What I'm Making: Stamp Carving

One of the items on my creative bucket list was to learn how to design and carve quarter repeat stamps (stamps that you can turn around to create repeating patterns).

Julie Balzer is the absolute queen of carving patterned stamps in my book so I figured that I would turn to her book to learn.

I skipped over most of the exercises and went right for the projects I wanted to do! The major downside of this was that I did not posses the confidence to draw my designs right onto the block but had to sketch them out on graph paper first. 

  

AJ was the first one to test out my stamp and gave it a multi-colored thumbs up!

I got my turn soon enough and made a card and some wrapping paper.

I love both the designing and carving aspects of this craft. The only downside is that I can't do the carving while any of my kiddos are awake because they always want to "help" Mamma. :-)

In my studio: Achy hands, happy heart

Seeing how my designs look carved in wood!

A step further

A few weeks ago, I posted this design from my sketchbook.

 It seemed to have so much potential that I decided to make a stamp out of it.

It is always nice to feel like you have accomplished something "real" with your sketches!!

Happy Valentine's Day! (sketching and stamping)

Off the bucket list

I have developed a love for woodcut prints over time and think that if I every, one day get to go back to school that I would pursue an art degree in printmaking. It is not just the prints that I'm drawn to, but the  woodcut blocks themselves. There is just so much artistry in them!!

1. Beck woodcut block, 2. Zinnia, block print, , 3. Almost finished..., 4. Aphorism Blocks , 

5. Inked block , 6. Block, 7. Bookplate Block

In the meantime, as I enjoy my days as a stay at home mom, I would really like to use my free time to hone my skills as much as humanly possible. Since I already had the necessary supplies around the house to start a project. (scrap wood from my husband's first homebrew stand and cheapo student-grade wood carving tools) I decided to check this skill acquiring off my bucket list.

If you've taken a peek at my sketches before, this flower motif will be familiar to you.

I didn't quite get halfway through before a blister started to develop on my palm. The quality of your tools definitely matters!!!

Although I'm hoping to finish this up over the weekend, I've got some base boards in need of painting first!