lb101: addendum, stamp carving books

And then I up and forgot to add some books on stamp carving for those of you with…uh…little book-buying problems. (I don’t know about y’all, but man, when I get into something, I need to immerse myself. So I have a LOT OF BOOKS. Like, a LOT. Like, “One Day They Will Crush Me” a LOT.)

First, a book by a letterboxer:

Carve Your Own Itch
by Bob Clark

Bob used to be the guy in charge of the zine “Tabloid Trash”, which was all about mail art and stamp carving. He’s amassed about eighteenzillion tips and techniuqes, and offers up 300 illustrations that you can use to test out your stamp carving desires without sitting there scratching your head trying to figure out what to carve. There are many photo tutorials inside, too.

Then there’s:

Art Stamping Workshop
by Gloria Page

Gloria Page isn’t a letterboxer, that I know of. But what she IS is an amazing freakin’ artist who has carved stamps and put them on cards that are selling in the Smithsonian. Seriously. If you want to get arty with your stamps, or you want to know what to do with all those practice stamps that you’re not going to put into letterboxes, this is totally the book for you. There are some step-by-step how-tos in here for finished arty objects, as well as lots of stamp carving info that rocks. Her other book, “Holy Moly Mackeroly” is really fabulous, too, from a first-person artist’s account of making a go at making a living from art, if you’re interested in that, and does touch on stamp carving a bit, as well.

And finally:

The Weekend Crafter: Rubber Stamp Carving
by Luann Udell

If you want the staple book, the one that has all the pictures and the techniques, and comes highly recommended by all levels of stamp carvers for a pretty decent price ($15 or so), this is the book you’ll want to get. From just getting started to a lot of advanced soft-block techniques, it’s got EVERYTHING. It came out after I’d already been carving for three years or so (I started in 1999, see.), but it’s the book I would have wanted when I was embarking on this art form, and the one that I’ve gone back to again and again for inspiration of the how-to sort. Very clear, illustrated instructions and well-organized. And WELL worth the fifteen bucks. (Or $8, right now, used on amazon.)

I’ll add to this list if I find more in my collection that I’ve forgotten about.  I do that sometimes.

See you next week!