DIY Tangrams Art

DIY tangrams Art stamps used to make geometric cards


DIY Tangrams Art

By: Natalie from Doodlecraft

A Tangram is a Chinese dissection puzzle consisting of 7 flat shapes.
They all fit perfectly in one square.
My dad is a Mathematician.  He collects “smart games”.
He loves all sorts of thinking games, puzzles and riddles.
So I grew up putting tangrams together.
You can even make all sorts of things with the pieces…animals, people,and things!

Learn how to make DIY Tangrams Stamps to create art and handmade cards on the cheap!

Since geometric anything is all the rage, I though it would be fun to make
Rubber Stamp Tangrams art and cards!

This would be so fun to make for a teacher appreciation gift–A little stack of cards and some envelopes wrapped in twine!

Or just to send someone a smile in the mail!

DIY Tangram art

Here’s the Tangram.
There’s a cool website that explains it all here.

How to Make Tangrams Stamps

tangram cutting diagram

Supplies for Tangrams Stamps:
Pink Carving Rubber:  I got mine here…Speedball Carving Block
(you could do with with pink rubber erasers or scraps of cling mounted rubber)
Hobby Knife
Ruler, pen, scissors, 1.5″ square paper
Rubber Stamping Ink Pads or Crayola Markers
Paper to stamp on…lunch bags, newspaper, old books!

Supplies for Cards:
5 1/4″ x 4″ pieces of cardstock in white
5 3/8″ x 4 1/8″ pieces of cardstock in black
5 1/2″ x 8 1/2″ pieces of cardstock in assorted colors…and then folded in half
Tape or glue stick

Begin by cutting a 1 1/2″ square of paper and make all the
folds and cuts for the Tangram.

diy tangrams rubber stamps geometric cards (20)

Then trace the paper pattern onto the pink carving rubber.
Brace your lines with a ruler and make the cut with a hobby knife.

handmade tangrams rubber stamps

Just like this.  Now you have 7 pieces to play with!

diy tangrams rubber stamps geometric cards (8)

Now just add tape or a glue dot to the backside…and press onto an acrylic block in any pattern or design for stamping.
Like this bunny!

rabbit tangram stamp

There’s so many fun designs…
But to get you started, feel free to save or print this picture as a reference.

tangrams animals

Here’s another option when making the tangram stamps:
I buy rubber stamps all the time with cling back mounting foam on them.
They come in a sheet and you peel the stamps out of them.
This leaves a bit of wasted rubber…so I just laid out my Tangram pieces
and traced them on wherever they fit on the rubber!
diy tangrams rubber stamps geometric cards (10)

Then cut them out with rubber stamp scissors.

diy tangrams rubber stamps geometric cards (7)

They don’t fit together quite as nicely as the one cut from a single square…
but they are easier to use with the cling back…and still make the same adorable shapes!

diy tangrams rubber stamps geometric cards (9)

Just arrange them,

diy tangrams rubber stamps geometric cards (6)

 However you want…

tangrams horse stamp

Press in ink…or, if you don’t have ink pads…use markers!

 diy tangrams rubber stamps geometric cards (17)

 Press evenly onto paper.  Do not rock back and forth.

diy tangrams rubber stamps geometric cards (18)

 Use a baby wipe or damp paper towel to clean up the excess ink…then rearrange and do it again!

diy tangrams rubber stamps geometric cards (13)

  This time, with a cat…or fox!

 tangram cat

  Pretty soon, your desk will look like mine!  Just keeping it real here!

diy tangrams rubber stamps geometric cards (16)

 They are so cute in all their geometric glory!

Then if you are using them as cards, cut paper as outlined in the “supplies for cards” above and mount them together!  Easy!

diy tangrams rubber stamps geometric cards (2)

  I totally love this whale.

Tangrams whale

 diy tangrams rubber stamps geometric cards (4)

Have you ever played with Tangrams? I’d love to hear about your experience with Tangrams in the comments below!

Natalie

Natalie

Natalie

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Comments

  1. 2

    Great idea. For someone who is not a stamper, the tangram pieces could be cut from card stock or pretty paper & just glued down.

  2. 3

    Natalie, thank you so much for this wonderful tutorial! This is by far the best idea that I’ve ever found for using up scrap rubber. I design and sell unmounted rubber stamps and will definitely be trying this out with my left over bits. Awesome job!

  3. 4

    I book marked this page bout 2 weeks ago rough drafting a post that will be published tomorrow on my blog. I will certainly be linking to this post! Thank you SOOOO MUCH for the printable! I haven’t printed (YET) but will be this week; I need to dash to the dollar store and grab a peice of foam or a thicker sponge or something that will work in my 2 year old’s hand a bit better. Her developmental skills will go crazy with this! And, if I grab the right size stamp pad (which I also don’t have right now and we’ll be using it with paint this week because of that) it will go great in a busy bag for when we get stuck at the endless doctors office visits. Thank you so much!!!

  4. 5

    This is a fabulous idea. Thanks for posting it.

  5. 6
    Karen

    I’m a “baby boomer”. My grandfather could make anything from wood. He made me a rocking horses with rope for tail and mane. Tables with roses cut into the center, and many wonderful hope chests. My favorite gifts were the tanagram pieces made from cardboard or wood. He would surprise me with different templates that resembled animals. He would keep the pieces until the next time we were together. I did, however, have a cardboard set of tanagram pieces, that I kept in a small tin. I would be challenged to come up with my own template samples to share the next time we were together. What fun and simplier times.