Rubber stamps, carving and printing…

by Linda | Sep 7, 2009 | my creative journal

I’ve always been a big fan of rubber stamping, fascinated by the designs and creations that can come from them. I thought it would be to cool to create my own, especially as I’m going through Lena Corwin’s book, Printing by Hand: A Modern Guide to Printing with Handmade Stamps, Stencils, and Silk Screens (affiliate link to Amazon.com).

The very first project is about creating your own rubber stamp design and I was so excited to finally take the plunge!  I used my little owlie character and created a stack of owls to be made into a rubber stamp.  I just received it in the mail and so happy with the results.  There’s something amazing about seeing your own design being made into the real product, so darn cool!

Of course, here in Italy it is a pretty costly process.  I can’t even mention how much because it’s pretty ridiculous, but I had gone ahead with it for the first time just to try it out at least once.  There are other options online, but I seem to have problems receiving mail from outside Europe.  I had made some orders from the USA in June and still haven’t received them – probably lost in customs or Italian mail limbo.  Sigh.

I decided it would be better to carve my own stamps given the situation, so experimenting with linoleum carving. Still learning, but it’s pretty darn cool to transform a piece of rubber into a cool design.  Now I’m thinking of what to carve next…

A Very Productive Day

by Linda | Sep 2, 2009 | my creative journal

I love it when you have one of those really productive days, when you don’t even realize how much work you’ve accomplished and the time just flies by!  Yesterday was one of those wonderful days for me.

I did a lot of different things creatively and appreciated so much the time I have for these explorations.  The enjoyment that it all brings is uber satisfaction indeed!  After my blog maintenance and creating my first repeating tile background, a leafy background – I decided to do a bit more practice.  I created some more tiling backgrounds, pretty simple at this point as I try to get the hang of it.  Here’s what I came up with…

You can find these patterns on fabric on Spoonflower – yay!

After the patterns, I decided to get off the computer and do some painting.  I finished painting the white ceramic turtle I bought in a local pottery shop in Greece way back in June! Finally!

I also thought of an embroidery design for a dress with a hole in it (behind one of those cream felt leaves) – courtesy of Romeo’s giant paw, our resident feisty Labrador who likes to jump all over me.  Sticking on some type of applique or embroidery can help to salvage clothing with tiny holes or blemishes.

Then I finished off the entire afternoon painting the first few pieces of my Super Babies series for a future show at Monkeyhouse.  My hand was cramping up by dinnertime as these are small 4 inch by 4 inch pieces, but it was sweet pain because I love these little superheroes so much!

I’m thinking of doing some little baby girls to add to the series and diversify.  I went to bed last night with a million other ideas swirling in my head and wishing I could hurry up and wake up already.  I hope you can have a fabulous and productive day as I have…create, enjoy and be happy!