| Who would have thought that your scrapbooking and | | | | and again, even filing bankruptcy and going to jail for |
| card making had a connection to the Maya Indians? | | | | failure to pay debts, Charles Goodyear eventually |
| Rubber Stamping is certainly one of the fastest | | | | discovered that heat was the secret to rubber's |
| growing hobbies today, and for good reason. With its | | | | "curing".o As early as 1866, a man carved information |
| inexpensive materials and creative versatility, rubber | | | | in a flat piece of rubber and mounted it to a curved |
| stamping provides millions with hours of fun and | | | | block of wood. This 4"x 6" mounted rubber stamp |
| creativity. How did it all start?o Spanish explorers | | | | was being used to print information on bath tubs.o |
| were the first to talk about a "sticky substance" that | | | | Early rubber stamps consisted mainly of words and |
| bounced, used by South America Indians. Though it | | | | phrases used to mark packages and manufactured |
| didn't revolutionalize the world at that time, these | | | | products. Stamping suppliers began to spring up in |
| same Indians were using a primitive form of rubber | | | | Ohio and the West.o Rubber stamping as a hobby |
| stamping to "mark and tattoo" images on men and | | | | took off in the early 1970's with companies such as |
| women.o In 1736, Charles Marie de la Condamine, a | | | | All Night Media (1974) and Hero Arts (1974). Soon the |
| French scientist studying the Amazon, sent a piece | | | | craze had caught and many other companies decided |
| of "India Rubber" back to France.o Rubber got its | | | | to cash in on a hobby that would last for decades.o |
| name in 1770, when the scientist Sir Joseph Priestly | | | | It wasn't until a boom in the 1990's that rubber |
| made a comment about a substance "excellently | | | | stamping became so popular with millions of crafter's |
| adapted to the purpose of wiping from paper the | | | | worldwide. As thousands of companies begin to |
| mark of black lead pencil." Hence the "rubbing out" of | | | | produce rubber stamps, the availability and unique |
| pencil marks gave it the term "rubber". Up until this | | | | designs become common everywhere! |
| time, people wishing to erase pencil marks had to use | | | | It's no wonder why rubber stamping has turned into |
| bread crumbs.o Rubber Stamping owes much | | | | a worldwide crafting phenomenon. Women and men |
| gratitude to a hardware store owner who decided to | | | | alike have found hundreds of creative uses for |
| quit his job to solve the "sticky problem" he had | | | | rubber stamps, from scrapbooking and cardmaking, |
| heard about. Though his persistence was tested time | | | | to gift bags and 3D artwork. Give it a try, you'll see! |