After seeing what everyone else has been up to in this months GPP Crusade, I was inspired to create some more of my own stamps...and my list of what I want to carve is still long!
The swirl design was taken from a tissue box!....nothing is safe.
I played with doing a couple of positive and negative carvings. These were done on the same piece of rubber, i.e one on the front the other on the back.
On a previous post, I showed my journal where I had done leaf rubbings and took photos & notes capturing the scene with the intention of perhaps doing a piece in the studio ....well, I have done something ....not quite what I had thought but it's a start! I photocopied my journal page with the rubbings and then using tissue paper, traced over the leaf and transfered it onto the rubber.
I'm not that happy with the background on the negative space one, it needs something to make it not so square....I will sit with it for a bit.
I loved Julie's tree so much I had to carve one of my own.... I started out by roughly tracing an image of a tree from a book but had to improvise as part of the tree was not in the photo and another part had a fence post obscuring it. I also wanted it bigger & longer, so after enlarging my image on the photocopier I then extended it further.
It measures 15cm x 10cm (6" x 4").
This is another one I want to sit with for a bit as I'm not sure if a few areas could be imporved, but with anything it is good to step back for a bit and then reassess.
Here are some journal pages I am working on (in an A5 size journal). I actually stamped my leaf in the background on the page to the right.
Inspired by the roses done by Lisa and Kim, I just had to try a flower. I use the waterlily / Lotus flower a fair bit so it would only be right to carve one of these. My dilema was what size?' ... well, go big of course! ..and maybe do a smaller one if I still had the craving for carving.
These are some quick initial stampings. The black is with a dry ink pad! and the pink is acrylic paint. I think it may need a bit of a tidy up. I had used the biggest block I had, the final image measures 16cm (approx. 6.25inches) across the flower x 15 cm (approx. 6inches). The majority of the carving was done with a stencil knife.
After doing this I truly think that I am insane!
I actually found the best way to transfer an image onto the rubber was pencil rubbing. The image came out clear and didn't rub of as easily as the blender pen transfer. I had a bit of a dilema with the flower as I used a clip art image. For this I did a gel medium transfer. I left the paper on the rubber for quite a while, until it was completely dry and then very slowly and gently removed the paper with water. My first attempt did not work, firstly I had not let it dry long enough and then I was chatting to my sister and not concentrating so rubbed too much in one area and removed the image. Another thing to note is that you really have to remove ALL of the paper. Leaving even just a slight film of paper in areas creates resistance with the carving tools.
Some other things I found:
The decorative borders (repetative line designs) were all carved from erasers. I would highly recommend only using erasers for designs that won't get used a lot or for short term longevity. They are brittle.
I would also like to add that straight lines are harder than curved, much less forgiving....but as my sister would say "It's handmade!"
Go slow, particualrly with large intricate designs and take breaks.
All stamps, except the tree, were carved from Soft Cut Carving Block, from an Australian company. It is white, was really easy to carve, and is quite flexible.
I carved the tree from the pink Speed-ball Speedy-Stamp Carving Block (these are pretty hard to locate down-under!). Compared to the white block, this was a little harder to carve, perhaps saying there was a little more resistance is better, but I think this was better for the intricate tree. Doing it on the white block I think I would have lost branches...and then my sanity!!
Hmmm, now let me see, I'm running out of carving blocks but not ideas ....there was that amazing eye, some hands, flourishes, a bird or two .....
Thismonths crusade is all about Resist, that is doing wax rubbings and then applying a wash of acrylic paint over the top. For great instructions (as always) visit GPP Street Team.
After this crusade I received a copy of Art Escapes by Dory Canter as a gift. Whilst I have not ventured far into the book the first chapter is all about assembling your supplies in seperate kits so they are ready to grab at any time - the same message Michelle was conveying. What I liked was that it suggested to have three tool kits, one each for drawing, watercolour and collage. That way you could take one, two or all three depending on what your needs were at the time. Add to this a sketchbook/journal and packet of collage papers.
this 'Bag/Box' my sister had given me. Once I had put in the 3 kits, a journal, and a packet of collage papers, I still had quite a bit of room left, so I filled it with extra bits and pieces (such as small acrylic paints, stamps,) and made my collage kit a little bigger, after all I can always take things out! 
