Dear Palsied Wombat,

You are in luck. I too am carving-challenged.

I use Simon's Stamps for commercial production of all of my
letterboxing stamps. They aren't cheap, but the quality is excellent
and they are pretty fast (3-5 business days--could be faster but I
don't pay for faster shipping). Our signature stamp (shown on our
AtlasQuest profile) was done by Simon's. Folks always ask how I got
the lines so perfect......I cheated,that's how! If I didn't, my stamp
would resemble a banana slug (now I'm going to have the angry banana
slug fans after me!).

Check out Simon's Stamps online. Their entire ordering system is
online and pretty straightforward. You will need a jpeg of your art at
300dpi. If you want help getting started on that, contact me offline
(renee@ciliated-cell.com). Always happy to help a fellow wombat.

Regards,
Renee
3CATFAM

--- Samuel Checker wrote:

> Winter time, and a young man's fancy turns to planting... At least
> mine has.
>
> I have a good idea. I have a good location. I have the artistic
> skills
> of a palsied wombat. I tried, I really did. Bought 4 different types
> of eraser, exacto knives, the works. Followed Doug's recommendations.
> But the stamps I wind up with aren't anything I'd put in a box,
> unless
> it was one going six feet under.
>
> I'm happy to go with a commercial service but I don't know which one
> would be best. So I'm posting to see if folks have had positive or
> negative experiences with any companies or have recommendations.
>
> Thanks for your help
>


Renee Hartsook Ph.D. DABT
Pharmaceutical and Product Safety Consulting
office 408-945-3971
fax 408-521-0601
cell 510-551-4998
renee@ciliated-cell.com

Have tou ever us. The Speedball products, the carvers or the stamp material?? The pink sheetsrder to carve are a little harder to carve into, but it is good. The 8x10 off white carving material is a little thicker and easier to carve. The carving tools are also bettter than using an exacto knife as well.

Brat Pack IL
Big Brat


Renee Hartsook wrote:
Dear Palsied Wombat,

You are in luck. I too am carving-challenged.

I use Simon's Stamps for commercial production of all of my
letterboxing stamps. They aren't cheap, but the quality is excellent
and they are pretty fast (3-5 business days--could be faster but I
don't pay for faster shipping). Our signature stamp (shown on our
AtlasQuest profile) was done by Simon's. Folks always ask how I got
the lines so perfect......I cheated,that's how! If I didn't, my stamp
would resemble a banana slug (now I'm going to have the angry banana
slug fans after me!).

Check out Simon's Stamps online. Their entire ordering system is
online and pretty straightforward. You will need a jpeg of your art at
300dpi. If you want help getting started on that, contact me offline
(renee@ciliated-cell.com). Always happy to help a fellow wombat.

Regards,
Renee
3CATFAM

--- Samuel Checker wrote:

> Winter time, and a young man's fancy turns to planting... At least
> mine has.
>
> I have a good idea. I have a good location. I have the artistic
> skills
> of a palsied wombat. I tried, I really did. Bought 4 different types
> of eraser, exacto knives, the works. Followed Doug's recommendations.
> But the stamps I wind up with aren't anything I'd put in a box,
> unless
> it was one going six feet under.
>
> I'm happy to go with a commercial service but I don't know which one
> would be best. So I'm posting to see if folks have had positive or
> negative experiences with any companies or have recommendations.
>
> Thanks for your help
>

Renee Hartsook Ph.D. DABT
Pharmaceutical and Product Safety Consulting
office 408-945-3971
fax 408-521-0601
cell 510-551-4998
renee@ciliated-cell.com







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Let Yahoo! FareChase search your favorite travel sites to find flight and hotel bargains.

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

Dear Palsied Wombat,

A really great carver here in Ohio (franzsolo) encouraged me when I
first got started to just close my eyes and go ahead and carve. Well,
not exactly like that. But his thoughts were that anything carved was
appreciated by the finder because it is unique. I too carved my first
stamps into erasers not knowing there was material that worked much
better. It just takes practice and encouragement. Please don't give up.

One other tip franzsolo shared with me is to turn the medium you are
carving into rather than always trying to turn your carving tools. And
those carving tools really do work much better than exacto
knives---although those do come in handy every now and then as well.
Some type of magnifier--especially a lit one really helps a lot.

Figuring out what clip art works better than others can help as well.
Someone in your area who is a really good carver may be able to meet
with you and show you.

The way you transfer your artwork to the rubber stamp material may be a
hinderance too.

One last thing, you can also ask others to carve for you and share a
planted box!

Try not to give up!!

Still learning in Ohio,
Trailtracker

Samuel Checker wrote:

> Winter time, and a young man's fancy turns to planting... At least
> mine has.
>
> I have a good idea. I have a good location. I have the artistic skills
> of a palsied wombat. I tried, I really did. Bought 4 different types
> of eraser, exacto knives, the works. Followed Doug's recommendations.
> But the stamps I wind up with aren't anything I'd put in a box, unless
> it was one going six feet under.
>
> I'm happy to go with a commercial service but I don't know which one
> would be best. So I'm posting to see if folks have had positive or
> negative experiences with any companies or have recommendations.
>
> Thanks for your help
>
>




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

Thank you all for your advice. I think there's a good chance that I'll go
with Simon's, as one of my daughter's favorite games is "Guess What Daddy
Tried to Draw." She's shockingly bad at it though; mistaking perfectly good
sailboats for three-legged elephants and so forth.


On 2/20/07, Barb Funk wrote:
>
> Dear Palsied Wombat,
>
> A really great carver here in Ohio (franzsolo) encouraged me when I
> first got started to just close my eyes and go ahead and carve. Well,
> not exactly like that. But his thoughts were that anything carved was
> appreciated by the finder because it is unique. I too carved my first
> stamps into erasers not knowing there was material that worked much
> better. It just takes practice and encouragement. Please don't give up.
>
> One other tip franzsolo shared with me is to turn the medium you are
> carving into rather than always trying to turn your carving tools. And
> those carving tools really do work much better than exacto
> knives---although those do come in handy every now and then as well.
> Some type of magnifier--especially a lit one really helps a lot.
>
> Figuring out what clip art works better than others can help as well.
> Someone in your area who is a really good carver may be able to meet
> with you and show you.
>
> The way you transfer your artwork to the rubber stamp material may be a
> hinderance too.
>
> One last thing, you can also ask others to carve for you and share a
> planted box!
>
> Try not to give up!!
>
> Still learning in Ohio,
> Trailtracker
>
>
> Samuel Checker wrote:
>
> > Winter time, and a young man's fancy turns to planting... At least
> > mine has.
> >
> > I have a good idea. I have a good location. I have the artistic skills
> > of a palsied wombat. I tried, I really did. Bought 4 different types
> > of eraser, exacto knives, the works. Followed Doug's recommendations.
> > But the stamps I wind up with aren't anything I'd put in a box, unless
> > it was one going six feet under.
> >
> > I'm happy to go with a commercial service but I don't know which one
> > would be best. So I'm posting to see if folks have had positive or
> > negative experiences with any companies or have recommendations.
> >
> > Thanks for your help
> >
> >
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>


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

Samuel,

While I fully appreciate that much of the joy of letterboxing lies in
the carving of the stamp, I have found that creating custom stamps is
equally rewarding. Also, a custom stamp makes extensive lettering much
easier. So, my stamps are usually quite wordy and contain details that
will be used in later letterboxes....

I think that's the best part of letterboxing--the "point" of the hobby
is different for different people. Some folks love the hike (me!)
while others merely tolerate the walk to the destination. Other folks
are all about the art, while some view each stamp simply as a "find".
To each his own. Whatever facilitates your creative desire is just
fine.

That said, I have a bit of a financial incentive to learn to carve
since it would be far more cost effective, but in the interim I am
just as proud of my custom stamps as any carver could be. The art is
always witty and very specific to the letterbox theme. I'm told by a
knowledgeable source that my stamps are similar in style to those found
in Dartmoor (many of which are also custom, commercially produced
stamps). So, I'd like to think there is no "right" or "wrong". We'll
all just play nice with one another and accept that some of us are
planters, some are not. Some of us are carvers, some are not. etc.
etc.

And with respect to your drawing capabilities, do not be shy about
accessing clipart libraries online. Many of these are royalty free,
which means it is perfectly acceptable to use the images for a nominal
fee. There are even some free sites, which although not extensive, can
sometimes do the trick. My favorites are:

http://www.clipart.com

($17.95 for one week access--you can download as many images during
that time as you wish. I usually wait until I've identified at least a
dozen images I want and then pay for a week so I can download them all
at once. The cost is then about $1.50 per image, which doesn't seem
like much.)

http://etc.usf.edu/clipart/25400/25410/writer_25410.htm

(a free site I stumbled across some time ago--most of the images are
historical)

And don't forget the good old microsoft word/publisher clipart. While
not extensive, these collections can often get you started. In fact,
our signature stamp includes a microsoft clipart. From that, we
created our own design using basic microsoft publisher tools. In a
pinch, you could use microsoft powerpoint to do the same thing.

Best of luck my wombat friend,
Renee




--- Samuel Checker wrote:

> Thank you all for your advice. I think there's a good chance that
> I'll go
> with Simon's, as one of my daughter's favorite games is "Guess What
> Daddy
> Tried to Draw." She's shockingly bad at it though; mistaking
> perfectly good
> sailboats for three-legged elephants and so forth.
>
>
> On 2/20/07, Barb Funk wrote:
> >
> > Dear Palsied Wombat,
> >
> > A really great carver here in Ohio (franzsolo) encouraged me when I
> > first got started to just close my eyes and go ahead and carve.
> Well,
> > not exactly like that. But his thoughts were that anything carved
> was
> > appreciated by the finder because it is unique. I too carved my
> first
> > stamps into erasers not knowing there was material that worked much
> > better. It just takes practice and encouragement. Please don't give
> up.
> >
> > One other tip franzsolo shared with me is to turn the medium you
> are
> > carving into rather than always trying to turn your carving tools.
> And
> > those carving tools really do work much better than exacto
> > knives---although those do come in handy every now and then as
> well.
> > Some type of magnifier--especially a lit one really helps a lot.
> >
> > Figuring out what clip art works better than others can help as
> well.
> > Someone in your area who is a really good carver may be able to
> meet
> > with you and show you.
> >
> > The way you transfer your artwork to the rubber stamp material may
> be a
> > hinderance too.
> >
> > One last thing, you can also ask others to carve for you and share
> a
> > planted box!
> >
> > Try not to give up!!
> >
> > Still learning in Ohio,
> > Trailtracker
> >
> >
> > Samuel Checker wrote:
> >
> > > Winter time, and a young man's fancy turns to planting... At
> least
> > > mine has.
> > >
> > > I have a good idea. I have a good location. I have the artistic
> skills
> > > of a palsied wombat. I tried, I really did. Bought 4 different
> types
> > > of eraser, exacto knives, the works. Followed Doug's
> recommendations.
> > > But the stamps I wind up with aren't anything I'd put in a box,
> unless
> > > it was one going six feet under.
> > >
> > > I'm happy to go with a commercial service but I don't know which
> one
> > > would be best. So I'm posting to see if folks have had positive
> or
> > > negative experiences with any companies or have recommendations.
> > >
> > > Thanks for your help
> > >
> > >
> >
> > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> >
> >
> >
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>


Renee Hartsook Ph.D. DABT
Pharmaceutical and Product Safety Consulting
office 408-945-3971
fax 408-521-0601
cell 510-551-4998
renee@ciliated-cell.com

Sometimes, when I want something specific and I know I can draw it but I
also know I absolutely can't carve it, I'll use www.nwstamps.com I've used
them for about 3 years now and they've done really well for me, tho I've
only used them for half a dozen stamps or so.

~~ Mosey ~~



-----Original Message-----
From: letterbox-usa@yahoogroups.com
[mailto:letterbox-usa@yahoogroups.com]On Behalf Of Samuel Checker
Sent: Tuesday, February 20, 2007 10:09 AM
To: letterbox-usa@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [LbNA] Help for the hopeless


Winter time, and a young man's fancy turns to planting... At least mine has.

I have a good idea. I have a good location. I have the artistic skills
of a palsied wombat. I tried, I really did. Bought 4 different types
of eraser, exacto knives, the works. Followed Doug's recommendations.
But the stamps I wind up with aren't anything I'd put in a box, unless
it was one going six feet under.

I'm happy to go with a commercial service but I don't know which one
would be best. So I'm posting to see if folks have had positive or
negative experiences with any companies or have recommendations.

Thanks for your help

---I do believe you are a Mid-atlantic boxer? I'm an addicted carver with not enough time
to plant. I'm willing to offer my services as a carver. I'm no Lock Wench or Brian.I've got
about 6 million stamps to plant and not enough time to get them out. If you are interested
e-mail me off list.

In letterbox-usa@yahoogroups.com, "Samuel Checker" wrote:
>
> Winter time, and a young man's fancy turns to planting... At least mine has.
>
> I have a good idea. I have a good location. I have the artistic skills
> of a palsied wombat. I tried, I really did. Bought 4 different types
> of eraser, exacto knives, the works. Followed Doug's recommendations.
> But the stamps I wind up with aren't anything I'd put in a box, unless
> it was one going six feet under.
>
> I'm happy to go with a commercial service but I don't know which one
> would be best. So I'm posting to see if folks have had positive or
> negative experiences with any companies or have recommendations.
>
> Thanks for your help
>

I love to carve in the winter. I love to study maps and plan routes and think up cool images. I love to find funky containers and plan cool ways to use them. But most of all, I like to keep my friendships going. Why not host a little mini gathering at a local pizza place or pub? Trust me..there are other boxers in your area with cabin fever too, who would probably enjoy getting together for some exchanging and brainstorming.

Start a countdown til the first day of spring, and agree to get together for a muddy spring outing on that day! woo HOOOoooooOOOooo!!

LW PhD
"Nice Counts"


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