Sealing Wax

When I got back from my trip my boyfriend had 3 presents for me. I sure was surprised. He got me a kit with a seal and sealing wax, a tiny marblelized journal, and 4 pirate skeleton beads. The seal is of a harp to go with my last name 'harper'. So now I have more things to add to my art journal. So many things go well with rubber stamping. It truly does lend itself to mixed media. He showed me a tutorial on using the stamp and the guy said to lick the stamp first before pressing it in hot wax so it will release better. Never tried that one before. Not exactly sanitary...lol.

Somewhere from years ago I bought sealing wax and seals. I wonder where those got off too?

Bow, Arrow and Teapot stamps

Even though I'm depressed I thought making stamps might take my mind off of things. But I kept making mistakes so I gave up after 2 stamps. The teapot stamp is okay, but the archery stamp originally had the word 'archery' carved on the bow. But the letters were too hard to read and I cut the leg off the 'R' so I ended up carving the letters away which left weird little ragged edges on the bow. On the string of the bow, on the very second cut of the stamp, I cut through the string (oopsy). And the arrowhead looked pretty good but when I was cleaning up around it, I knicked it. Sigh. I have other things on my mind and my focus is off. As is my coordination.

More Carved Stamps on Etsy

I found another cool blog by a stamper here: http://cupcaketreedesigns.blogspot.com/ I feel a little guilty because I haven't carved any stamps lately. Maybe I should go out on my patio today in the spring sunshine and carve some. It wouldn't kill me. I never lack for ideas, that's for sure. It's more a matter of time. So hop over and enjoy her blog. She has some great stamps for sale at very reasonable prices. I love the 'olive u' one. Knock knock who's there? Olive. Olive who? Olive you.

Address Stamps

I need to make up some sample address stamps. I don't really want my home address on the internet so I'll have to make up an address or use one for a commercial shop or something. Hmmm.
I have so many ideas today my head is spinning. I almost envy people that can never think of anything to make. I have the opposite problem. My head is so bursting with ideas, it's hard to focus and finish anything. This morning alone I thought of a new amigurumi mouse, a necklace made with fiber 'cocoon beads', a wire Easter basket, and some more folk art paintings. Ack my brain is full.

When carving an address stamp, don't forget to carve all letters and symbols backwards.

I just signed up for Tagfoot. http://ping.fm/lfV6m Come see all my links and comments and my wishlist.

Want to join ping.fm too? Go to http://www.ping.fm.Use the code 'legendofping' and you could have the luxury of posting to all your blogs in one fell swoop like I do. Way more efficient than doing it one by one.

I'm not sure what 'ping my default' means but I guess I'll find out when I hit send.

The week sure went by quick. I had a lot more planned but didn't have the energy to do it. My hands are still sore from woodcarving, and so I've had to lay off the knitting and crocheting. I'm looking forward to the weekend. My daughter may visit. We'll see.

Come view my Flickr photo stream. Over 3000 photos I've taken are waiting there for your pleasure. http://ping.fm/3TTAi

I just signed up for Ping.fm to make social networking more effiecient.

Stamp Carving Day

I spent yesterday at the Pasadena Arroyo carving stamps.

Kokopelli Name Stamps

I carved four new stamps today. I gave one away. I took photos but it's too late to be digging around for my camera, so hopefully tomorrow I will remember to post them. They are of Kokopelli.

Boogie Robot

A new stamp.

New stamps I carved

Three of the four stamps I carved yesterday. I've learned to leave on extra stamp material until the carving is finished. Yesterday I was carving an address stamp and I made the '9' and forgot to carve it backwards, but because I had a lot of eraser left under my address I was able to add a new zip code below my address, and cut off the one that I had botched. There is no photo of the address stamp because I don't feel like sharing my address with the whole world.

But here are 3 other stamps I carved. The branchlike one was inspired by a sculpture at the mall. I'm sure it will come in handy at some point even if it isn't a popular and easy to label image. That's the beauty of carving your own stamps...you can make designs that you'll never find in a stamp store because they aren't commercial enough for the masses.

Hand stamps

Yesterday I carved some new stamps while waiting in the Harry Potter line. When I was cleaning up today I found these two life sized hand stamps I carved years ago for a poetry booklet. Both of the thumbs had broken off. So I laid them out carefully and phototgraphed them.

Go see more stamped art.

There are some cool hand carving galleries over on Flickr. This is just one of them. http://flickr.com/groups/28928217@N00/

Stamping on hot melt glue.

I was cleaning house and found this stamp I'd carved stuck in a box of office supplies. 

Tips and Techniques

I feel like I get the strongest images when I use a Sharpie Marker to draw directly on the eraser. Bold images are the easiest to carve. The way you improve your drawing skills is to use them.
When I start carving, I may correct less than perfect lines as I cut. I may choose to cut a little inside or outside of a line to make it better. You can also draw in pencil first, and then go over it with the Sharpie. Or, if you really don't trust yourself, you can use carbon paper or graphite paper to put the design on the eraser. Remember the print will be reversed, so you have to write letters, names and numbers backwards. If you draw a dog facing left it will print facing right. Usually it doesn't matter which way animals face, but for your finished piece of art, you may need it facing a specific way. If you want two dogs ...one facing right, one facing left, then carve the first dog. Ink it well and stamp it onto a blank eraser. Then use that stamping as the carving lines for dog #2. And viola, you end up with two dogs that look pretty similiar but not exactly the same. This is also a way to save a design you loved that went wrong somewhere. And a good way to improve.

Vampire Queen in red.