Long before ink pads and rubber stamps, crafty folk were making their mark with seals. The earliest evidence of this comes from Ancient Mesopotamia (a region of modern-day Iraq) where archaeologists have found examples of clay being embossed with custom seals. Back then, seals were usually carved out of bone or stone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fun fact: Such seals are referred to in the Bible\u2019s Old Testament.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n 220AD<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Woodblock printing more closely resembles what we now call stamping. It\u2019s believed these early \u2018stamps\u2019 probably first originated in China, but were soon used around the whole world. Images and text would be meticulously carved into wooden surfaces by hand, and then stamped with ink onto fabrics or paper. <\/p>\n\n\n\n ~500AD<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In the Middle Ages, seals started being used with hot wax, often to authenticate letters and documents. By this point in time, seals were most commonly being made out of brass. <\/p>\n\n\n ~1670<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In Japan, woodblock printing sparked an entire art movement. Known as \u2018Ukiyo-e\u2019, this genre of art isn\u2019t too dissimilar to how we see some creatives using their custom rubber stamps today. <\/p>\n\n\n\n 1736<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Although the Mayans and Aztecs had been using rubber for centuries, the rest of the world didn\u2019t catch on until 1736, when a French explorer, Charles Marie de la Condamine, sent a sample of the sticky stuff back from Brazil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1839<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n Charles Goodwin accidentally invented \u2018Vulcanised Rubber\u2019, when he dropped rubber and sulphur on a hot stove. Five years later, Charles had perfected the process and was granted a US patent for it. As well as custom rubber stamps, vulcanised rubber is commonly used to make tyres, hockey pucks and the soles of shoes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fun fact: The tyre company \u2018Goodyear\u2019 was later named after him. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n 1863<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s unclear who invented the \u2018rubber stamp\u2019 as we now know it. A lot of people claim to have been the first, including Henry C. Leland, James Orton Woodruff, and L.F. Witherell. All three used dental vulcanisers, the base for false teeth, to put together their design. <\/p>\n\n\n 1945<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n After World War II, with the boom in the use of plastics, more and more stamp manufacturers started swapping out wood for plastic. As we now know, these materials can take hundreds of years to break down, and have a horrendous impact on the environment, which is why we\u2019ve gone old school, and make all our stamp handles from good old-fashioned wood. <\/p>\n\n\n\n 2016<\/strong> ~5000BC Long before ink pads and rubber stamps, crafty folk were making their mark with seals. The earliest evidence of this comes from Ancient Mesopotamia (a region of modern-day Iraq) where archaeologists have found examples of clay being embossed with custom seals. Back then, seals were usually carved out of bone or stone. Fun fact: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":85044,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[808,122],"class_list":["post-85028","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorised","tag-rubber-stamp","tag-rubber-stamps","clearfix"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/getstamped.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/Blewg1-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C2510&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/getstamped.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85028","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/getstamped.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/getstamped.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/getstamped.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/getstamped.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85028"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/getstamped.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85028\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/getstamped.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/getstamped.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/getstamped.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/getstamped.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"the](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/getstamped.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/Blewg1.jpg?resize=325%2C318&ssl=1\")
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Jack and Henry started making personalised stamps in a shed in Jack\u2019s dad\u2019s garden and \u2018Get Stamped\u2019 was born. This is arguably the most important development in the history of rubber stamps. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"