I finally finished my first handmade stamp!
I love the final outcome (the print), but I hated making it. Can't I just think of a design and voila...it appears? No? Maybe I should work on inventing teleportation first.
I ended up stabbing my fingers at least twice with the carving tool. Not cool. Minimal blood loss, but those suckers hurt for weeks afterwards.
I have so many other doodles I want to transform into stamps, but I've got to tell you, carving the linoblock sucked. That's a pretty harsh word for me, but it did suck. I'm going to try a softer material next time. Perhaps the lines will be less crisp (not that you can tell from my first attempts at carving the lino), but I'm going for a more natural look anyways, not precision.
Well done for persisting! Have you tried warming the lino up? You can use a hairdryer, or put it on the heater for a few moments, or just sit on it while you check your mail (that's what I do).
ReplyDeleteI did notice that if I worked on it for longer periods of time that it did become more supple, so I wondered if heat might help. I'll try the sitting thing next time =)
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