter are constructed of three different elements; the mount,the cushion,and the rubber die. Mounts are normally made of some type of hardwood and often have grooves along the sides to make them easier for your fingers to grip. Cushion can be of varying widths and is normally a dense foam type rubber, either black, gray or red. It is important to look at the way the stamp is constructed before you purchase it.

Things to look for when purchasing wood mounted stamps:

The tutorial section on Mounting Your Own will cover some tips on dealing with undercutting and over cutting and the section entitled Cleaning Up Your Mess. will outline some of the best ways to care for your stamps.

The Significance or Under or Over Cut Rubber or Cushion
Undercut rubber or cushion as seen in Illustration 2 is where the rubber or cushion has been trimmed in such a way so that there is less material underlying than the surface of the material itself. As you can imagine from looking at the picture, if either the cushion or the rubber is undercut, it will result in the stamp printing with either fuzzy edges, or no edges at all.

On the other hand, if the cushion or rubber is overcut, this can result in the edge of the rubber or cushion picking up ink and printing it as stray marks or a halo around the images. Neither one of these conditions is desirable and stamps should be inspected carefully for them. However, a slight undercut or overcut will not adversely affect the image quality.

The tutorial section on Mounting Your Own will cover some tips on dealing with undercutting and over cutting and the section entitled Cleaning Up Your Mess. will outline some of the best ways to care for your stamps.