Stamp! stamp! stamp! stamping here & there. A DIY stamp is one of the things I’ve been always trying to find time for.
I always wanted to make skeleton stamps one day. I’m coinciding it with Halloween season, but it’s really a fun activity for all year round. This week is flying by fast and today I suddenly thought it’s finally the moment to have a go making some. I’m sharing a super simple design that takes no time to ‘carve’ and start playing with. This can be a nice handmade Halloween gift for kids!
To start with, I got myself some erasers (they’ve been sitting around waiting). They are actually the wrong erasers for making stamps! These Staedtler erasers had a raised pattern all over the surface. At first I tried to get rid of them by rubbing them off but gave up within two seconds… I have no patience. In the end it turned out this pattern didn’t matter much for my skeleton design, almost better for it. You’ll see…
This is my first stamp project and I didn’t have any carving tools. I just grabbed some erasers and the cutting knife nearest to me. I made the designs as easy as possible to carve, something you can score with a craft knife and cut away instead of carving carefully. So there’s really no excuse not to try! ; )
Divide one eraser into head, torso, pelvis. The other eraser into one long bone (I made two but one is fine), a hand and a foot. I used one and a half erasers.
If you have a large rubber pad for carving stamps, that’s great. Make bigger stamps for younger children who might find grabbing small stamps tricky.
Draw simple shapes with a pencil and cut each part into chunks. Cut off the corner edges.
Score deeply along the lines you drew first then cut diagonally towards those scored lines to remove unwanted areas like in the photo. Always cut safely away from your fingers and hands. If you’re a stamp carving master with the tools, just carve a really cool looking detailed skeleton!
Stamp away with your skeleton pieces! Create dancing skeletons with endless funny moves, heaps of skulls, bone furniture, skeleton pets?! or how about some nice skeleton gift wrap.. (thinking about trying this soon, will add if I do!)
The pattern on the eraser made them look fractured for more macabre (!) detail which I like! ; )
Super easy and fun for days!
I love it! Yes, I like the texture on them. What a great way to use all the old erasures I have lying around. Have you tried stamping them in other colors? Like a red skull with a blue body or maybe a rainbow skeleton? Lots of fun ideas. Thanks for sharing how to do it.
Yes! I wanted to do colorful skeletons but felt a bit lazy today. ^ ^ Think I might make some colorful wrapping paper with them or something for the Day of the Dead! Please share if you make yours! : )
I wouldn’t say you’re lazy. I’m wow’d all the time by what you do and create! Colored wrapping paper for day of the dead sounds like a lot of fun! Yeah, I’ll show pics if I make some.
Fantastic tutorial thanks! I made my own version, thanks for the instructions on how to do it! http://somesmalljoys.tumblr.com/post/65190504380/skeleton-stamps-a-tutorial-i-saw-a-few-days-ago
I love your skeletons! I carved mine out of an eraser yesterday and printed many happy, dancing skeletons on brown paper. I´ve made some Halloween Goodie bags with the skeletons 🙂 Thank you so much for the instructions 🙂
http://www.caromite.net/basteln/mini-skelett-tuetchen/
I did them today with my son, we had great time:-D, thank you:-D
This.Is.AWESOME!!! I guess the kid in me never grew up!! LOL I have a very visual/hands on learner at home and these will be so much fun for him!! Thank You Thank You!