Rubber Faux Wood Stamping Technique

Examine wood grains to help pick realistic looking colors.

Bring the beauty of wood grain into your craft projects for a natural, earthy style. The right stamping tools will help make a faux wood grain pattern with little effort. Whether you're stamping on paper or furniture, working on a small or large area, a little practice can help you master the technique to make realistic wood designs.

Flat Stamps

Flat stamps in a woodgrain pattern give you a single section of grain. They are perfect for small jobs, like making a card or photo mat. Select a color of cardstock in a wood tone, such as a tan or reddish-brown. Select an ink pad in a darker color. Load your stamp by pressing it into your ink pad. Hold the stamp above the area you want to stamp and line it up, then press it down with gentle, even pressure. Pull it straight up to reveal the design.

Roller Stamps

Wood grain stamp rollers come in styles that resemble rolling pins and styles that are more like a brayer. The benefit of a roller stamp is that you can create a long, continuous wood grain area, like a wood plank. This is useful for larger paper products, as well as other craft products such as faux painting hardwood planks or paneling. Load the roller with ink that contrasts with your base surface color, and roll it along the surface you want to give the wood grain look.

Wood Grain Rocker

Wood grain rockers are perfect for covering large areas with continuous wood patterns, from a 12-by-12 sheet of cardstock to faux graining an entire door to look like solid wood. Found in the hardware store, these rubber rocker tools have curved surfaces with grain lines on them. Instead of ink, mix an acrylic glaze with the desired color of acrylic paint, in equal amounts, and use a paint brush to apply it randomly on the surface you want to paint. Lay the rocker on the glaze and drag it down to create grain lines. Vary the grains and knot holes by rocking the tool back and forth as you drag it down. The more you rock, the more variation you’ll get in the pattern. Move over to each next section to continue the process. The beauty of this tool is that if you don’t like how it is coming, then as long as the glaze remains wet you can go right over it and re-do it. Practice makes perfect.

Make Your Own Foam Stamp

It may be too splintery to use directly, but it can make an impression in foam.

Look for an old piece of wood at a salvage yard with a very pronounced textured wood grain. Handle it carefully with work gloves so you don’t get splinters. Toss it into water to soak it for a few hours or overnight so the grain becomes even more pronounced. Lay it on a hard, flat surface, such as a paved driveway. Put a block of craft foam or polystyrene foam on a choice grainy area and press down hard. Leave a cinder block or other heavy object on it for a couple of hours. When you remove the foam, the indents of the raised grain will be present. When you load it with ink and press it onto paper, the raised areas won’t touch down, so you get a mirror image stamp. The inked part is the base color and the grain is the blank lines.