Carving Stamps Part 1

About a million years ago when I was in school I took a print class where we carved our own blocks and then used them to print.  I didn't really take to it.  In fact, I hated it.   I'm not certain if it was me, or the instructor or a combination, but when I finished the class I pretty much swore I'd never carve again.  But then a few years ago I came across a book by Traci Bunkers called "Print Stamp Lab" and it got me thinking that maybe I'd like to try carving stamps instead of linoleum blocks.  After some trial and error I discovered I actually like carving stamps.


I thought I'd post a really basic walk-through for those of you who might be curious about the process.  You'll need some speedy carve blocks (or an eraser will also work, but is a bit harder to carve) a surface protector, a sharpie and a lino-cutter set (there are a lot of different cutters that you can buy for different textures but this basic one works great for beginners.)

The first step is to decide on your image and then transfer it to your carving block.  But for part one, I'm actually going to do it free-hand so I'm skipping step one and headed straight to step 2:

Cut out your block to the size you'll need for your image.   Obviously if I was working with a transferred image you'd see it in the center, but since I'm doing this free-hand its blank.

You always want to start with your smallest carving point.  You want to start with your finest details first.  I think of this step like an outline.  You want to always carve away from yourself--not only is it safer, but you have more control over your carving tools.  You also want to work from the inside to the out.

At this point you'll have removed a little bit of the top layer of the carving block, but it won't be very deep.  So it's time to swap out your carving tips for a larger size and keep removing the block.  You want to work in long smooth strokes for clean lines.  This takes practice--so start simply and don't give up if it doesn't work well the first time.

When you think you're ready you can ink it up and do a test stamp.  This is helpful for seeing where the stamp might not be cut clean enough.  If you need to keep working, simply wash it off and go back to carving.


When you're done--you've got a custom stamp to use in your art journal or other projects!

Tomorrow I'm going to post part 2 of this walk-through and show how to use a stencil to create a masking stamp.  So come back for more!