Stephen Fowler
Rubber Stamping: Get Creative with Stamps, Rollers and Other Printmaking Techniques

Image Type: multiple

Usage: I provided approximately 250 images to illustrate my book on 'Rubber Stamping', including the cover/back cover and endpapers.

Process: I used a number of processes and techniques, such as pen and ink, rubber stamping, foam printing, rubber stamp printing with bleach, roller printing, printed books and zines, Bigfoot prints, vegetable prints, creative rubbings/frottage, plaster printing, printing with found objects, and clay printing. Impressions were made onto all manner of surfaces such as envelopes, artistamps, cookies, eggs, cheese, wallpaper lining, sugar paper, handbound books, and human bodies, and all were either photographed or scanned to make digital files.

Materials: I employed a variety of media;  pen and ink, rubber stamps, foam stamp, bleach, Mail Art, Artistamps, 3D prints, adapted roller prints, Street Art, post cards, thaumatropes, typography, artist books and zines, Bigfoot prints, vegetable prints, creative rubbings/frottage, plaster printing, found objects prints, and clay prints.

Formats: The illustrations were made in a number of formats;  artist books/zines, Mail Art, Artistamps, wallpaper. Edible formats - printed biscuits, cheese, and eggs.  Three dimensional formats - printed paper houses and  paper suits, thaumatropes, human bodies. Tools as art pieces including, carved rubber stamps, carved rollers, and Bigfoot stamps.

Brief Requirements: Write, illustrate and compile a contemporary DIY guide to Rubber Stamp printmaking.

Key Brief Ideas: As well as creating a visually instructive technical guide, containing diagrams and specific projects, my main intentions were to make a book which richly conveyed the possibilities and characteristics of the Rubber Stamp medium; as an official form of language, a means of reproduction, portable, immediate, inclusive and so on, and in doing so I hoped to inspire a creative response in the reader; devising and making their own projects and outcomes. I wanted the book to be a inspiring starting point.  I also suggested the book could also encompass other forms of alternative, and sometimes underrated printmaking methods, such as roller printing, frottage and vegetable printing. 

Commissioned For: Laurence King Publishing

Commissioner Company: Laurence King Publishing

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