"Art is my vehicle through life; may we share the ride together." Ron Wickersham

Monday, April 23, 2007

Handcarved Stamps

After spending most of last week organizing the charm swap, I hope to now post more on the blog and to play a little.



Today I carved some stamps. I have always wanted to try this and was amazed at how easy it turned out to be. I used those really inexpensive pink erasers (remember those from school days?) and an Exacto knife. I drew a design on paper and then "colored" the solid areas in very heavily with the pencil lead. Then I turned the design right side down on the eraser and rubbed well with my fingers. (You can also do this with a fresh photocopy, laying the inked side on the eraser and rubbing with acetone or nail polish remover.) This transfers the lead to the eraser surface.


Then I carefully cut around the black areas (these will become the raised areas of your stamp and, thus, the design it will stamp) and cut away excess eraser. I found it easiest to chip away at the eraser with small cuts. The main "rule" is to not undercut (angling your knife toward the underside of the design) - you will not get good impressions from the stamp if you do.


I was surprised that the straight lines were actually harder to carve than the curves!

3 comments:

Trish D said...

Very cool project! I've always meant to do something like that, but never actually tried it.

And you've been tagged! Read all the details here: http://trish-d.blogspot.com/2007/04/rak-and-another-tag.html

Penny Rabbit said...

Wow...these are too die for! LOve the swirl! I will have to try my hand at this.....thanks for telling how!

Lennea said...

I;ve been thinking about making some stamps for awhile. These turned out great!
Lennea