What We Made: Hand Carved Stamps

You all know that I love stamps, right??!  So, when I started seeing some hand carved stamps on Etsy and Pinterest, I knew I had to give it a try.  Below are some of the first stamps I have carved.  Some of them aren't so great...no laughing! :)  I started out carving on Pentel Hi-Polymer Erasers.  If you decide to give this a try, get this brand!  I tried another brand because I thought any eraser would do, but the other brand was way too crumbly and did not carve well. You can find the Pentel erasers at Target, Wal-Mart, etc.  You can also buy a rubber carving block (made for carving stamps) by Speedball at Hobby Lobby or Michaels, just don't forget your coupon! The carving blocks are larger and work well for carving larger stamps.  You will also need a linoleum cutter to carve the rubber.

Here are some of the stamps I have carved.  Most of mine are solid images because that is easier to start out with.  I have carved one line image, and it turned out O.K., but it is hard to get the thin lines to turn out right. Hopefully with more practice it will become easier.  

There are several online tutorials you can view, and several bloggers who are extraordinarily skilled at carving stamps.  A few I like are:

http://talktothesunhandmade.blogspot.com/

http://memitherainbow.blogspot.com/

http://www.ishtarolivera.com/blog/

http://blogdelanine.blogspot.com/

I also purchased two books on the subject, because this is something I have wanted to do for awhile, and something I hope to get better at.

This first one is full of stamping techniques, project ideas and templates to carve your own stamps .  If you are already a stamper, most of the techniques will already be familiar to you, but it does include a tutorial on carving your own stamps. 

  This book, THIS BOOK,  is beautiful!  It is full of project ideas not only for stamping and carving your own stamps, but also for using your stamps in embroidery projects.  It is full of beautiful photos, beautiful projects, and includes tons of templates to carve your own stamps.  It includes a tutorial on carving your own stamps as well.  I included a link to Geninne's blog above. She is an amazing artist!

I purchased both of these books at Amazon.com.   Let me know if you give this a try!