letterboxing 101: carving creative stamps, part 1

I’ve got this list here, see.  This list of topics I want to cover over here while the snows are still flying and there’s no possible way I can go out and actually DO what it is that I’m writing about.  (As an interesting matter of fact: it’s snowing now.  Again.  Third time this week.  Snow + snow + snow = frustrated letterboxer in Iowa.  Seriously.)

Anyway — I get people askingme about certain parts of letterboxing over and over again.  And rather than explaining it each time,  I thought that instead of waiting around to make actual “Here’s what I ‘boxed today” posts when it’s spring, I’d do a series of basic entries here, so I can point people over here when they have questions.  (And, by the way, there is NOTHING WRONG with asking the questions.  *I* had the same exact questions when I started, for the most part.  It’s only when you ask and find the answers that you’ll learn, right?)

So for the first entry like this, I thought I’d dive right in and talk about stamp carving for a little bit.  I’ll be linking some relative sites of interest that have photos (due to the snow and cloud-cover, I’m kind of screwed for taking my own pictures today, so links will have to suffice, I’m afraid.), and possibly a book or two, too.

On with it!

The thing that holds a lot of people up, when they first learn about letterboxing, is the idea of the hand-carved stamp, either for their own signature stamp or for boxes they want to place.  I’ve heard everything from, “Well, I haven’t had time to learn how to carve stamps, yet,” to “I can’t draw, so I can’t really make my own stamps.”

People, listen — if you are truly talentless (which I seriously doubt you are — you might surprise yourself if you just try…) you can walk your happy letterboxer-to-be ass into a Michael’s and pick out a stamp off the racks of pre-made stamps and still be EVERY BIT AS GOOD as a hand-carver.  No, seriously.  Listen to me here. Do NOT let the stamp be the one thing that holds you back from getting into it.  Because, truly, once you DO get into it, you’ll eventually start carving your own.  It’s a natural evolution, like growing mold on your cheese.

Okay, fine, so that’s probably not the best example.

But it’s true:  once you start seeing the range of stamps that are out there,  you’ll probably be inspired to try a few of your own.  And in the meantime?  You’re still out there seeing the range of stamps, with your very own represents-you signature stamp purchased right off the rack.  And if you’re out there doing it, it’s a Good Thing(tm, Martha).

Now, carving your own doesn’t have to be difficult.  In fact, the simpler the stamp, the easier to carve (of course), but also (!!!), some of the most simple designs can have the best results EVAR.  A couple of my favorite stamp finds have been ones that aren’t all that intricate or detailed or precisely executed.  And I’ve seen some stamps that the owners would call Really Crappy Carves that had some fabulous hikes, or great clues, and  thus, have been faaaabulous boxes to go get, even though there are some out there who would think the stamp wasn’t all that worth it.  (There is no pleasing some folks.  Keep that in mind.)

Besides, we all started somewhere.  And I’d wager that some of those stamp-carvers who are reproducing the Sistine Chapel nowadays were once carving little heart shapes into erasers with choppy lines and breaks.  Because we ALL were beginners once.  The key is to not judge yourself too harshly to begin with.

There are a couple of really great tutorials out there on the web.  Atlas Quest, the letterboxing site of choice (for me), has a whole series of articles on the basics of stamp carving.   There’s a great tutorial over on zenheart’s livejournal with lots of pictures that was linked in the CRAFT:magazine blog.  And Gennine posted a two part tutorial (part 1, part 2) in her art blog that’s beautifully illustrated.  There’s even a PDF of a stamp carving workshop that stamp-in-the-box gives at letterboxing gatherings available online, and RuthAnn Zaroff’s whole entire SITE dedicated to carving stamps.

There is, in other words, a WHOLE LOT of information out there about getting started, so I’m not going to go too far into the mechanics of the whole thing, since it’s been said and been said much better than I can say it.

The key, though, is to JUST DO IT, to steal a little phrase from Nike.

And if you don’t do it, don’t beat yourself up, either.  Buy a stamp, strap on some shoes, and go play.

We carvers will infect you with our enthusiasm anyway.  We’re sneaky like that.

In the coming weeks, I’ll post a little discussion of carving mediums, stamp types, and mounting ideas, as well as a little bit on creative stamping — the stamps that might be simple, but make you go “ooooooooooh…how did they think of doing THAT!?”.

Stay tuned.