Joystick Hand-Carved Eraser Stamp
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    Joystick Hand-Carved Eraser Stamp

    I have a couple of very old joysticks in this style, but I also have one that was newly-produced to go with the new Commodore 64 Ultimate. I thought it would make for a cool eraser stamp. I started with a quick phone photo at the angle I thought I wanted. I used that as a reference to draw a simplified version in Inkscape, then printed and transferred it to the eraser for carving.

    A rectangular piece of white paper in landscape format is imprinted in black with and angled view of an old-style home computer joystick. The cord from the joystick coils irregularly away from the joystick, then turns into a rectangular border around the print. The carved eraser that made the print it face-up on the upper right corner of the print. Both are sitting on a surface of bright red paper. A photo of an old-style home computer joystick. The main body is translucent red with black buttons and a black ball at the top of a metal stick.

    There is a 14-second retro joystick eraser stamp impression making video on YouTube.

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    Jiji Hand-Carved Eraser Stamp
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    Jiji Hand-Carved Eraser Stamp

    I’ve been having fun carving eraser stamps. The details for some of them have been challenging. I got a smaller gouge to see if that would help with finer detail. I did almost all of this with that, and very little with the #11 craft knife.

    This cat is Jiji from the Kiki’s Delivery Service Studio Ghibli animated movie. I based my drawing of it on a frame from a scene where he is sitting on a counter in a kitchen.

    A white rectangle of paper imprinted with a cartoon-style black cat facing the viewer, its tail curling off to the left. The hand-carved eraser that made the imprint sits face up on the upper right corner of the paper. Both are on a background of crinkled purple paper.

    There is a  12-second Jiji stamp imprint-making video on YouTube.

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    Dragon Head Hand-Carved Eraser Stamp
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    Dragon Head Hand-Carved Eraser Stamp

    I adapted my Celtic/Viking dragon head design to be something that could be carved on an eraser. I made two runs at this one. For the first one, I used the Speedball lino carving tool and a standard craft knife. It seemed pretty good, but some of the details were pretty rough. The Speedball knife is just too big for some of the detail I wanted, and it was difficult for me to get smooth results with the craft knife on the spirals. The design transfer on this one was incomplete. I had to pencil parts of it back in. It’s still recognizable, and has some fun character.

    I made another attempt with a new 1mm gouge and the craft knife. The spirals felt easier with the gouge, but ended up thicker than I really wanted. That’s probably related to going over them more than once, trying to get them deeper.

    I shot landscape-format video of carving both versions, and might use that to make a basic tutorial for the eraser carving.

    An eraser carved with a stylized dragon head featuring spirals for tongue, eye, nostril, and cheek sits on the upper right corner of a rectangle of white paper with an impression of the stamp in black. They are sitting on a well-weathered cutting mat. An eraser carved with a stylized dragon head featuring spirals for tongue, eye, nostril, and cheek sits on the upper right corner of a rectangle of white paper with an impression of the stamp in black. Both sit on a background of textured black chirimen paper.

    There is a 14-second dragon head impression making video on YouTube.

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    Jake the Dog Hand-Carved Eraser Stamp
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    Jake the Dog Hand-Carved Eraser Stamp

    My next eraser stamp is Jake the Dog from the Adventure Time animated series. In the show, Jake can stretch his body just about any way he wants. I thought it would be fun to have his arms stretch to make the border for the stamp. Stamped on some of the gold card stock because Jake is yellow.

    An eraser stamp carved with an image of Jake the Dog from the Adventure Time animated series is positioned face-up across the upper right corner of a rectangle of pearlescent yellow/gold stock with an impression from the stamp in black. Both sit on a green crepe surface (green chirimen paper). Top-down view. An eraser stamp carved with an image of Jake the Dog from the Adventure Time animated series is positioned face-up across the upper right corner of a rectangle of pearlescent yellow/gold stock with an impression from the stamp in black. Both sit on a green crepe surface (green chirimen paper). View from the top, angled from the lower left.

    There is a 15-second stamping video on YouTube. The original version has a few seconds of the Adventure Time opening audio with the fist-bump synchronized to making the impression, but I have left it out due to the absurd copyright games played there.

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    Star Trek Command Insignia Eraser Stamp
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    Star Trek Command Insignia Eraser Stamp

    A Star Trek command insignia stamped in gold on black paper. The hand-carved eraser stamp that made the impression lays at an angle across the upper right corner of the paper.

    I carved a quick eraser stamp with a Star Trek USS Enterprise command insignia as a winking tribute to Star Wars Day (May the Fourth).

    I had some nice black card stock in the scrap bin that I cut down to ATC (Artist Trading Card) format size, and stamped using a metallic gold stamp pad. The metallic stamp pad inks take ages to dry completely. I suspect they are oil-based.

    I improved my design transfer technique again this time, too. It looks like citrus solvent works better than acetone to get the image from the laser print to the painted eraser.

    15-second tease video on YouTube.

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