'The Rubber Stamper's Bible' Book Review

The Rubber Stamper's Bible by Francoise Read is a comprehensive book, with plenty of useful material for beginner stampers and those with more experience. The book was published in 2005, meaning that the information published is relatively up to date. This is important within the fast moving environment of the rubber stamping world and means that product information is still current. Website and email addresses are given for each supplier.

The book is broken down into instruction and technique led projects.

Instruction

The book explains many important techniques, providing step by step illustrations where appropriate. The techniques include embossing, decoupage, coloring, cut away and brayering. There are many useful hints and tips scattered throughout. One useful entry is the ink chart, which gives the features of some key branded inks. This is excellent, however it could be made more useful by explaining how this could help readers substitute specified inks in the projects.

In addition to the instruction sections at the start of the book, explanations are given of special techniques used in specific projects. The use of shrink plastic, for instance, is covered in the project section that uses this technique.

Projects

The projects are set out as ‘creative workshops’ and the application of a technique is explored in detail. This is a useful way of approaching techniques and provides plenty of scope for exploring ideas further.

The Rubber Stamper's Bible contains many interesting rubber stamped card projects. Although there are 75 projects within the book, many of these are variations on a theme. There are one or two step by step projects defined for each of the 19 different techniques, with the rest being variations.

The projects are all card making, although they would adapt to other stamping applications. While many of the projects are suitable for beginners, there are some interesting techniques and ideas that would appeal to stampers with more experience. These include working with velvet paper, vellum, acetate and embossing onto foil.

Conclusion

The book is definitely a good addition to a stamper's library and is highly recommended. The combination of techniques and projects as technique led workshops works well and helps illustrate further a technique and its application. There is plenty packed within these pages to help a novice stamper gain confidence in the craft and start working on some great projects. The supplies used are readily available and should not be difficult to find from local craft stores and online retailers.

The positive aspects of the book definitely outweigh the negatives, but there are some features to be aware of. The Rubber Stamper’s Bible is centered on the use of stamping in card projects, which does narrow its scope slightly. A wider appeal would be had if the author suggested how the techniques could be adapted to other use. This could have substituted some of the project variations with little negative effect.

A beginner stamper could also find that buying the materials to undertake all of the projects expensive, however it is possible to substitute some materials. Beginners may have welcomed more information about how to make substitutions.

This is a recommended read for:

• Beginner stampers who want good basic advice, combined with innovative and exciting projects.
• More advanced stampers seeking new ideas.
• Other crafters wanting to find out more about rubber stamping.
• People looking for ideas and inspiration for a specific project – for instance weddings.

This is not recommended for:

• Stampers who are not interested in card making (although the techniques all adapt to other projects).
• Stampers wanting to find out more about other mediums.
• Beginners with limited supplies or materials.

Further Information
Title: Rubber Stamper’s Bible
Author: Francoise Read
ISBN-13: 978-0715318515
Publisher: F & W Publications (May 2005)