Yesterday was the November meeting for the Visual Journal Collective at MCBA. Suzanne Hughes did a fantastic job of facilitating the group in a stamp carving activity. We used Soft-Kut Printing Blocks, that Suzanne pre-cut down to 2x3 inches.
Suzanne shared a few different ways to approach getting your image onto the carving block. I was all ears here, as this has perplexed me at times. Tell me I am not the only one!
Transferring the Image
Three Ways to Move an Image to the Block:
1. Draw directly on the block
2. Draw in soft pencil on a piece of paper, the same size as your block. Set the image on the block face down. Use gentle pressure on the back of the image to transfer the image onto the block. **This technique works well with letters or numbers because they will transfer in reverse, but will print in the correct direction.
3. Take an image and turn it into transfer paper by coloring with pencil over the backside of the image. Then flip the image right side up, place it on the block, and trace over the image to transfer it onto the block.
Thank you Suzanne! I found these tips really helpful.
Carving the Stamp
Next, we learned how to approach carving the image. You can create a positive or a negative of an image, depending upon how you carve it. Last night, we were encouraged to create a positive image, meaning that the majority of the main image would be the solid part that would receive the ink/watercolor*. More on the watercolor in a moment.
Whatever you don't carve away, will be the image that prints. What you do carve away will be the white space.
Pictured above are some of Suzanne's handcarved stamps. Aren't they great?
The bird stamp on the left has a border. Suzanne mentioned that when she used her stamps for cards, she liked how the border looked when printed.
Here is an example of Suzanne's stamp next to a print of the stamp, "Koi". You will notice she used a border on this stamp, as well.
When carving, keep the blade level. Carve a small section at a time, gradually getting deeper. Suzanne demonstrated starting with a #2 blade. We used Speedball cutters and blades.
Pictured above is the image I brought to work with, along with my carved block and the Speedball cutter tool. The fish is from a small section of a large painting that I did for Flora Bowley's e-course called, Bloom True. (I highly recommend this class, if you want to learn to do intuitive painting on a large canvas).
Printing the Block
Once your stamp is carved you have a variety of options for "inking" the block. You can use water-based markers, stamp pads, acrylic paint, or watercolor paint. If you use acrylic paint, you will want to get the paint off right away, as it will dry on the stamp rather quickly.
Last night's lesson was about using watercolor paint to create a multi-colored print.
Suzanne recommended pre-wetting your watercolor palette with a spray mister.
You could use a Niji watercolor brush, or a regular paint brush to paint directly onto your block.
Image Source: Dick Blick
I didn't have a Niji brush, nor did I have a spray mister, so I used a regular paint brush and a small cup of water.
As for the watercolor* printing technique, we ran into a few challenges. Some people had trouble getting the paint to grab onto the block. Some paints are thicker and/or more pigmented, so that might have been some of the issue. Also, if you get the block too wet, the print doesn't turn out very well.
Another challenge was, once you had painted your block, the paint sort of stained it. It was hard to tell when you painted the block again, which parts were wet with paint, and which parts were just stained with paint. For us at the meeting last night, we were making editions, so we needed to repaint our block over and over. The worst part was having to paint the block over and over. The best part was leaving with a limited edition set of prints from the Visual Journal Collective participants.
In the picture above, you can see us all lined up, collecting one of each print. The prints were labeled as an edition. For example, the first print was 1/22, the second print was 2/22, etc. Then we wrote a title, and finally, we signed our name.
Below is a picture from my journal today, where I stamped the two images I carved last night.
If you want to learn more about carving stamps, I highly recommend the book Making an Impression by Geninne Zlatkis.
I am also anxiously awaiting the new book by Julie Fei-Fan Balzer called, Carve, Stamp, Play.
Julie's new book is due for release on November 30th, 2013.
I hope you enjoyed the recap from our November Visual Journal Collective meeting. If you have any questions about stamp carving, I am happy to share what I know.
Blessings and Peace,
Briana
PS Happy Creating!
