This post is a bit late. Quite a bit late. It is August and technically the #stamlab challenge went live in January. If you have been watching my Instagram feed, then the stamps I am about to share with you will probably look familiar. I want to share them on my blog anyway. After feeling really burnt out from creating for various reasons, I find I want to share projects on the blog again. It’s actually kind of nice to not be on a design team and just create when I want or jump into any challenge I want.
The #stamplab challenge is hosted by my friends Dee Dee Catron and Tina Walker. Each Friday, they post a prompt to inspire a hand carved stamp. I have always wanted to do Carve December, but daily challenges are not something I seem to be able to follow through for more than a few days. The #stamplab challenge seemed more doable as it only happens once a week rather than daily. So I did what any good creative would do. I ordered more supplies. After all, the few blocks of stamp rubber left in my cabinet were not going to make it through months of challenges.
#stamplab January prompt 1 called for us to be inspired by the phases of the moon. I drew an intricate design which came out ok but wasn’t my best work. It is a stamp I will use but I really don’t see much of the moon phases in it. It has been so long since I carved a stamp and it seems I had regressed in skill. I found myself digging at the block rather than gently moving the tool over it. I also decided that the designs I want to create are more delicate and require a better set of tools than what I had on hand. After carving my stamp, I began a search for thinner cutting tools.
#Stamplab January prompt 2 asked us to carve a skull. Since I knew the tools I had on hand would not allow me to carve something intricate, I kept the design large and blocky. It’s a simple design which I find that I actually like a lot. I can see myself using it in my art journal.
#Stamplab January prompt 3 was funky houses. I loved this prompt! Again, I chose a simple blocky design. For whatever reason, I had Monster House stuck in my head. My house became alive and now, I kind of want to carve some friends for him. Stay tuned as I might be returning to this prompt in the future.
The Final prompt for #stamplab January was wild. I had a billion ideas for this but settled on a crow. He is simple and blocky but pretty cool.At least I think he is. I think he is my favorite stamp from the whole bunch, though I liked them all.
I am glad that I decided to take place in the #stamplab challenge. I hadn’t realized how much I had missed stamp carving until I started doing it again. As far as keeping up weekly, well, that ended up being a challenge for me as well. I did fall behind. However, since this challenge isn’t a daily one, playing catch-up felt less daunting. As I write this post, I am almost caught up on all of the prompts. You might have noticed little flurries of stamp carving activity over on my Instagram page. I do plan on posting more of my stamps here. I also have plans for a few carved stamp series. Now all I need is more time to make them. I always have more ideas than I can possibly ever get to, but really, that’s not a bad thing.