Custom Rubber Stamp

As I mentioned in the last post, I bought the bunta blocks for a project. I have been wanting to make headboards for the two twin beds in our yellow guest room for a while. Originally I wanted to cover them in a Les Indiennes fabric, but they only sell to the trade (and are a bit above my price range).  So when I saw the bunta blocks I thought, "I can make my own hand stamped fabric!"

When I sat down to mock up the design in Photoshop I realized I needed a larger stamp like one I had seen at Jackalope but didn't buy.  So being the crazy perfectionist that I am, I called Jackalope to see if somehow they might be able to find the one block I had seen in the two giant bowls they had filled with blocks.  Amazingly, a very nice person named Ray answered the phone who actually agreed to send me some photos of the blocks in hopes of finding the one I had in my head.  I couldn't believe that anyone would take the time to try and look through all those blocks -  incredible customer service!  Unfortunately none of the photos Ray sent me were the right one.  (Thanks again Ray!)

So that got me started thinking about making my own stamp and finally to the subject of this blog!  I wanted to try and match the small flower stamp I bought at Jackalope so I could use both for my headboard project.  As you can see below I started with a rough pencil sketch that pulled elements from the bunta block.

I then traced and perfected the design in Illustrator.

I then uploaded the design to Simon's Stamps. I couldn't believe how easy it was and the stamp arrived three days after I uploaded the file!  I also designed and ordered a matching dot line stamp.

Below you can see my first stamp test.

I was very excited by how it turned out but I felt it was too perfect to match the bunta block print.  So I ended up taking an exacto knife to the brand new rubber stamp!  I was scared to ruin it, but it turned out I had to work pretty hard to rough it up.  If I had to do it over again I would have roughed it up in Illustrator first- lesson learned!

As you can see above it now has a more "aged" look that matches my bunta block. 

In my next entry I will post photos of the headboards so check back soon!