Stamping on Wood to Make Embellishments

If you are looking for something a little different to add to your handmade cards or scrapbook pages, try stamping on wooden discs or other shapes. These small lightweight wooden discs are ideal for stamping.

How to Stamp on Wooden Discs

Stamping on wooden discs is simple as the surface is flat. However, untreated wood, particularly balsa or similar types of wood, has a porous surface, therefore ink and coloring materials may run. It is a good idea to practice first when stamping directly onto wood or other unknown surfaces for the first time. If your ink runs into the grain of the wood then you may want to try painting the surface first. This seals the surface of the wood as well as providing you with a colored background on which to stamp.

Another thing to be aware of when stamping onto a small shape is that, unlike when you are working on a larger project such as a handmade card, you cannot hold onto a small shape. because your fingers will get in the way when you stamp the image. Therefore you need to be a little extra careful when stamping to make sure that the disc does not slip when you are pressing the stamp onto the surface.

Choosing the Right Stamp

You can use any rubber stamp, including mounted and unmounted, however, what will determine your choice is the size of the image. You will see in the photo above that we selected rubber stamps which have images which will fit onto the surface of the wooden disc. If you don't have a suitably sized stamp try using a larger stamp and stamping just a portion of the image onto the wooden shape. You will achieve some attractive and abstract images using this technique.

Finishing Techniques

The stamped images uncolored in the photograph above to allow the beige color of the wood to show through. Dry coloring methods such as pencils or chalks may be a good choice if you want to add color to your stamped image. The finished piece can be left plain or sealed with a clear varnish to protect the image and wood.

Materials

• Wooden discs or other shapes (you will find these in your local craft store)
• Rubber Stamps
• Ink pads

Instructions

1. Place the wooden discs on a flat surface
2. Carefully press your stamp onto the surface
3. Leave to dry and adhere to your project using double-sided tape or adhesive
4. Add further color to the shape if required

There are many interesting surfaces to stamp onto which will add a spark of extra interest to your projects. With a little creative thought items such as wooden beads can be used to stamp letters onto to make alphabet beads for name jewelry, polystyrene balls can be covered with stamped tissue paper in a decoupage style and more!