Nearly a year ago I ran across this collection of tangram-style images created by Diego Mir. I loved the way they looked and immediately wanted to try to make my own.
I started off by making myself a bunch of shape stamps. They were so easy to put together. To make your own you will need:
- craft foam sheets
- scissors
- glue (I used tacky glue)
- pieces of wood, cardboard, or styrofoam for the backing (I used wooden blocks)
This isn’t technically a tangram set, which is a made up of seven pieces (5 triangles, a square, and a parallelogram), but it has a tangram feel to it. I started by cutting squares, triangles, rectangles, circles, semi-circles, and quarter circles in varying sizes out of my foam sheets.
After I cut out the shapes, I glued them onto the wooden blocks with tacky glue. I put two shapes on each block. When the glue was dry, I was ready to get stampin!
I used black acrylic paint, but an ink pad would work great too. If you are using paint, I would recommend brushing the paint on the stamp with a foam brush to avoid getting paint on the stamp backing.
Now it’s time to play! It is really easy to make fun and simple patterns with these stamps, but you can also get creative and create animals, buildings, or vehicles.
I loved Diego Mir’s lobsters and wanted to create my own versions on canvases for my son’s nursery. I started off by practicing the lobster design on a piece of paper.
When working on a canvas, I needed to put a book beneath the canvas to support the fabric in the middle and get a good, clean stamp. I used my practice image as my guide and stamped a lobster in the middle of each canvas.
I didn’t worry too much about trying to get it too perfect. In my opinion, it’s the imperfections and flaws that make these really interesting and beautiful.
Aren’t they fun? I really love the way these little guys look hanging in my baby boy’s newly completed nursery. There is just so much potential for these stamps, and I know I will be using them again and again.
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Looks like a fun DIY!
Super cute! I love how they look in the finished nursery… I'm about to get started on the twins nursery and love some of your ideas 🙂
So ADORABLE, Alexis! I agree that the appeal is in how the shapes aren't perfectly placed.
What a great idea!
Eee! Those lobsters are aaaaahdorable! Perfect in a nursery 🙂