large rubbers and inkpads

i went into buyoligy yesterday and found they have packs of 5 erasers for 99p 1 is 9cm by 4cm quite a good size for the stamp carvers out there and then 4 small ones 4cm by 2cm good for practicing on

they also have inkpads in blue or black also 99p

both to be found in the stationary section by the tills

oh and for those who don't know where buyoligy is it's at the bottom of plympton plymouth next to the old megabowl

Good advice indeed

Thanks for the info! Will look to see if the rubbers are OK for cutting.

im playing with them made one small stamp seem to cut ok but im only using a stanley blade and its quite ametuer

Upload a pic when you're done

Asda are also selling some great rubbers for carving, 15cm x 5cm, for £1. It's pink with "for BIG mistakes" written on it. I've carved a couple and they are fine to work with.

Ogwell Oddbods : Asda are also selling some great rubbers for carving, 15cm x 5cm, for £1. It's pink with "for BIG mistakes" written on it. I've carved a couple and they are fine to work with.

Thanks for the info OO. I used these rubbers back in the late `90s having got them from 'tourist traps' shops in Torquay, Paignton and Looe!
They are good, but are'gritty' and do not stand up to anyone brushing the stamp clean for long. Good for carving though.

from this



to this



this was just me playing with one of the small rubbers she who must be obeyed dose'nt want to be called "and co" so will be coming up with a different name for our personal stamp mk2 version

does anyone know where to get a proper carving tool from in plymouth as that would make it a lot easier

Thanks for the pic!! Isn't it satisfying when you make your first print and it atually says/looks like what you hoped!!

Aww you're brave doing all lettering first though, I've only made a couple of stamps but I really didn't enjoy doing the lettering much.
I don't like using a knife though it seems lots do, I used a lino cutting tool from Amazon. There's not a really fine 'v' shaped blade with it though which would be really useful, but they're difficult to find outside the US it seems.

I use only one knife and style of blade:
knife handle (scalpel) - a Swann Morton No.3
blade - longand to very fine point (surgical) - No. 11 There are a number of surgical blades in the set.
Even using a hardish type rubber it will cut 10 or more stamps (8cm x 5.5 cm) before going blunt.
These were purchased from Ham & Sewell many years ago. Craft knives are very good also from any good hobby shop

The smaller the blade the easier it is to carve what you need, I found towards the end it was "stamp and trim, stamp and trim, stamp and trim" and so on.
I tried a stanley knife at first and found it too cumbersome, eventually ending up with a surgical knife and cutting vee shapes everywhere. The trick I found was once you had your basic carving was cut a little and stamp it, and keep repeating until I was satisfied or bored to death with it

this is my 3rd i have one i put out allready i didn't take a pic of that one tho i am happer with it than this one



i think i should have made the dam full width then done the arches a bit shallower and brought it down a couple of mm will still put out tho

i still did this one with a stanley blade out of the knife

i think i will try a scalpal from now on in all of the rounded parts and a stanley for straight edges

once you get used to the scapel, the stanley knife will remain in the tool box

I've just got some of the rubbers from Asda, I got blue & pink ones, so that the kids can do some stamps. They are quite thick though, has anyone tried to cut them in half and if so are they still ok??

I did look at chopping them in half but then realised the side is big enough to carve too so put our name down each side.