The Journey of Henry. Sketchbook Project 2012.

It's complete and viewable on Flickr here!

Completed for the Sketchbook Project 2012, The Journey of Henry is a collection of sketches and hand carved stamp prints about the migration of a Short-tailed Shearwater. This oceanic bird spends months at sea during its flght around the Pacific. The books content includes visions and thoughts I associate with these birds, long journeys, wonders of the ocean and reflections on life itself.

Henry's namesake is, Henri Bourquin, one of my 16 ancestors who made the treacherous voyage by boat from Europe to Australia in the 1800's.

Thanks to Ben Vincent and Chris Dillon for providing the soundtrack of their music for the video below.

Stamp Carving - Pet Portrait

I have long admired the carving of Kozue - she creates wonderful portraits of both people and pets. Kozue has a remarkable ability to capture both so well in a stamp. Like any portrait, I feel the artist treads on egg shells when creating a likeness at someone elses request. Often the only knowldege of the subject is from a single photo and the customer also probably has a strong emotional connection with the subject. So I've generally been reluctant to go anywhere near portraits until a friend requested I carve a stamp of her adorable looking dog.

So here is Bob. I think Bob has the makings of a movie star with he's fabulous markings. It was a challenge and a pleasure to carve a likeness of Bob and I'm quite happy with the result. Hope his owner likes it! 

VW Beetle and Mini Minor Car Stamps

This week was my first venture into printmaking with car shapes. I love the older car designs so chose to carve a VW Beetle (or bug) and a Mini Minor. 

I then also played with some ideas as to how you can use the stamps for a boys party. You can find further details on this over at the Creative Collective Blog as part of their September theme " For the boys".

Gingko Leaf Stamp

I loved biology at school and recent walks about my local area have renewed my interest in botany. I remember learning about the ancient Gingko Biloba in class and how happy I was to go and see one in Johnstone Park in Geelong.  So here is my Gingko stamp. Perhaps the first of a new series on botanic stamps. I'm hesitant because so many of the flowers I like at the moment are incredibly complex in design. Just have a look at the Grevillea below!

Tutorial: How to print onto fabric using a rubber stamp

This is a very simple process for making your own material tags or patches for quilts, dolls or any other item requiring your logo printed onto fabric.

What you'll need.

• Fabric paint. The one I use (available in Australia) requires simple heat fixing using a hand iron for 2-3 minutes. Instructions for different brands and types vary, so best to read them before you purchase.
• Fabric to print onto. I'm using unbleached cotton. You may want to consider the need to prewash your fabric depending on where the tags will be used.
• Scissors
• Scrap of felt at least the size of your stamp
• Pen
• Cardboard or paper to protect your table surface.
• Spoon or paint brush
• Your Stamp (a tutorial for making your own can be found here)

1. To create a stamp pad use the base of your fabric paint jar as a guide for a circle that will then be cut to sit inside your fabric paint lid. Please note this will only be useful if your stamp is smaller than the lid. If not, cut the felt about 1 cm larger than your stamp and apply the same steps below using an old plate.

2. Spoon a small amount of paint into the fabric paint lid, spread around and then lay the felt over the top. Push the felt onto the paint with the back of the spoon until the paint starts coming through the felt. Add a little extra paint to top of the felt if need be but be careful not to overload with paint or the stamp will not give you a clean print.

3. Press your stamp face down onto the paint, gently pushing down across the full area so that the coverage is even. Test your stamp on a scrap piece of fabric.

4. When finishing your first session of stamping, the felt can now remain in the lid whilst you fix it back on, ready to use again next time. Don't forget to heat set your stamped fabric as required by the instructions on your paint. Have fun!

There are stamps for printing with over here

Preening Cat Stamp Print - A gift for my sister.

Spending 2 years in South Amercia my sister fell in love with the Spanish language. Now settled back in Australia, she has named the family house "Casa del Gato" - for her cat, like most, does indeed believe it has run of the household. I have watched and admired this cat assert itself with the much larger family dog, to gain a spot in front of the fire place. Outstretched claws swiped at dog's nose and all is resolved. Don't you wish your biggest problems could be resolved that easily?

Happy (early, woohoo!) Birthday Nickel. Hope you have a great day!

P.S. Quick note on the process. I had planned to carve this from lino but the words would have been quite difficult so instead I carved 2 separate stamps from rubber. Much easier to carve letters from and now my sister will also use the stamp her self at home.

Panda and Sun Bear hand carved stamps - at the Bear Party!

"Nature is my friend" is a wonderful blog by artist Jessica Gowling. It's fast becoming a favourite stop as I love reading about printing processes and viewing great work and Jessica combines both really well in her posts. This week Jessica made a call out on Twitter for Bear themed submissions and many artists responded!

Here's what I submitted

Sun Bears are my favourite of all bears. They’re found it various parts of South East Asia and spend much time in trees. Numbers are declining due to horrendous actions such as poaching them for fur and bile (the bile is for medicine despite there being a synthetic substitute).

Panda’s are of course well known. There is no question that they are adorable. But short of adding thick rimmed glasses and a pocket protector – I can’t draw them with anything but vacant stare.  Pandas are an endangered species. They have a low birth rate and can’t contend with the loss of habitat.

You can see lots more bear art on Jessica's collaborative blog post!

Tutorial : How to carve a toadstool stamp and use it for gift tags.

Time Taken: Approx. 60 to 90 minutes

This toadstool stamp is fairly simple to carve and can be used to make sweet gift tags. You can use either an ink stamp pad or for a richer more vibrant colour try block ink. It’s also a good opportunity to use up any small card off cuts you may have about.

Given the sharp tools required for carving I’d suggest that any kids’ participation should be restricted to inking the rubber and stamping the tags.

Most of the items required are readily available. Many art shops now stock the soft rubber printing blocks. The product I use is called ezy carve, 14cm x 21cm and made by Renoir. It costs $8 US or $9 AUS. If you’re struggling to find it even online I have heard of people carving small stamps from a regular rubber eraser. Block Ink can be purchased from art stores – I’m using Australian made brand Derivan. Lastly, the carving tool – the linocut blades and handle I use are “speedball” brand and came in a kit. 3 interchangeable tips are stored in the handle – very handy!

List of items

Sheet of paper to draw your design on

Black pen for design

Pencil for tracing paper transfer

Tracing paper

Gift tag size cards with holes punched

Rubber Block for carving (you can cut a piece to the approximate size of your stamp before we start - BE CAREFUL with your sharp tools)

Carving tools - I use linocut tools size #1 and #5

Ink Pad stamp OR flat plate, block ink and spoon

Embroidery Cotton to match or contrast your stamp colour.

Step 1. Draw your toadstool, the exact size you would like the stamp, onto a sheet of paper. (If confident you can draw straight onto the rubber but it is much easier to erase mistakes and refine your design on paper first).

Step 2. Use tracing paper to transfer design to the rubber block.

Step 3. Now to start carving. SAFETY NOTE: You do not need to apply much pressure to carve rubber and always ensure you angle the tool away from your body and wherever possible away from fingers to avoid any injuries if you slip (You are undertaking this at your own risk!)

Remember that the areas you are going to carve away will be the colour of your chosen card and the areas you leave untouched will be where the ink prints from. Also note that the stamp print will be the reverse of the picture you have carved. eg. If you want to print word, you’d need to carve the words into the rubber so that they read backwards.

Take your finest point carving tool (mine is size #1) and gently carve a groove around the outside line of the toadstool. Now carve the spots out of the top of the toadstool and then another groove inside the line of the stalk

Step 4. Take a larger carving tool (for this part I use size #5) and remove the inside area of the stalk and all of the area outside of the toadstool. If you have a Stanley knife handy you can cut away the rest of the rubber that you do not need but this is not absolutely necessary.

Step 5. Wash stamp with soap and water to remove any small pieces of cut rubber or pencil marks. Allow a few minutes to dry.

Step 6. Inking and stamping. A) If using a regular ink pad, turn the stamp face up and wipe the ink pad across the face of the stamp. Or B) If using block ink, use the back of a spoon to spread it thinly across a side plate and press the stamp face down into it.

Do a few test stamps on a scrap piece of paper. You may find you may want to further refine your design. Now get stamping : )

Step 7. Allow tags to dry then thread a piece of coloured embroidery cotton or jute string through the punched hole and your tag is ready to use.

Done!

Please note the design of the toadstool and this tutorial has been created by me (http://chantalvincentart.blogspot.com/). All photos belong to me. I would love for you to share my tutorial but please be sure to link it back to this blog.