During the October Member Livestream, I did a short stamp carving demonstration to show how to carve small thin lines.  I grabbed a piece of "garbage rubber" — aka the stuff you cut away while making another stamp — and carved three thin lines.  This is a screenshot from the livestream:

Livestream-wm

After I carved it, I casually said, "I'll have to see what I can do to transform that into something usable."  Well, I sat down for ten minutes this weekend and I turned it into this:

StampVertical-wm
If I turn the stamp 90º I think you can more clearly see how the design evolved from the original:

Stamphorizontal-wm
Here's the paper where I worked the whole thing out:

Workpaper-wm
Workpaper-wm
As you can see, I drew a quick sketch to "think visually" about how I might transform those 3 weird lines.  In the end, I decided that I had to work with the lines and not against them.  And so I did.  It's really a very simple stamp, but it has big impact.  I love that!  Stamp carving always amazes me with how simple shapes can become so much more when printed over and over and over.

If you're interested in learning more about stamp carving:

Thanks for stopping by!

Julie Fei-Fan Balzer

Based outside of Boston, Julie Fei-Fan Balzer is a mixed-media artist who constructs vibrant compositions. Passionate about connecting with and inspiring other artists, she shares her expertise through in-person workshops, her online classroom www.balzerdesigns.com, and through monthly membership at www.MyArtPractice.com.

21 thoughts on “Garbage Stamp Transformation

  • You are the Queen of stamp carving!!!! Brilliant!

    Reply
  • You are the Queen of stamp carving!!!! Brilliant!

    Reply
  • You are the Queen of stamp carving!!!! Brilliant!

    Reply
  • You are the Queen of stamp carving!!!! Brilliant!

    Reply
  • You are the Queen of stamp carving!!!! Brilliant!

    Reply
  • You are the Queen of stamp carving!!!! Brilliant!

    Reply
  • You are the Queen of stamp carving!!!! Brilliant!

    Reply
  • Love what you did to the stamp! Impact! Yes!

    Reply
  • Love what you did to the stamp! Impact! Yes!

    Reply
  • Love what you did to the stamp! Impact! Yes!

    Reply
  • Love what you did to the stamp! Impact! Yes!

    Reply
  • Love what you did to the stamp! Impact! Yes!

    Reply
  • Love what you did to the stamp! Impact! Yes!

    Reply
  • Love what you did to the stamp! Impact! Yes!

    Reply
  • Great work

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  • Great work

    Reply
  • Great work

    Reply
  • Great work

    Reply
  • Great work

    Reply
  • Great work

    Reply
  • Great work

    Reply

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