We have seen stamps carved from rubber erasers before — it is a simple technique that anyone can do at home with minimal tools. However, a video from Carlos at Cactus! Workshop takes the concept, adds a little bit of wood and aluminum, and changes the homemade rubber stamp from a neat trick to an art object. The result is a great stamp that is easy to use and looks a lot better than a bare rubber pad.
“Everybody was exchanging stickers in the maker community,” said Carlos. “I thought: why don’t I make my own stickers? Not just the design, but also the actual print?” The concept grew from there. “I gathered some scrap and a big eraser I wasn’t very fond of (I hadn’t even opened the package) and got to work. I ended up making several for different formats of my logo.” The stickers are made using clear adhesive film that he stamps with ink and then overlays with more clear film to prevent smudges.
Carlos’s video documents the process, but it also notably includes several mistakes made along the way. “Failing is a skill that, if trained properly, will provide interesting results every time,” he joked. “Failing is a part of any process with a learning curve. If I share my failures, especially the big ones, everybody gets to learn a little bit. Instead of getting frustrated, sharing a failure in a funny way encourages people to keep going.”
I asked if anything else hadn’t gone according to plan. “Your question assumes I had a plan! The loctite joint in the lathe (a trick I learned from Clickspring) failed a couple of times, but I just glued it back on and kept going.”
After making stamps for himself, Carlos was contacted by La Fabrique DIY about making a stamp for them, which he documented in another video. This time, he used an inexpensive laser engraver to etch the rubber before removing the waste material.
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