Friday, August 1, 2008

Stamp Carving Tutorial: PART II

In case you missed the first part of my Stamp Carving Tutorial, here it is: Stamp Carving Tutorial: Part I.


Step 1: Either trace or draw your image with pencil. Make the pencil markings as dark as possible because this will determine how bold your transfer will be. The bolder the transfer, the better!



Step 2: Cut a block of carving material to the size of your image. Press the image to the material and rub. Try not to move the image because you want one solid transfer. If the image shifts while you're rubbing, you may end up with multiple copies of your image on the carving material, which is bad. :)



Step 3: Trace the pencil image with permanent marker. This is important because the pencil image tends to fade during the carving, so it's nice to have a permanent outline of the image on your carving material.



Step 4: Carve out everything that's not in permanent ink. I use a small carving tip, I think it's size 1, for the details and I'm currently using size 3 to remove the bigger chunks.



Step 5: During my carving process, every time I carve something out of my stamp, I ink it and make an impression. This helps me see the progress of my carving. The hardest part about stamp carving, however, is knowing when to stop. Your stamp can potentially lose an eye or mouth if you keep trying to perfect it.



Step 6: We're almost done (Part III is next, so stay tuned).

Here's my coffee cup...for now (ha ha):

17 comments:

Tizzalicious said...

Fantastic tutorial! Thank you!

Holly said...

That is so cool. But, I'll leave the stamp carving up to you. I can't draw in the first place, so that pretty much puts a damper on my skills. Tee hee!

Anonymous said...

That is adorable! I can't wait to try it!

Penny said...

Thankyou! Awesome tutorial, am going to try this.

Laura said...

Oh, I have missed soo much and only been away a few days! Your tutorials are fab, but after much deliberation and sheer lack of space for any new kit in my room, I have desided to leave stamp making to the experts - you!

Lori said...

what a great tutorial!!! i would love to try this but i would probably cut one of my fingers off...LOL...your esty shop looks totally adorable, congratulations...i love that you started with a pea theme, how CUTE!!!

aimee said...

super cool! and very hard to do! i've tried before and always ended by throwing my hands up in the air :)

zakkalife said...

great tutorial!

coffee cups look so cute with faces :)

Anonymous said...

oh my gosh that is cute!

Mal said...

Nice tute!! suck cute illustrations!

Rubyellen said...

that is so so cool!!! eek... i want to try!!!

Shelley said...

My goodness! That is SO cool! I am definitely adding this to my "must do" projects list!

Amanda Fetters said...

So very darned neet-o! Such a great tutorial...

Lauren M. Davis Folk Art! said...

Those are awesome and have inspired me as well!!!!! Very cool!!!!

MARLOU B. said...

Thanks for sharing!!!
Great tutorial!
I will try to!

♥ Nia said...

Love it!!!!
thanks for the tutorial :D
I wanted to do this but didn't know how! :p

Unknown said...

YAY!! Thanks so much for tutorial!
so, I can make for assignment XD