Sew Adventurous (2): Stamp Carving

Named after my first (negelected) Tumblr Sew Adventurous, this is my new blog feature where I'll be sharing some of the non-reading and non-bookblog things that I do. From my latest sewing project(s) to the cross stitch patters I'm currently working on. Hey, I might even get bold one day and chronicle my ill fated attempts at other forms of crafting.

This week on "Sew Adventurous" I'm sharing my first attempt at carving my own stamp for Letterboxing.

About two weeks ago, one of my sisters said that we should carve our own stamps and start  Letterboxing. Where you follow clues to Letterboxes and using your log book stamp your book with the one from the box and leave your own personal stamp on the journal within. Well, that's the short explanation on what it is...if you want more info and to see if there're any boxes located near you visit: AtlasQuest.com. 

So, with clearance from both mom and dad we set out to find the materials needed:

• Speedball 6-Inch by 12-Inch Speedy-Carve Block (found on Amazon)
• Speedball Linoleum Cutter Assortment 1 (found on Amazon)
• designs for stamps: combination of brain work and old clip art books bought at a library sale years ago.

After much hemming and hawing over what design to use. Procrastinating on starting because of my fear of messing up since anything remotely resembling drawing doesn't end well...I started.

A partial for the design I used on my stamp.

Steps:

• Pick design
• using pencil trace (or draw) your design on tracing paper with pencil, then place tracing paper design down onto a section of the Speedy-Carve Block and rub design with a ruler to transfer.
• prepare carving tools (see above for type) and decide which parts of the design will be negative vs positive (ink grabbing or not) and start carving.'

Surprisingly enough, my stamp actually turned out quite well once I finished carving it. While it doesn't look store quality when you look at the actual stamp, the pattern when inked looks pretty awesome if I may say so.

I'm thinking that if I, the girl who has issues art-ing, can accomplish this then so can you. I really think that Letterboxing is something that we readers would probably enjoy...especially those who like a good fantasy book as finding the boxes is almost quest like.

Tell me what you think, are you interested in making your own stamp, if so what kind if design would you use? Thoughts on Letterboxing, have you done it or does it sound like something you would be interested in doing?