Stamp Carving.

One of the things that drives me crazy is not having an image to convey the impression I'm going for on a particular piece. I can see it in my head...but I know I have no stamp or sticker or anything else that fits the mood. My favorite way to fix this problem is to make something. One of my favorite ways, is to carve my own stamps!

Not a lot of tools are needed to carve stamps. It can be done with a craft knife alone if need be. Some material that the relief image can be cut away from is also necessary. Rubber erasers will do, although they are a bit small. I don't seem to be a start small person though. I usually either go big or decide I don't want to do that particular craft. Stamp carving was something I had tried sort of, in high school. I think I did several lino-cut pieces, but I only have one set of plates left for a 2 color print I created. So I already knew I kind of enjoyed the carving process. I went big and bought a few different carving mediums and 4 full sets of carving tools. The reason for 3 sets for me was for convenience. With 4 handles I can have 4 different gouge blades already mounted for use and I don't waste time changing the blades around every time I want a different type cut. If you think you will be serious about carving, I recommend 3-5 handles. I would like to have one more.

To begin my stamp, I first created my image as a drawing on paper. I used an old Prima products mask I have to help me create the birds in flight shapes I was craving. It was an ideal for me because the birds were just the right sizes. So I drew them out, then used a #2 graphite pencil and coated the back of my bird's lines with a thick layer of pencil. I laid the graphite side down on my stamp material, and used a ball point pen to trace around my images, transferring the graphite to the stamp material. 

There are a couple of things I want to say here before I go on. The first thing is this. SAFETY FIRST! If you don't wear glasses, wear goggles. The waste material usually flies away from you, but every now and then it's going to fly up in your face, trust me when I tell you that it kinda hurts when it lands in your eye. Especially if you're working with a semi hard material like actual linoleum, or even worse, wood. Some materials can cause permanent damage to eyes, and there's always a chemical risk from man made materials and inks. The second thing I want to say is always, Always, ALWAYS cut away from yourself...including the fingers of your non-cutting hand. These blades don't appear to be butcher knife sharp when you're just holding them in your hand, but put 20 pounds of pressure behind it when you're carving linoleum, and a slipped knife could cause a lot of damage! I gave myself a couple of nasty cuts in high school before I learned to keep out of my own way, and I would hope to spare you the same pain. Okay, I think we are ready to proceed. :)

The four gouge blades I use most are the 1V which has a teeny tiny v at the tip. It is the gouge in the photo below. It is awesome for outlining your first cut, and for creating texture inside of your image. I also use it to clear spaces that are pretty close together. this is the gouge I used to make the lines between the two wings where they overlap. The second blade I like to use is the 1U. It is decidedly shovel shaped at the tip, and can make relatively quick progress in clearing waste material, but is still small and delicate for more detail and finer lines. The third I like is the 6V. It is used for deepening the outline around your image in preparation for clearing away the waste. The fourth I like to keep loaded is the 2U. It can clear a LOT of waste material in a hurry! It is however still small enough to get into some of those tighter quarters. These blades come in sets with the handles and there are several more blades to choose from. The largest U blade I have is an 8. It is huge! I'm not sure I have ever used it. lol Once you start using the tools you will find your own favorites, and that is as it should be.

It doesn't really matter where you start, but I like to begin with an edge. I wasn't trying to make this stamp a pristine, detailed image that looked super realistic, so the very organic shapes of the wings, and imperfect heads really appealed to me. The key to getting a great image is not to get in too big a hurry. Take your time. Shave slowly around the edges of your images, and if you make a small mistake try to embrace it and realize it is part of what makes this a hand carved, home-made unique piece of art! 

I want to take a moment to say that I consider myself to be a beginning stamp carver! I was truly inspired to try carving again by Julie fei-fan Balzer. There are so many stamp makers out there that surpass me in both skill and talent. I wish them all the great success they can earn and so richly deserve! There are tons of other stamp carving blogs, tutorials, videos, classes... I'm sure if you are truly interested, you'll be able to find several that work for you.

I always do a practice run of the stamp when I think I'm done. There always seems to be a little bit of stuff sticking up somewhere that needs to be cut out or a shadow line that needs to be trimmed away. Here below was the first impression with the new stamp. One small detail to remember when drawing your initial image...it is going to stamp backwards from what it was drawn...so if it makes a difference, do it backwards!

This lovely pink stamp material is about 3/8 of an inch thick. With a bit of practice, and planning, you can carve TWO images from the same piece of rubber! After I was happy with the birds and had cleaned them up as much as I wanted, I flipped the stamp over and drew out a second image on the back and carved it out as well!

And finally, a peek at the finished ATC I made from the stamp. I watercolored the background with iridescent paint, then stamped over it with black memento ink. I completed the card by hand lettering the sentiment with a black gel pen.

This set of ATCs was created for Diane Pineschi's Facebook group, Ventura County Artist Trading Cards. The May 2018 theme is birds. I encourage you to check out her group if larger swaps are something you really enjoy.

Have an awesome day, and thanks for checking out my blogpost!