You trace whatever you'd like to make on the tracing paper and color it in nicely with a pencil. I freehanded a letter R in a circle, as R is my last initial. I didn't have anything specific in mind, I just wanted to try out my new supplies. I have a set of six carving implements, so I should be good to go if I really get into carving. If not, it was only $10 for the supplies, and the R and stamp pad have already been worth the expense.
It was pretty quick, only about 15 minutes from start to finish, and a lot of fun. I got a colored stamp blank, which makes it a lot easier to carve. You just carve away the colored surface until it's white where you don't want ink to show up. I got the purple ink because it matched the blank exactly. Lee likes it also, but says we need red to use it on correspondences he's a part of. Oh darn, I have to buy another ink pad? I'm glad he likes it enough to want to use it.
It's not perfect, with the odd edges and divot where the curve of the R rejoins the line, but it's pretty good. I'm very happy with it. It's obviously homemade, but is the rustic kind of homemade some people pay for. I'm not sure how much I'll be getting into stamp making. I want to make a letterboxing stamp for myself, and probably a nice kanji or two from my calligraphy class once I get something worth carving, and then I'd like to make some local letterboxes since there aren't any. I might also make an interesting one to stamp things I make for people, since I would like some sort of label for handmade gifts. I've toyed with the idea of embroidering a symbol on, but stamping might work also. A small symbol that I can carve and switch out colors depending on the yarn I'm using. That might work!
I have found so few blogs about letterboxing. It is something that has interested me for a long time, but alas, have not had time to pursue it. Please blog more about it if you continue.. ;o) Would love to hear how it comes out.
ReplyDeleteLinda
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