Wednesday 19 November 2014

WOYWW #285: Make your own stamps from silicone putty

Hello deskers! Welcome to another round of WOYWW.  The photo shows my desk on Tuesday afternoon. I have labelled a few things of interest, which I'd like to talk to you about.




  • On the right hand side you can see a page taken from a 1930's dictionary which I picked up at my local charity shop. I ruthlessly ripped it apart but not before I had checked its value on Amazon. I couldn't really identify the exact edition, so it could be worth anything between £0.01 and £30.00.  I hope it's the former otherwise I'll be banging my head against the wall!
  • The item labelled 'wip journal cover' is the cover off the old dictionary. It was a bit tatty and smelly, but now it's fresh and yummy! I covered it with gelli prints. I'm not sure what I will do with it yet. Perhaps I will turn it into a junk journal. 
  • The envelope labelled 'tag swap' contains the very first decorated tag I've ever made and it's ready to be shipped to the Netherlands as part of a monthly swap organized by a mixed media sharing community on Google+. I'm very excited about this swap! I'll share the tag with you when my swap partner has received it, otherwise it would ruin the surprise! Actually, I've just had a brilliant idea! I might turn the dictionary cover into a tag journal to store all the tags from the swap! I quite like that idea!
  • The little pot in the middle contains some skull beads I picked up from Hobby Craft at the weekend. They are really cool! I was there with my 10-year-old son and we had a ball with the bead pick 'n mix. They have these pots you can fill with your own selection. It was so much fun!
  • The dominoes and playing cards are from eBay. They were REALLY cheap. I think the cards were 99p and the dominos £1.49 including postage. I bought them with the intention to alter them and use them in my art.
  • And finally the topic of my post today: my home made stamps from silicone putty.

What is silicone putty?


Silicone putty (aka silicone plastique) is marketed as a mould making material, primarily for sugar crafts in cake making. Of course, you can also use it to make moulds for other materials like polymer clay, for example. 

Silicone putty is expensive and mould making requires quite a lot of this stuff, so it's not very cost effective to make your own. You're better off getting some cheap moulds from China.

However, have you thought of making stamps out of silicone putty? It takes a lot less material to make stamps, because you don't have to make it as deep as a mould. 

You can make texture stamps out of your stencils, die-cut shapes and numerous found objects as well.

How to make stamps from silicone putty?


It is very simple. Just mix an equal amount of the two parts of the putty (usually white and blue) and press it into your stencils, diecuts or other dimensional objects, making sure that they're lying on a smooth, non-stick surface. An acrylic or glass plate or ceramic tile is ideal for this. In about an hour's time your stamp will be firm and ready to use! 

Tip: When moulding paper diecuts, I always coat the surface with gel medium, so the putty wouldn't stick to the paper. Also it's a good idea to use two or three shapes on top of each other to give it some depth. It will  work with just one layer, but your stamp will be quite shallow. 


Here are a few stamps I've made with silicone putty.

Stamps made from stencils and punchinella

Texture stamp made from corrugated card

Stamps made from die cut shapes

A stamp made from a dimensional object (metal medallion)

Have a go at making your own stamps from silicone putty and don't forget to have fun! See you next week for another post of WOYWW!

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