Rubber stamping, also called
stamping, is a
craft in which some type of
ink made of
dye or
pigment is applied to an
image or
pattern that has been , molded,
laser engraved or
vulcanized, onto a sheet of
rubber. The rubber is often mounted onto a more stable object such as a wood, brick or an acrylic block. Increasingly the vulcanized rubber image with an adhesive foam backing is attached to a cling vinyl sheet which allows it to be used with an acrylic handle for support. These cling rubber stamps can be stored in a smaller amount of space and typically cost less than the wood mounted versions. They can also be positioned with a greater amount of accuracy due to the stamper's ability to see through the handle being used. Temporary stamps with simple designs can be carved from a potato. The
ink coated rubber stamp is pressed onto any type of
medium such that the
colored image is transferred to the medium. The medium is generally some type of
fabric or
paper. Other media used are
wood,
metal,
glass,
plastic,
rock. High volume
batik uses liquid
wax instead of ink on a metal stamp.