Carving stamps - give it a try! - Thread - Letterboxing USA Archive

Carving stamps - give it a try!

From: zed_boxing (szorzi_1999@yahoo.com) | Date: 2004-02-22 00:56:03 UTC

With all the new letterboxers joining this site (including me) and
with the recent discussion about store-bought stamps...

I have NO objection to store-bought stamps. But if you're just
afraid or nervous to try your hand at carving, don't be!

It's a lot easier than it looks. Visit the links on the LbNA site
to various carving tutorials and tips. Get yourself a Speedball
carving tool and go for it.

My first 3 stamps were gouged out (and I mean that the negative way)
with woodcarving tools. Two of them are my sig stamps, large and
small versions. The third one is in the "Fleur de Lis Pizza"
letterbox. Some who find that one may think it stinks, but I think
it's OK for an early effort.

Once I got the Speedball tools, things improved fast. I recently
finished a 1.5 by 1.5 inch carving of a cool museum logo which
includes words. It came out great! I wouldn't have believed I
could do that 3 months ago.

Start with a reverse carving, where you just carve the outline and
you're done. The bigger the image, the easier it is to carve.
You'll be surprised how good even that will look. I still do some
reverse carvings, especially on tiny stamps.

As you get better, you'll be able to handle smaller things. And
regular carvings where you carve away material instead of just
carving around an outline. Save the letter carving until you get a
little experience under your belt.

My sister recently carved her first stamp - a signature stamp. She
was very frustrated while she was working on it. I kept telling her
to calm down, that it was looking good. I made her make impressions
along the way so she could see how it was shaping up. When it was
done, she was surprised. It'a a bowling ball knocking down 3 pins -
pretty ambitious for a first-time carving in my opinion - and it
came out GREAT! I think her first is equal to my 10th or 12th
effort.

Key thing is not to quit, keep going. Keep carving no matter how
crummy you think it looks, until you've carved it all. And then
carve another. And another.

What do you have to lose? The tools cost less than $10. If, after
you've carved about 30 stamps, you still think they're awful then
you have my permission to give up. But that WON'T happen!
You'll do fine - maybe not Rembrandt, but you'll surprise yourself.

And, no, I don't draw, paint, sculpt, or even do any crafty things -
until now with the eraser carving. So I was pure, untested, no-
talent go-out-on-a-limb material. And, hey - I'm gettin' pretty
darn good!

Zed
P12 F2

Re: Carving stamps - give it a try!

From: monkeytoes108 (cruschhaupt@yahoo.com) | Date: 2004-02-22 11:50:08 UTC

I agree with you. I had to carve some linoleum in my high school art
class about 12 years ago. That was my first and only experience with
carving until now. I just made my first letterboxing stamp
(personal) using the speedball tools and a chunk of SpeddyCut. It
came out great! My only advice to a new carver would be to go slow
and give yourself room for error. If you are going to leave a thin
line to be stamped, carve it thick and then shave it to the thinness
you desire.

I can't wait to make more.

-MonkeyToes

--- In letterbox-usa@yahoogroups.com, "zed_boxing"
wrote:
> With all the new letterboxers joining this site (including me) and
> with the recent discussion about store-bought stamps...
>
> I have NO objection to store-bought stamps. But if you're just
> afraid or nervous to try your hand at carving, don't be!
>
> It's a lot easier than it looks. Visit the links on the LbNA site
> to various carving tutorials and tips. Get yourself a Speedball
> carving tool and go for it.
>
> My first 3 stamps were gouged out (and I mean that the negative
way)
> with woodcarving tools. Two of them are my sig stamps, large and
> small versions. The third one is in the "Fleur de Lis Pizza"
> letterbox. Some who find that one may think it stinks, but I
think
> it's OK for an early effort.
>
> Once I got the Speedball tools, things improved fast. I recently
> finished a 1.5 by 1.5 inch carving of a cool museum logo which
> includes words. It came out great! I wouldn't have believed I
> could do that 3 months ago.
>
> Start with a reverse carving, where you just carve the outline and
> you're done. The bigger the image, the easier it is to carve.
> You'll be surprised how good even that will look. I still do some
> reverse carvings, especially on tiny stamps.
>
> As you get better, you'll be able to handle smaller things. And
> regular carvings where you carve away material instead of just
> carving around an outline. Save the letter carving until you get
a
> little experience under your belt.
>
> My sister recently carved her first stamp - a signature stamp.
She
> was very frustrated while she was working on it. I kept telling
her
> to calm down, that it was looking good. I made her make
impressions
> along the way so she could see how it was shaping up. When it was
> done, she was surprised. It'a a bowling ball knocking down 3
pins -
> pretty ambitious for a first-time carving in my opinion - and it
> came out GREAT! I think her first is equal to my 10th or 12th
> effort.
>
> Key thing is not to quit, keep going. Keep carving no matter how
> crummy you think it looks, until you've carved it all. And then
> carve another. And another.
>
> What do you have to lose? The tools cost less than $10. If,
after
> you've carved about 30 stamps, you still think they're awful then
> you have my permission to give up. But that WON'T happen!
> You'll do fine - maybe not Rembrandt, but you'll surprise yourself.
>
> And, no, I don't draw, paint, sculpt, or even do any crafty
things -
> until now with the eraser carving. So I was pure, untested, no-
> talent go-out-on-a-limb material. And, hey - I'm gettin' pretty
> darn good!
>
> Zed
> P12 F2

Re: [LbNA] Carving stamps - give it a try!

From: (StDebb@aol.com) | Date: 2004-02-22 11:25:04 UTC-05:00

Ditto! I've carved a few that amaze me. I can't believe *I* did that.
and I've only been at this a few months.

And this weekend, I foolishly volunteered to help a 9-year-old girl carve a
stamp for herself. She's a sweet girl, and very interested in letterboxing,
so I thought I'd have her carve something really simple, a silhouette shape
with lots of straight lines, nothing complicated, like I did with my Cub Scouts.
Well, as it turned out, i had to give her preliminary instructions, then go
shephard my Cub Scout den around the activities at our camp-out. When I got
back, she had a picture drawn on the rubber that was cute, but rather
intricate and full of skinny lines and hard-to-carve areas. PLUS, her mom had tried
carving out an area, and it was kind of mangled. I had no idea what we were
going to do with it.

But I figured out a way to simplify it a bit, and we made it come out really
nice. I helped with the really tricky parts, but she was able to do enough
of it that she can really call it "hers," and she seems thrilled with it.

Unfortunately, after she finished it, she went with my husband to look for
the letterbox I had hidden in that park, only to find it gone! AGAIN! This
one disappeared, and I just got it replanted about 2 or 3 weeks ago, so it's
really aggravating to have it go missing again. Grrrr. Now I have to decide
if it's worth it to re-hide this one, or if I should just move on to another
one somewhere else.

DebBee

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Re: [LbNA] Carving stamps - give it a try!

From: cadenza74 (cadenza74@earthlink.net) | Date: 2004-02-22 19:46:24 UTC

Try rehiding it but in a slightly different location. This is what I
had to do with my first box. I thought it was a good spot, but I had
ongoing problems with it and realized it was a bit more public
than I thought. I'm now going back with the same stamp planted
at the same waterfall, but taking it away from this main trail area.

Good luck!
Cadenza

--- In letterbox-usa@yahoogroups.com, StDebb@a... wrote:
> Ditto! I've carved a few that amaze me. I can't believe *I* did
that.
> and I've only been at this a few months.
>
> And this weekend, I foolishly volunteered to help a 9-year-old
girl carve a
> stamp for herself. She's a sweet girl, and very interested in
letterboxing,
> so I thought I'd have her carve something really simple, a
silhouette shape
> with lots of straight lines, nothing complicated, like I did with
my Cub Scouts.
> Well, as it turned out, i had to give her preliminary instructions,
then go
> shephard my Cub Scout den around the activities at our camp-
out. When I got
> back, she had a picture drawn on the rubber that was cute, but
rather
> intricate and full of skinny lines and hard-to-carve areas.
PLUS, her mom had tried
> carving out an area, and it was kind of mangled. I had no idea
what we were
> going to do with it.
>
> But I figured out a way to simplify it a bit, and we made it come
out really
> nice. I helped with the really tricky parts, but she was able to
do enough
> of it that she can really call it "hers," and she seems thrilled
with it.
>
> Unfortunately, after she finished it, she went with my husband
to look for
> the letterbox I had hidden in that park, only to find it gone!
AGAIN! This
> one disappeared, and I just got it replanted about 2 or 3 weeks
ago, so it's
> really aggravating to have it go missing again. Grrrr. Now I
have to decide
> if it's worth it to re-hide this one, or if I should just move on to
another
> one somewhere else.
>
> DebBee
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Re: [LbNA] Carving stamps - give it a try!

From: (StDebb@aol.com) | Date: 2004-02-22 15:16:13 UTC-05:00

cadenza74@earthlink.net writes:

> Try rehiding it but in a slightly different location.
>
That's what I did the first time it went missing. Same nature trail, but
different section. I'm wondering if I should just find a completely different
area. Hate to, because this little nature trail is perfect (other than
swallowing boxes, of course!)

DebBee

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]