Letterboxing USA - Yahoo Groups Archive

Getting Started in Washington DC

3 messages in this thread | Started on 2003-03-05

[Q] Getting Started in Washington DC

From: Eric Gorr (ericgorr@cox.net) | Date: 2003-03-05 21:33:58 UTC
Just recently learned about letterboxing, which looks like it may be
*too* much fun. At the moment, I am currently suffering from
information overload.

The piece(s) of information I am most interested in now is creating a
stamp so I can mark books that people have left.

I live in the Washington DC metro area (specifically, Fairfax) and was
wondering if anyone could suggest a good store where I could buy a
high quality stamp which I could then carve.

(online stores could be useful as well, but I was hoping to pick
something up soon)

Pointers to tutorial/tips for doing the actual carving (I'm not an
art-inclined person) would be helpful as well.




Re: Getting Started in Washington DC

From: AM (angele@twcny.rr.com) | Date: 2003-03-05 16:58:34 UTC-05:00
At 09:33 PM 3/5/03 +0000, Eric Gorr wrote:
>Just recently learned about letterboxing, which looks like it may be
>*too* much fun.

It is! You're lucky to have a lot of boxes nearby just waiting to be found.

>Pointers to tutorial/tips for doing the actual carving (I'm not an
>art-inclined person) would be helpful as well.

I didn't think I was very art-inclined before I carved my first stamps,
either. I still consider myself a bit creatively challenged, but my stamps
(while not masterpieces in any way) have turned out a lot better than I
anticipated. You might be surprised by what you can create. Let go of your
expectations, have fun with the carving and see what happens. :-)

This is a great place to find links on all sorts of basic letterboxing
topics if you're just starting out:

http://www.letterboxing.info/articles/00000002.shtml

Welcome to the obsession!

TurtleMcQ


Re: [LbNA] [Q] Getting Started in Washington DC

From: (gbecket@aol.com) | Date: 2003-03-06 07:47:51 UTC-05:00
In a message dated 3/5/2003 4:35:49 PM Eastern Standard Time, ericgorr@cox.net writes:

I live in the Washington DC metro area (specifically, Fairfax) and was
wondering if anyone could suggest a good store where I could buy a
high quality stamp which I could then carve.


You can try the Total Crafts stores - they have a stamp section but you usually have to ask for carving meduim and tools.  I got an excellent kit there and it has worked well for me but I have mostly saved the pink stuff and ended up doing a lot of my stamps on white erasers from the Dollar Store.  On letterboxing.org there's a link to Der Mad Stamper's page and that's where I got my "training and inspiration".