I often go through my Pinterest Creative Ideas board to refresh myself on what I have pinned. I have over 400 pins on that board alone so I often forget or overlook things. While scanning through one day I came across a very simple craft: using erasers to make stamps.
The picture practically explains itself. I thought it was a very creative idea, so I kept it in the back of my mind. Recently I was wrapping presents for my younger sisters' birthday and trying to add a creative, personal touch. This idea came to the front of my mind and I immediately began looking for erasers. I found three and got to work. I grabbed a paring knife and a pencil and sat down at my kitchen table. I knew I wanted to make a moustache and a Mickey Mouse head so I began with Mickey.
I started by drawing the picture on the eraser with the pencil. Then I took the paring knife and cut around the drawing, trying to cut deep into the eraser but also go as smoothly with the lines of the drawing as possible. Then I took the knife to the side of the eraser and began cutting toward the drawing, about a third way down the side. When I got to the picture I took the newly cut piece of eraser in my fingers and gently pulled at it until it ripped away, careful to make sure it didn't take any needed hunk of picture with it. After a bit of experimenting I got the hang of it and a new stamp was made!
I already own ink for stamps (i have a set of lower case letter stamps) so I took that out and pressed my Mickey Mouse head into it and then pressed it onto scrap paper as a test. It worked quite well, if I do say so myself! I excitedly started on the moustache and found it was a bit more tricky. I ended up redoing the design on the other side of the eraser because I had accidentally cut off one end of the moustache. The third eraser ended up being a simple heart.
I started by drawing the picture on the eraser with the pencil. Then I took the paring knife and cut around the drawing, trying to cut deep into the eraser but also go as smoothly with the lines of the drawing as possible. Then I took the knife to the side of the eraser and began cutting toward the drawing, about a third way down the side. When I got to the picture I took the newly cut piece of eraser in my fingers and gently pulled at it until it ripped away, careful to make sure it didn't take any needed hunk of picture with it. After a bit of experimenting I got the hang of it and a new stamp was made!
I already own ink for stamps (i have a set of lower case letter stamps) so I took that out and pressed my Mickey Mouse head into it and then pressed it onto scrap paper as a test. It worked quite well, if I do say so myself! I excitedly started on the moustache and found it was a bit more tricky. I ended up redoing the design on the other side of the eraser because I had accidentally cut off one end of the moustache. The third eraser ended up being a simple heart.
How the stamps turned out. (See what I mean about the Mickey head and the hole?) To avoid any lines around the outside of the stamp (see the heart stamp) make sure you are cutting off enough eraser. If you didn't want to utilize both sides of the eraser you could just cut all the excess off to avoid it altogether. It is up to you!