January Adventures

Times have been busy lately (hence my reduced posting on here). Little P is actually a small child now and not a baby at all. I talk to her like anyone else, and she responds just like anyone else. That girl can talk. And she remembers everything... which is great, but also troublesome, as she holds me to every 'promise' I make. Days are fun, but absolutely exhausting - she has bucket loads of bouncy energy, and the rest of us just try to keep up with the pace.
Crafting time is reduced to evenings when she has finally dropped off to sleep, and the occasional weekend dabble, in amongst other household duties. Of course I have been crocheting, mainly in the evenings whilst watching the telly, but I have also really got into carving rubber stamps.
I have always liked stamps, and have had a few kicking about for a while. Some were rubber ones, other clear cling stamps. I like them, but making my own is something else. I've also always enjoyed doodling... flowers, mandalas, typography etc etc. This goes hand in hand with stamp carving, and I can bring my doodles to life - well into rubber form, to be used again and again.
A while back I dabbled in lino printing. I say 'dabble' as I found it pretty tough going - lino blocks are so hard to cut! But I did find the possibilities endless and exciting. I also saw a tip recently, telling you to heat your lino block with an iron for a while to soften it up - this would help a lot, so maybe I'll re-dabble at some point! Whilst researching lino printing ideas, I came across the whole rubber stamp carving scene. Basically the same process as lino printing, but with soft rubber blocks. I ordered some Speedy Carve rubber block online as I couldn't find any in stores. It is a very soft, pink rubber block, thick enough to use without mounting. It is not overly cheap here in the UK, but worth every penny, and I'm careful how I use it - keeping all the little offcuts for future use!
I will collate some pictures of the stamps I have made so far, and hopefully you will be able to notice some progress in my carving ability! My first major project was the Christmas 'Thank You' cards to be sent from Little P. I had various ideas kicking about in my mind, but eventually settled on this idea...

I sketched various birds, trees, bunting triangles and speech bubbles, but decided on this simple idea. I played around with lots of colour variations with me new stamp pads...

The ones in the bottom picture are called Color Box Queue pigment ink pads or 'cat's eyes'... a great way to get a lot of colours in small amounts... and a lot cheaper than buying individual stamp pads. The top ones are VersaColor pigment pads in various shades (perfect for multicolour stamping) and Jet Black StazOn - a permanent solvent based ink that gives a great print.
Using the StazOn and the Color Box cat's eyes, I made a whole host of 'Thank You' cards...

I particularly liked this one...

I also carved a 'block of lines' stamp to make it easier to write on the back...

Amongst my research and pinning on my 'Stampage' Pinterest board, I have discovered some inspirational people...
- Geninne  D. Zlatkis and her amazing book 'Making and Impression'
- Julie Fei-Fan Balzer and her awesome book I received yesterday 'Carve, Stamp, Play'
- Christine Schmidt of Yellow Owl Workshop and her book 'Yellow Owl's Litle Prints'
and finally...
- Mizutamahanco, a Japanese (hope I got that right?!) eraser-carver and illustrator, who is simply awesome. Her skills are second to none, and she makes it look so easy. I have 2 of her books, but I have no idea what they are called or anything as it's all in Japanese - but I wanted it for the pictures!

I follow all these creative-beings blogs and Instagram feeds, and it fills me up with inspiration.
Some of my books...

Mizutama's illustrations....

After swooning over Mizutama's stamp carving, I wanted to try using some proper Japanese rubber carving block... the thick ones, often with another layer of rubber over the surface. I had to order from afar (this shop on Etsy called LoveSprouts) and have it shipped here. At around £7 a block (14cm x 10cm) it's a bit pricey, but then there is the shipping on top of that.

My LoveSprouts order, with free plain stickers to stamp!

And the lovely Mizutama rubber blocks...

Was it lovely to carve? Yes. Does it add an extra 'neatness' to my stamps? Yes. Is it worth all the money and shipping costs? Probably not... and I won't be having it very often at all. I have ordered some different Japanese rubber blocks from this Etsy shop, and am eagerly waiting their arrival. They are thick blocks (still 1cm) but not the brand name, and come in larger sheets, which makes it all a bit more viable. Let's see if they are nice to carve or not... I do love the SpeedyCarve, but it is a lot thinner, at 5mm.
I had a little play with the nice, thick Japanese rubber blocks and had some nice results. Here's a little taster of my adventures...

Rubbish light... and it was daylight too.

I also have made a series of interchangeable plant and cactus stamps - I tried some cacti on a card too...

I made some pots, and different plants, some sketched by me, and some using Geninne's templates in her book. I love being able to mix and match them all, great fun!
I'm so in love with stamping, I find it so relaxing to actually do, and love the endless possibilities and creativity of it all. I have been thinking about maybe doing 'A Stamp A Day'. Obviously, it would not be practical for me to get all my carving stuff out every day to carve a stamp, but maybe do it as an average - so make sure I get 7 done in a week. I have so many ideas that I think this could work out quite well!
I'm also loving crocheting a blanket again. After the rush of festive crochet, I needed to do something different. I have been longing to make a blanket again... the gentle repeating rows, so therapeutic. A while back I had seen a pattern I liked for a mixed strip blanket and I stored it away somewhere in my 'I want to make this one day' file. Then I noticed again cropping up in various places, including The Patchwork Heart's Instagram feed. That was all it took to get me started on my own version. I'm using the 'as we go stripey blanket' pattern from Not Your Average Crochet, and a few colours of Stylecraft Special DK yarn. It's a well written pattern, and looks great, but it's not such a rhythmic blanket, due to all the colour changes, different stitches and hook sizes, but it is a fun one. I've done a few rows, and managed to get a couple of pictures whilst the sun was out today...

Lots of pinks and purples for Little P.

Oh I do love my crochet. It's been about 2 years since I first taught myself, and I have never looked back. It's opened up new crafty avenues too, and really brought out my creative side. Thank you crochet. Now I must be off, bed is calling, so until next time...thanks for stopping by :)