I’ve wanted to try carving rubber stamps for a long time. Years, actually. Geninne Zlatkis was the artist who, through the internet, first showed me what was possible in making and using them.
Well, this past summer I finally purchased what I needed to make stamps: a carving block and cutting tools. I had everything else I needed on-hand.
The summer came and went and I hadn’t done anything with the supplies. But once December hit and the pace of life slowed down, I had the urge to break them open.
Now, I had little experience with carving. I vaguely remember carving wood in “shop” class as a child. And I’ve carved a pumpkin once or twice. But that’s it.
Past experience with any new creative endeavor has taught me not to expect perfection. But, if I’m being honest, there’s always the hope you’re going to be the creative genius who builds a masterpiece with no prior experience.
Before I started, I watched a few short YouTube videos on how to make stamps. In general, though, I didn’t know what I didn’t know. And maybe that was a good thing, I thought. I could “make it my own”, whatever that meant.
I asked ChatGPT what was trending in art for 2025 and snails were on the list.
Great!
I have a thing for snails and had an old sketch on my computer that would be perfect for this project. I printed the snail on a regular sheet of paper with a laser printer. I also had graphite transfer paper, I hadn’t used before, and thought it would be perfect for transferring my sketch to the pink block.
I quickly learned 1) the transfer paper works but 2) makes a big old mess…and I won’t be using it again anytime soon. Tracing paper would’ve been much cleaner.
Next, I trimmed the edges around the snail with an X-ACTO knife, trying to get a feel for how deep and quickly to run the blade.
Then it was carving-time. Choosing the best tool was a guessing game, as was how to hold it. The only thing I was sure of, was to carve away from my body and not toward it.
One of the videos said not to gouge the block but…that’s all I did the first go-round.
The material crumbled under my tools, the edges of the art were torn and jagged, and the negative-space lines (on the shell, for example) were wider than I wanted. It was also a challenge to carve out the snail’s thin antennae. I probably bit off more than I could chew, there.
In short, it was a hot mess.
Once the carving was as good as it was going to get, using the stamp would be the easy part, right?
Not exactly.
I had no idea how much ink to apply and the best way to do it. I’d seen others use an ink pad, but since I had acrylic ink (in a bottle) on hand, I used it, instead.
The ink bottle has a built-in dropper, so I placed a few (or 10) drops of ink on the stamp and brushed it across for full coverage.
Then I placed the stamp face-down on the paper.
How hard do I press down? Do I rock the stamp back and forth? Do I burnish the stamp with a tool? I’ve seen others flip the block and paper and burnish the paper against the stamp. Do I have it reversed? Was I supposed to use my brayer?
So many questions!
But here are my initial attempts. The snail in the middle was the first stamping. And the others were stamped, without reapplying ink, to use what was left.
The lessons learned were 1) I used too much ink and 2) perhaps textured paper wasn’t the best choice.
I felt a smidge defeated. I wanted to enjoy the process more than I did. I wanted to feel that creative “spark” but it wasn’t there. And I didn’t think I’d be making another stamp any time soon, if ever.
I started to put my supplies away. But then I had an inner nudge to try one more time. So I inked the stamp again, this time using less ink. And instead of textured paper, I chose smooth paper.
While I still wasn’t crazy about the stamping, I decided it was the best of them all.
Later that day I showed it to Chad, telling him it didn’t turn out the way I hoped. His response surprised me.
“What? It looks intentional,” he said.
“Can you tell it’s a snail?” I asked.
“Yes.”
Chad can spot mistakes a mile away. Everything is black and white, so-to-speak. So for him to say it looked “intentional”, meant something.
His words reminded me of 2 things:
Beauty’s in the eye of the beholder.
My inner critic, that tries to maintain the status quo, was alive and well.
The next day I looked at my art with fresh eyes.
And I didn’t hate it.
Remembering Chad’s words, I also remembered you only get better at something through practice.
And there it was again. An inner nudge to carve another stamp.
This time, I went with a tried-and-true motif I never get tired of drawing: mushrooms.
The main shape was simpler than the snail and, perhaps, a better starting point.
Carving the main shape went a little smoother than the snail. But when I got to the holes on the mushroom cap, it was like starting over again. I’m sure there’s an elegant way to chisel round holes, but I haven’t figured it out, yet!
When I gave the finished stamp a test run, I saw marked improvement. While the outer edges of the impression were still jagged, the ink application was the best one, yet.
I cleaned up for the day. But these baby steps of progress encouraged me to try a third stamp, soon after.
Before doing that, though, I watched another YouTube video to learn the process of a different maker.
The biggest takeaway from her video was to not “bury the tip of the tool” into the block. To be mindful of the angle at which you hold it.
Ah, that’s why I was gouging the block.
I’d seen the tool tip disappear into the pink material many times. I needed to use a lighter touch, which would help smooth my edges and create more delicate details, too.
Below is the start of my third carving, a small flower. I drew it directly on the block with a pencil.
I first used a straight edge around the sketch to help get things started. I’m not sure how successful I was with that approach. But I felt 10X more confident on the first pass of the carving tool.
Below is the final stamp and ink impression.
I could have carved the excess around the flower a bit deeper. I learned that stray ink marks, caused by the excess material stamping the paper, are called “chatter”. I’m still deciding whether or not I like it (because there are no rules).
A noteworthy improvement is that I was able to identify the proper tool to use for fine lines! The tool and how you hold it, matters.
I have enough carving material leftover to make a few more stamps.
But the jury’s still out on if/when that will happen.
In the meantime, I’ll appreciate the process. For going from feeling all-thumbs, to having 3 new creations that are 100% my own.
Wonky imperfections and all.
