Friday, January 4, 2013

Trying Something New - Stamp Carving!


I have had stamp carving on my 'want-to-try' list for over a year. I even had the supplies & tools sitting in my craft cupboard waiting for me.

I'm not sure why it took me so long to give it a go, because once I started, I actually found it very enjoyable and almost therapeutic with the slow etching away of rubber, and the emerging of my shape.

Materials : Ezy Carve Printing Blocks and a basic carving tool set which I bought from here.

Ok, so this is how I did it....

After drawing on my design in pencil, I gently started carving away the rubber, starting from the bottom, and working my way around...



And I kept slowly etching away until I got the depth and detail I was after.


Quick tip - Be very careful with the face of the stamp (the part used for printing) as I had a couple of nail dents in mine, which I'm happy to fix up after stamping, but am hoping to avoid next time!

Once it was all finished, I inked it up for a trial run...


And ta da! It worked....mostly....


I have another couple of stamping blocks in my stash, so I'm hoping to give it another go soon.

What about you? Have you had any adventures with carving?

Till next time
xx

A belated link up with these talented people...

P.S - I've been drawing, designing and screen printing up a storm this past week....will share soon!

6 comments:

  1. That's so clever Kelly, your squirrel is just the cutest little stamp!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Looks pretty good to me! I've got the tools from doing some linocuts before so will have to give stamping a try. Thanks for the tip re the fingernails, I would have had that problem too!

    ReplyDelete
  3. awwww I love your little squirrel.. he's very sweet! I love carving too, it is very therapeutic :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. the squirrel is adorable! just like you, i've had the materials for stamp carving in my cupboard for over a year.... but i haven't started yet :(

    ReplyDelete
  5. Very cute! The only stamping I have ever done was back in high school, possibly with a bit of lino (I think that was what it was...) and then potato printing when my eldest child was younger. I think if I tried something intricate like this I would probably just end up making a mess of it! :)

    ReplyDelete

Thanks so much for stopping by. I love reading your comments - they really warm my heart. So thank you!