Creative Gift Presentation: Block Printing on Gift Bags

 With the holidays approaching sooner than you think, it's fun to think about how to present your gifts delightfully. Today we're showing a simple way to enhance gift bags and fabric wraps by creating your own rubber stamp and block printing on them.

 Materials
●Fabric
●Rubber carving block
●Tracing paper
●No. 2 pencil
●Bone folder or small spoon
●Linoleum cutter with No. 1 and No. 5 cutters
●Fabric ink pad

Print out a copy of the design you would like to use. Place a piece of tracing paper over it and start tracing the design. Turn the tracing paper face-down onto your carving block.

Transfer the image by rubbing the back of the paper with your bone folder or small spoon.

Occasionally lift up your tracing paper while keeping your other hand on the block to make sure the design has been transferred onto it.

 Carve the stamp from your block with your linoleum cutter. Use the No. 5 tip to carve away larger areas, and switch to No. 1 when you are working on the more intricate lines.

Bonus tip: Keep the cutter at a 30° angle, and cut away from yourself. Don’t forget—while the image will be reversed on the block, it will be right side up when you stamp.

 When you have finished, tap your stamp and blow off any remaining rubber crumbs. Take your ink pad and ink your stamp to make a test print to check that there are no areas still to carve.

Once you’re happy with the test results, you are ready to start stamping onto your fabric!

Don't forget to check out our fancy rose knot fabric wrap tutorial here.