DIY - Create an Edison Inspired Light Bulb Stamp!

Lately I've been spending a lot of time on my illustrations in preparation for the opening of the Wild Heart Histories art shop on Etsy.  It' been tons of fun, but for someone who has the attention span of a two year old - it is definitely time to switch things up.  So what to do... hmmm...I know!!!

Enter stage left - my print making materials! Yay for print making!  Just thinking about it gets me all excited (dorky I know).

Anyway, I thought I would share my adventure in print making with you. Who knows? Maybe you'll want to give it a go!

So...  Lately I have been really fascinated with Thomas Edison's lightbulbs.  They are so beautiful to look at and give off such a warm, soft glow at night.  The way the wires inside come to life - it's just pure magic.  I love the different shapes and the definite vintage vibe they have so they will be the focus of today's printing project. 

All of the supplies for this project are available at Plaza and Blick art supply stores as well as on Amazon.  Here's what I'm using:

-tracing paper
-5B drawing pencil (super soft lead makes for an easy image transfer)
-Staedtler Mars Plastic eraser
-Speed Ball linoleum cutters (most cutters come with a variety of blades)
-Speed Ball "Speedy Cut"rubber block 6 3/4" x 11"
-a cutting knife with smooth blade (No ridges! You can use a razer, but I just get a knife from my chopping block because the handle makes it easier to work with)
-ink pad in the color(s) of your choice
-paper of any kind you want to print on
-scratch paper to test your stamp on
-pictures/images of the design you want to create

Now that all the materials are gathered, it's time to select an image.  I've been playing around with a few light bulb shapes I found in my research and think I'll go with the standard bulb to start.  Using my 5H pencil, I'm going to lightly sketch out my image onto tracing paper and when I've created the final image, I will trace it heavily so that the pencil lead transfers onto the linoleum.

Next, take the image and place it face down onto the linoleum, hold it in place, and gently rub the reverse side to get the image to transfer.  Sometimes the image will transfer lightly, but that's alright - so long as you can see the image well enough to carve it out.

Now that the image is transferred, I am ready to cut away the image on the linoleum from the rest of the linoleum block and begin to carve out the image using my Speedball carving tools.

Linoleum cutters come with a wide variety of blades you can use to cut out your image.  I would suggest using the smaller, finer point blades for "trace-cutting" the image first.  This is to outline what you are carving and to make it easier to carve away the big areas later. Once you have "traced" the image with the finer point blade, use the larger, wider mouthed blades to carve away larger spaces. When you are done carving out your stamp, it's a good idea to give it a test run to see if there are any touch ups you need to make.  Use a dark color ink to start so that the imperfections can be easily found.

When I stamp the image, I can see small specks of linoleum around the image that I want to get rid of so that my image is nice and clean.  Using a small tipped blade, I am able to touch up my stamp.  It is a good idea to wash your stamp in warm water with mild soap to rid it of any bits and pieces of rubber that have gotten stuck to the surface of your stamp.  Use an old towel to dry.

Now that my stamp is ready- let the printing begin!  

I've been trying to brain storm fun and interesting ways to say THANK YOU to future customers for purchasing my illustrations.  So far,  I have come up with creating hand-made post cards, book marks, and tags that could be included as a gift with each print sold.  

Here's the final product with my new lightbulb stamp!

Try it out and let me know how it goes!