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4 Responses
Designed, carved and stamped an ampersand. The first stamp I made was backwards (noob). This would work much better on a rubber stamp block. Anyone have any experience/advice in hand carving stamps?
4 months ago
Pro
Nicholas van der Meer
I've carved a few. Used vinyl or something like it and wood. If you're using wood, you're going to want to use the densest thing you can find; this means hitting up a lumber yard for some scrap hardwood. Nothing at Home Depot or Lowe's is going to be dense enough. You want the grain tight because 1) it's way easier to carve details and 2) the ink will stay on the surface of the wood rather than soak in, so it will more easily transfer to your paper.
You might also want to experiment with which part off the plank is best for carving the relief. I think you might have more luck with the face (I don't know if that is the actual term) where the grain runs horizontally or vertically rather the end like in the pic above. The open ends of a board are more absorbent than the sides. The grain is basically a bunch of straws the tree uses to distribute water and nutrients and whatnot so the end of the wood is going to wick that ink into the fiber making it harder to transfer to the paper.
Wow...really sorry for the long-winded answer.
4 months ago
@Nicholas van der Meer Don't apologize—I need all the help I can get, and you sir, have helped a great deal! That said, I think I used balsa wood—one of the least dense options—since it was on hand, & was going to try out some basswood next. I assume I'll have to strike a balance between ease of carving and density of wood. Thanks for the suggestions in checking lumber yards for scraps, & in using the non-grain end of the wood. High fives all around!
4 months ago
Pro
Nicholas van der Meer
Cool. I suggest an X-Acto knife and a whole lot of patience. Slow and steady and all that. I was thinking, you could also use soapstone (like Chinese stamps). I've never used it but i know it's soft enough to carve with a razor blade (though I'm certain there is a safer alternative) and it's less porous than wood.
4 months ago