How to Make your Own Polymer Stamps

Step 2 Design the Negative

The first step in making a polymer stamp is to create the negative. This will allow UV light only to penetrate the polymer where you choose. To create the negative, first either select or draw a black and white image that has bold lines or shapes. The reason for this is fine lines do not survive the washout process well, and will not make a strong impression in clay. If you are only looking to use your stamp like a traditional rubber stamp you can get away with having finer detail on the stamp. Your image must be strong black and white contrast, no grayscale or shading. Once you have your image you need to translate that into a negative. That means making the black parts white and the white parts black. This is easily done in most graphics programs, and it is usually listed as an invert colors command. You can also design you image in negative format by hand if that appeals to you more, although it is a much more time consuming process.