Stamp Layering

I was rather sick to my stomach this morn so I stayed home from work today and made soup. I got a bit bored of my cycle of pintrest, TV and books.   I recently admired Genine's stamps and had wanted to carve some up for my Christmas cards this year. Last year, I did the water colored scene. I loved those, but wanted to change it up a bit.

I started by sketching designs on to a larger index card since that would be the general size of the overall image. I ended up wanting to make a scene that only could be achieved by making multiple stamps to layer to create depth. I went for a mountain scene with moon and trees. I decided on simple designs that I can use at later times, other than for Christmas cards.

I made the simple triangles stamp first. I free handed the triangles onto the master carve based off the earlier sketches I did. I am not a skilled carver so I started with the basic exact-o knife to cut straight lines into the master carve, trying not to go too deep. I took thin layers of the background off in small sections. I tested it out many times. Cleaning it up as I went along. As seen above, on my test scrap I sketched in the mountains and moon onto the opposite side of the master block from the trees. This master carve block is so thick and expensive ($35 for a 8x11 thick sheet).  It helps me get more stamps and I know it will be the same size to match up the images.  

I used a rollerball carver on the mountain side, trying to do continuous cuts in order to keep the lines smooth. As you can see I don't always keep true to the ball point line. The extra bump in the middle mountain felt natural when I carved and looked great when I tested it. The fine tip helped make the fine valleys. I started clearing the sky with wide curve tip with the intention to take it all out. I kept with the line of the mountain I had cut first and created these great curves. I did a test and loved the effect it left in the sky. Cleaning out high spots until I liked it.

I started layering it up with the triangles. I love the placement. I will say that working with double sided stamp is messy and I now have ink all over. It would be best to have a similar size of cardboard to sandwich between your hand. The ball point ink will come off in the first few stamps but, will soon fade. Also, working with exact-o knives and rollerballs is tricky, always point away from yourself and go slow. The top middle one in the image above was the final stamp.

I am known to mix inks which eventually dirtys the lighter colors. I always lay the stamp face up on the table and apply the ink pad with my hand. I think most people do it the opposite way. This helps me mix colors on the triangles to look like trees in the above image. Also, I could make the moon or half the triangles a diffrent color or achieve shading in the right spots.

Here are some awesome triangles by themselves will make nice wrapping paper. I ended up switching colors and getting kind of purple trees. This can be avoided by stamping off all the ink on scraps. I like when there traces and it creates variation. It also allowed me to see that the triangles in a  non-Christmas color are an awesome pattern to have as a stamp.

Camellias and Stamps

The Camellias are still going strong. I have picked many bouquets for the house. I wish I had a florist frog. Camellia stems are very twiggy and the heavy blossoms tend to want to turn the vase over. My Nana uses low flat vases with the frog to display hers. Out of all the vases that I have this is  the lowest, not flat at all. The frog is heavy and spiky and holds the stems just in the right spot.

We have had even more beautiful days for me to take pictures. My mom came this past weekend and I showed off my Camellias. She referred to them as a "double camellia", obviously not their technical name. She said she had not seen many like them either. I am thinking about making a stamp of a Camellia based off of one the photos. That is a daunting task.

After my birthday, I was in a strip mall that has a Trader Joe's and an awesome art store. I still had birthday money burning a hole in my pocket. I was all laden with bags prepared for the zoo at Trader Joe's but, found myself walking across the parking lot into Jerry's Art-a-rama. I started off humbly picking out new colors of Prisma's out of the bin. Then it hit me! I have always wanted to make stamps. I read Geninne's Art Blog and she makes amazing stamps out of Mastercarve, check her out. I am a hoarder of many things, including stamps. I never use them because I want original patterns and designs. Not sooo perfect. I have been looking for a block of Mastercarve for awhile. Ta-Da there it was. It was pricey, but I figure I'll use both sides.

After rushing through Trader Joe's, I came home and sat down and immediately made these two stamps. The "M" on one side and the Enso on the other. I love them! I cant wait to start on the Camellia.