This is a spinoff of the 'dies as stencils' thread & I want to acknowledge April (StampWilly) for the inspiration with her (today's) post in our 'Ongoing Chat' about returning a diecut to its outline.
Not sure if I've shared here @ AI about using craftfoam & dies (& punches) to make stamps, but I'm sure I did on 2Ps & some of you may remember bits of those threads/posts. If not, here's the quick version...
To make a stamp from craftfoam, you just run a piece of 'CF' thru your machine with a die. Doing this with punches depends on whether your punch can handle foam. For now I'll stick with the dies...
The simplest way to make a 'die' stamp is to cut 1 or 2 diecuts from CF. I like doing 2 diecuts from foam & gluing them in a layer. That makes a nice thick (stamp) die.
Another interesting way to use the dies is to do an 'inlaid' stamp.
You diecut the CF & save all the parts--diecut, outline & any interior parts.
Next. You glue the die's outline to a piece of CF. That gives you the 'frame' for inlaying the rest of the CF parts.
Glue the foam diecut back into the outline & then any interior bits. (Fair Warning) If your die has lots of little bits, be prepared to kick yourself for ever trying this. BTDT, but the results can be satisfying.
Once all the foam is inlaid, you can use your stamp. When you ink & stamp it, the thin lines between the inlaid CF bits will open & show up as details--kind of like a woodcut.
This foam 'spreading' is how those foam 'Wall Stamps' work.
