Northwest Stamper

Hand Carved Travel Stamp Set with Undefined

Ok, so I don’t have a completed card for you today but I had to share something else crafty I did this week-

I carved my own personal stamp set!!!

I am so stinkin’ excited about how it turned out, especially since, other than the one stamp I carved at convention, this was pretty much my first time carving stamps. And I know, it sounds harder than it is! So this is what I created:

So, on Monday I ran a class to show others how to create their own stamps. So, they were given a refill kit and were able to use my carving tools and I shared tips and ideas I’ve learned from talking to others and carving myself.

For example:

Draw your image on a piece of computer/copy paper and then turn it over and rub it onto your raw rubber. I find that mechanical pencils work best or graphite pencils.
Start by carving out the big sections with the wider carving tool and then get precise with the detail tool.
When you are carving, especially when going around curves, turn your rubber NOT the carving tool.
Before you start cutting out the image (once you’ve carved it out) mount it to the foam. That way you don’t have to trim the foam in a second step.
Stamp your image with Staz-on on the surface of your wood block before mounting it

Here are some of the stamps created by folks at the class:

And yes! That pinata got carved out by someone as their first stamp ever carved! I forgot to take a picture of the finished stamp, but it turned out almost exactly like her drawing. I was SO impressed!

My final stamp I carved during the class was the suitcase stamp to finish out my travel set.