Hand-Carved Bookshelf Eraser Stamp
    By
    In Printmaking
    Posted

    Hand-Carved Bookshelf Eraser Stamp

    I carved this shelf full of books back in late May, but it seemed less exciting than some of the others I was doing around the same time. I made some more impressions on the Strathmore paper, and gave them the watercolor pencil treatment. I think the color punches it up a lot.

    A white rectangle of paper imprinted with the image of a bookshelf with eleven books of different sizes. One book in the middle is tilted to the left within a larger gap. The books have been colored in with brown, blue, green, red, orange, purple, and yellow. The hand-carved white blocky eraser that made the impression is laying face-up across the upper right corner. Both are on a brown surface.
    Hand-Carved Bookshelf Eraser Stamp with Watercolor Pencil
    A white rectangle of paper imprinted with the image of a bookshelf with eleven books of different sizes. One book in the middle is tilted to the left within a larger gap. The hand-carved white blocky eraser that made the impression is laying face-up across the upper right corner. Both are on a brown surface.
    Hand-Carved Bookshelf Eraser Stamp
    A white rectangle of paper imprinted with the image of a bookshelf with eleven books of different sizes. One book in the middle is tilted to the left within a larger gap. The hand-carved white blocky eraser that made the impression is laying face-up across the upper right corner. Both are on a surface of dark green crepe paper (chirimen).
    Hand-Carved Bookshelf Eraser Stamp

    There is a one-minute bookshelf stamping and coloring video on YouTube.

    0 Read More
    Calcifer Eraser Stamp and Mixed Media Prints
    By
    In Printmaking
    Posted

    Calcifer Eraser Stamp and Mixed Media Prints

    Here’s Calcifer from the Studio Ghibli classic Howl’s Moving Castle! I printed this eraser carving in red ink, and added some additional yellow and orange with watercolor pencils.

    Makerblock designed and 3D printed a holder for carving erasers, and sent me one to try. This was my first go at using that. It works really well!

    The Fabriano Unica printmaking paper I have been using for most of these eraser prints bled a lot with the red ink. I experimented with the Strathmore printmaking paper and some plain bristol. The impressions are sharpest on the bristol – unsurprising as the clay coat surface doesn’t let the ink sink in much at all. The watercolor pencils, however, need to soak in a little to get the best saturation and vibrancy. So, I went with the Strathmore paper for the final prints.

    A white rectangle of paper imprinted with Calcifer, a stylized flame with two eyes and a mouth. The print has also been colored in with yellow and orange watercolor pencils. The print is signed with a small A and is resting on a background of crinkled brown paper (momigami).
    Calcifer Mixed-Media Print (eraser print embellished with watercolor pencil)
    Calcifer (a stylized flame with two simple eyes and a mouth) printed in red on two pieces of rectangular white paper. The plain print is in the upper left. The print in the lower right has yellow and orange added with watercolor pencils. The eraser that made the prints is laying face-up at an angle in the lower left.
    Calcifer Eraser Prints and Hand-Carved Eraser
    A hand-carved Calcifer eraser (a stylized flame with two eyes and a mouth) in a black 3D-printed holder designed for carving erasers rests on a surface covered in crinkled brown paper (momigami).
    Calcifer Eraser in MakerBlock’s Carving Holder
    Angled view on a hand-carved Calcifer eraser (a stylized flame with two eyes and a mouth) in a black 3D-printed holder designed for carving erasers rests on a surface covered in red paper. A carving tool and part of a print made by the eraser are visible.
    Calcifer Eraser in MakerBlock’s Carving Holder
    Three prints showing how the red ink interacts with different types of paper. Clockwise from top-left and progressively crisper details: the Fabriano Unica paper, Strathmore printmaking paper, and Bristol.
    Three prints showing how the red ink interacts with different types of paper. Clockwise from top-left and progressively crisper details: the Fabriano Unica paper, Strathmore printmaking paper, and Bristol.
    Comparison of finished mixed-media Calcifer prints showing that the added watercolor pencils are a little more vibrant on the Strathmore paper (right) than the Bristol (left).
    Comparison of finished mixed-media Calcifer prints showing that the added watercolor pencils are a little more vibrant on the Strathmore paper (right) than the Bristol (left).
    Cleaned off hand-carved Calcifer pink eraser stamp. Calcifer is a stylized flame with two simple eyes and a mouth.
    Cleaned Calcifer Eraser Stamp

    There is a 1.5-minute video with some carving and commentary on using the different papers on YouTube.

    0 Read More
    By
    In Printmaking
    Posted

    Making Eraser Carving Design Transfers with a Plotter and a Pencil

    Close-up of a Bosskut Gazelle plotting cutter. There is a mechanical pencil in the tool holder, and a rectangle with a sword and flower are being drawn on a piece of tracing paper on the cutting mat.

    While talking about different ways to transfer designs to the substrate for lino (and eraser) carving, I had this kind of silly idea. One common way to transfer designs is to trace them in pencil, then rub the pencil drawing onto the carving surface. Because I don’t like the additional inaccuracy I add to the design when tracing, I mostly use other approaches. Since I am creating most of my art as vector images in Inkscape, I wondered if I could use a pencil in my Bosskut Gazelle plotting cutter to draw the design.

    It worked with a pencil (a soft-lead Blackwing in this case), but the line width changes as the tip wears down. I was aware of a new mechanical pencil from Uniball in Japan called the Kuru Toga Dive that automatically advances the lead as it is used. They are kind of expensive, but this experiment was a great excuse to add one to my toolkit here. So, I got one (in purple, of course), along with some extra-soft 2B lead.

    It worked great! This probably isn’t a practical approach for most people, unless one happens to have appropriate equipment on-hand already, and is creating vector images for their designs. Still, it was a fun experiment, and I won’t rule out actually using it in the future.

    I put together a <2-minute video short showing the process of using the plotting cutter to make a design transfer.

    0 Read More
    Sword and Flower Hand-Carved Eraser Stamp
    By
    In Printmaking
    Posted

    Sword and Flower Hand-Carved Eraser Stamp

    The thought that some sort of sword would make a fun eraser stamp had been bubbling in the background in my brain for awhile. I kept imagining completely different swords. This is the one that materialized when I sat down to draw one up. The tip in the ground and the flower came into the vision pretty early on. In fact, they influenced the final form of this sword.

    The blade on the original version was a lot more complicated. It was too odd, and I simplified it to this.

    I have had trouble with the silver stamp pad ink not drying very quickly (like for weeks) on some paper. The gold I used for the Star Trek insignia stamp is from the same manufacturer and has the same issue. Those took forever to set on that smooth black stock I used. With the Fabriano print making paper for the sword and flower, it seems to have soaked in enough to no longer transfer or smear.

    A stamp hand-carved from a blocky white eraser stands on one of the narrow sides on a background of crinkled dark green paper (momigami) behind two impressions made from it, one in black ink, one in silver ink. The design is a leaf-blade sword with the tip stuck into the ground next to a single flower. A stamp hand-carved from a blocky white eraser lays face-up on a background of crinkled dark green paper (momigami) behind two impressions made from it, one in black ink, one in silver ink. The design is a leaf-blade sword with the tip stuck into the ground next to a single flower. Eraser stamp imprint of a leaf-blade sword with the tip stuck into the ground next to a single flowef in black ink on white paper.

    16-second Sword and Flower stamp imprinting video on YouTube.

    0 Read More
    Totoro Hand-Carved Eraser Stamp
    By
    In Printmaking
    Posted

    Totoro Hand-Carved Eraser Stamp

    A rectangle of white paper imprinted in blue with the older child totoro character from the animated movie My Neighbor Totoro. It has a stout, round body with a big round white patch on its stomach. There are three chevrons on its chest. It has stubby legs and arms, long pointed ears, and big oval eyes. It is holding a leaf with a long stem as an umbrella. The carved eraser that made the print is laying at an angle on the upper left corner. The eraser and print are both sitting on a sheet of handmade grass green paper with long fibrous inclusions in different shades of green.

    It seems like the older child totoro doesn’t get enough attention. I made this to help remedy that.

    I actually carved this before the Jiji stamp, but am just getting around to posting it. The detail on this one was more challenging than the carvings that preceded it. I was still using the Speedball tool, and did not have the smaller 1mm gouge yet.

    I used the Tsukineko VersaFine Clair Blue Belle stamp pad for this print.

    There is an 18-second totoro imprinting video on YouTube.

    0 Read More
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 ...
    page 1 of 32