Printing Chickens

 I recently found this chicken wood-block at a local store and just couldn't resist, because, chickens!  I got out the Dr. p.h. Martin's ink and dry ink stamping pad that I like to use for stamping and some nice tight pima cotton and tried it.  Didn't work too well, as you can see below on the left.
The stamp isn't very even on the stamping surface, so I put a layer of quilt batting underneath to give more to press into and make all of the stamp surface come into contact with the fabric.  I also used my trusty brayer to get the ink onto the stamp because the stamp pad didn't work too well either.

 It did much better printing with the quilt batting underneath.

 And the third print?

Hmmm, still pretty spotty.  The ink was gathering in these deep cut out parts in the design.  I think I'll either thicken the ink, or use fabric paint next time in hopes that it will just stick on the stamping surface.
Not giving up, I need more chickens...

Finally A Chance To Letterpress

 I forgot to post about the letterpress experience I had at Maker Faire this year.  I had always wanted to try it every time we went but the booth was always mobbed, this time I lucked out.  It was so fun to get to try the machine out, and then they had it all set up so you could make a little book with a simple stab signature binding.  How do you like the awesome mix of fonts on that one little print?
Anyways, it was super fun, and now I see what the big deal is, what a handy little machine a letterpress really is. (puts on the exceedingly long and out-of-hand *someday wants list*).  Thank you San Francisco Center for the Book for having this fun project to do.

 I added to my alphabet stamps collection recently with this lovely set of upper-case cursive.

I tried them out in my newly-made, letter-pressed book.  In case you can't read it, I stamped: Do It Anyways and Art Comes To Those Who Wait.  Not my best stamping job ever (I need to remember to check the corners of stamps to wipe off the ink), but I like the look of the font a whole lot.  Above it you can see the paper I put down to avoid getting ink on my Olfa cutting mat,  after using it for a while, this paper looks super cool with all kinds of stamps and paint all over it.  Yes of course I save it to use in collage and altered books projects.

Happiness To Be Dissolved

Here's another board book from the round robin I've been participating in. This one came with a three-ring loose-leaf of chipboard/cardboard/tag board, oh let's just say VERY stiff pages that one could remove and work on. Very easy to handle when painting, though not really an altered book, but still fun to work in.
These photos make the background look really really fuchsia pink, but they were much more orange-y in person. After painting several acrylics on (took a lot of paint, this chipboard stuff really soaks up the paint like a sponge.) I waited for them to dry, then I stamped with a cloud stamp in orange to give more texture to the colored background.
We were supposed to include quotes that we liked, so I found one that I'd saved from an old Oprah magazine, along with that orange/yellow graphic on the right. That formed a pocket above which the words read: Happiness Is A Warm... And I also found a vintage-y looking sticker in the same colors.

The quote is from Willa Cather "That is happiness; to be dissolved into something complete and great." There are cancelled stamps of animals and lava, and a photo of a fractal image. More cloud stamps in orange and the red CONFIDENTIAL stamp that I have.

The words above the pocket for the tags reads: Happiness Is A Warm....So the tags answer that with BLANKET, SUMMER DAY and CUP OF TEA. I found three different orange ribbons to tie on the tags.
The back of the tags have a cancelled stamp with a blanket or rug, a summery piece of fabric, and stamped image of a cup colored in with colored pencils.. Yes I know Java is coffee and it says TEA on the other side. Turns out I don't have a teacup stamp, oh well, I liked how it looks, and one warm beverage is as good as another. And I also stamped over the tags with a stamp that says "Take Note" in a circle.

I just finished another board book from this project that I'll share soon here. And I have one more to work on, then that is it for this collaborative project. After working in a few of these books, I find that I like working in board books for some reasons, not so much worry about the background paper buckling, small compact size, but that they are harder sometimes to handle to keep them open as you're working, to not break the binding as you pin them down flat. Also, I guess when I do work in an altered book, I like to be inspired by the actual book, either the title, the text, or illustrations. And that really isn't appropriate or possible (several of the books have been completely gessoed) here.

The Eyes Have It

I recently uncovered a bag of stuff I'd purchased from Dharma Trading last November to make holiday presents with (oops!), several blank scarves, toddler shirts, etc. And this stamping stuff too. Wasn't up to dyeing the wearable blanks, so I chose the stamping setup. I tried out a new stamping ink from Dr. Ph Martin and a different Speedball Speedy-Stamp carving block. I've never used the pink kind before, I found it to be nice and easy to carve (maybe too easy), and not crumbly like the white version.

Before I started any carving I first loaded up the dry stamp pads with the ink.

It takes a while for it to really soak in and get nice and juicy like a stamp pad should be.

I wasn't in a very good mood so I drew an angry face with a hat on the large piece, just with a pencil. Then carved it out with the Speedball Cutting Set using a fine tip and then larger tip, and an exacto blade for the biggest areas.

This is how the stamp looks after being inked up and printed. I think I might mount this to some wood because it is pretty large 3x5" and very flexible, I wouldn't want it to get flexed the wrong way and broken.

And here is how the first stamping went. The stamp pad was a little uneven at first, thus the blotches. I've learned the hard way that you always, always, always have to do a test stamp first if you're stamping on something critical and un-replaceable.

Then I felt like making a smaller stamp after that big one, so I took one of my leftover white pieces and carved these worried eyes. This is what happens when I make art while listening to NPR.

Worry Worry Worry! or Angry Angry Angry!

You can see how crumbly the white stuff is compared to the pink. Just like one of those old erasers. It is a lot firmer though, and very different to carve.

Here is how the orange ink printed up on the goldenrod fabric. Pretty nice and subtleThe last stamp of the day that I carved was a single eye. Not worried or angry just alert and intense.Here it is stamped out on part of an old sheet in the turquoise blue.
I like how the single stamp almost looks like a pair of eyes when stamped at the right distance apart. I think I'll be using this stamped fabric on the back of a shirt, so I can keep a good lookout when I'm out and about.

Paper Quilting

Just for fun today, here is a how-to on the subject of paper quilting.

First I started out with a piece of white construction paper, layering torn pieces of colored tissue with white glue. As a last step at this point, I laid a white piece of tissue paper over the top while it was drying and then tore it off. This kind of muted the colors and made even more surface interest.

Definitely let it dry for at least a day, there are a lot of layers and you don't want to be sewing through wet glue(not good for your sewing machine!), or damp paper (it will tear).

My next step was stamping over the top with a large motif stamp that I carved a while ago. Just with regular ink.
Definitely looking interesting at this point, don't you think?

Next, I decided on a flowery garden theme based on how beautiful my deck flower bulbs were at the moment. I snapped some closeups of open tulips, and then some rosemary just for spice. These were cropped closely in a photo editing program and then printed out on silk. Arranged on the surface, then held down temporarily with glue stick.

For some reason, a Good Earth tea bag paper tag caught my eye, and I added it to the composition. I love their tea, and I love the little quotes on the tags. Plus if they get the tea on them, the paper looks cool when it is stained.

Make a quilt sandwich with your paper piece on top, batting, and backing fabric.

Now onto the stitching. Using an old needle (why waste a new one on sewing paper?), and your stitch length set on the longest possible length, slowly stitch away. Yes it is a little stiff, perhaps a little noisy, but it works.

When you are happy with how it looks stiching-wise, then cut it to the size you want, and zig-zag the edges. Voila', done!

Here is a detail that shows the writing that I did on the lumpy surface. The words are the botanical names of the flowers, their meanings in the Victorian flower language, and what they are used for in herbalism.

Stamp Carving

I wanted to show off a really fun stamp that I just carved on Monday. It is made out of white eraser material, MasterCarve by Staedtler. As it says on the label, it "carves like butter". Almost too easily carved, as I found out. Way way way easier than lino blocks. I drew the design on freehand with pencil, design was inspired vaguely by a dress fabric pattern in the JC Penney's ad I was using to catch the mess. I think it looks a little like a batik stamp.

This shows the stamp being used in a collage, inked in green, and then highlighted with gold pen, several crayon colors over the top.

I was really happy with how this turned out, as I was only using the x-acto knife I could find, not my usual setup of special carving tools (they are of course in storage!). So if you are the least bit interested in stamping, give this a try, it is fun to make your own.