I thought I would try something different and carve a one of a kind stamp. This was commissioned by a teacher who wanted to personalize the assignments he was grading so it’s the size is 1.75″ tall and 1″ wide. It’s small. However, it was a lot of fun and easier than I thought it would be. Continue reading for more details on how it was created using these tools:
The concept started with a picture that the teacher wanted me to create into a stamp. Since I’ve manufactured stamps and have a stamp pressing machine in the garage, it was natural to be asked. However, that process is expensive for individual stamps and reserved for mass production. Because this was going to be a one-off, it seemed like a better idea to carve one. I’ve never done that before so why not?!I purchased a basic carving tool set and rubber block from Amazon. After I drew the image, got it approved and then transferred it to the rubber (reversed image, by the way so don’t forget to do that if you carve something), then I began the process of carving. Out of all the tools in the rubber carving set, I ended up only using the one tool that had a deep V-shape. I’m not sure how to use the others but perhaps on a larger image they would come in handy. I was surprised how easy it way to carve out the blank areas and I didn’t have to dig as deep as I thought. My initial plan was to just remove what I could then deepen it later but that really wasn’t necessary.I avoided stamping and testing it out until I thought I was finished. I didn’t want to risk covering up my lines with the ink and then losing the image that still needed to be carved. So when I got to the end, I was finally able to test it out and see how it worked. Wow, it turned out a lot better than I thought – even the mistakes look good and I’m happy with how it turned out. I think I’ll be trying this again!
That is very interesting! I remember doing that exact same carving in art class during my schooling years (way way long ago, lol) Pretty neat looking face! Not easy to do. You are very talented!
Sproatmeyer 
That is very interesting! I remember doing that exact same carving in art class during my schooling years (way way long ago, lol) Pretty neat looking face! Not easy to do. You are very talented!
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