Most Frequently Asked Question

I thought today I'd tackle the answer to the question I'm asked the most:
"What material do you use to make your stamps?"
This is my humongous stash of Staedtler's MasterCarve rubber carving blocks. Unfortunately this wonderful material has been discontinued for a few years
and it doesn't look like it's making a comeback any time soon.
I have enough to last me a decade I guess :-)
There is a brand that is very similar and we used it during the stamp carving workshop I taught in Toronto last year, it's called MooCarve. The nice thing about it is that it has the same thickness as the MasterCarve blocks and is very easy to hold when stamping. I doesn't need to be mounted onto wood or acrylic if you don't want to.
I've also used Speedy-Carve rubber blocks by Speedball and it works really well but it only has a quarter of an inch in thickness and does need
some kind of backing with larger size stamps.
I also collect different brands of rubber erasers for smaller stamps. Lookout for the very dense erasers that won't crumble when you carve into them.
You can purchase the MooCarve blocks from Amazon, Blick Art Materials and other art & craft supply shops.

New stamps

Every once in a while
when I need a break from drawing...
I turn to carving :)
I bought those beautiful
vintage postcards from
Digital Collage Sheets
as a digital download,
printed and cut them at home

to be used in future collages.

Rooted flower stamp

Another stamp I carved this weekend.
This one's 4 inches tall.
I used VersaColor's Ultimate Pigment ink pad in Bamboo
to stamp it on watercolor paper.

Songbird stamp

Here's little Songbird (4x4 inches)
in a different medium.
This time I hand carved him into a stamp.
I used a Staedtler Mastercarve carving block
& my Speedball linoleum cutters.
There is a great tutorial online
on how to carve your own stamps right here, if you're interested.
You can also take a look at my growing collection of hand carved stamps
by clicking here.

Illustration Friday: MOON

Hand carved linoleum print on paper.

This is the original watercolor
that inspired me to give linoleum printing a try.

ABCs

This little alphabet
is the latest addition to my ever growing
hand carved stamp collection.
The "y" & "z" didn't fit in the box :o(
I'll have to find a bigger box
so they can all be together.
By the way...I flipped the image so you could see the letters straight.
If you want to carve out some letters remember
to draw them backwards.