UNDEFINED

Ladies and gentlemen!  I'd like to introduce to you....

UNDEFINED!

This is Stampin' Up's latest innovation, stamp carving!  While it's not a new concept (just check out Albrecht Durer's work back in 1500) it hasn't been widely accessible outside the art classroom ... until NOW!

Here's what is inside the kit (item # 133402) - you get a thick linoleum block (that grey thing at the bottom left) mounting foam, 4 wood blocks, an Island Indigo Stampin' Write marker, and a "V" carving tool and a "U" carving tool, plus directions and cards to stamp.  You can also get a refill kit that includes just the blocks, mounting foam and linoleum. (item #134808)

First, sketch out your stamp design on plain paper with a pencil, keep trying until you get it just the way you like.  Using pencil is key here, because the next step...

...is where you transfer the graphite from the drawing to your linoleum by placing your drawing face down and rubbing firmly with the back of one of your tools, a bone folder, wood block... something firm but not scratchy.

Here is the transfer of my design on the linoleum block.  I used Stampin' Up's old Craft and Rubber scissors to cut out near the edge of my design, and try to preserve as much of my block as possible for future stamps.

For the carving, start with the "V" tool and carefully outline ALL the inside and outside edges of your design.  Be sure to keep your free hand BEHIND the cutting edge, these tools are EXTREMELY SHARP.  Always cut away from yourself and away from your design.  It is better to turn your block as you cut, rather than try to turn your hand to go around shapes.

Outlined.  Ta-da!

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 Using the "U" tool will carve out large areas that you don't want as part of the stamp - the "negative space".  Always carve from the edge of the design outward.  If you accidentally scratch into your design, there's no fixing that.

After carving everything the way you want, test your stamp on some scratch paper to make sure there's no errant ridges that will be transferring ink to your final printing.  Once you've made all your tweaks, stamp  the image on your wood block.  Finally cut your mounting foam to fit your linoleum, and attach it to the block.

This was my first UNDEFINED stamp - I actually made this one at convention.  They gave us each a block and a little linoleum to get started with, and had a station where we could carve our stamps.  This design was inspired by a drawing of sliced through rocks that was the decor in a clothing store.   Turning the stamp 90 degrees each time gave it just enough variation in the background.

Finished project! A 100% Creative Flare Card!  Gives me a warm glow inside :).  I finished off the card with a little Washi Tape from the Witches' Brew collection in the Holiday Mini Catalog.  Washi tape is a great substitute for ribbon stripes on a card, is re-positionable and easy to use.  It also works great to adhere a note inside a card - adds a colorful touch.

I would like to thank Ms. Joan Andre and Ms. Nell Landry for having taught block carving as part of their Junior High and High School Art curriculum.  It's been fun!

Do it Yourself Stamps

The Sizzix Big Shot is a great tool to have on the shelf... but mine never stays there. There's no paper crafting project that a few die cuts can't improve. I've found yet another way to use the Big Shot. The initial idea came from the great altered art sorcerer, Tim Holtz. The Great Tim had used his Big Shot to cut out 6mm Craft Foam with Bigz and Originals dies, and glued them to backings he cut from the stiff plastic packaging from some of his supplies. Voila! Stamps! Very clever! I decided to take it one step further and incorporate Stampin' Up's Clear Mount Cling Foam. Using the Cling Foam enables you to mount your newly cut foam stamps on your acrylic blocks and be able to reposition them and couple them together for whatever back ground composition you wish, and you can store them in the thin plastic cases made for our regular stamps!

Supplies:

Thin craft foam, any color. I prefer white, while it shows stains after a few uses it is still easy to see where the ink is on the stamp. While I experimented with both 6mm and thin craft foam, I found that when combining the thickness of the craft foam with the Cling Mount Foam, the thin stuff was easiest to run through the Big Shot and plenty thick enough to stand up off of your block. Tim used black craft foam on his blog, must be a guy thing.

Stampin' Up! Clear Mount Cling Foam. You get (2) 8 ½ x 11 sheets – enough to fill 4 or more Clear Mount Stamp Cases if you're thrifty.

Big Shot and Bigz or Originals Dies

Clear Mount Stamp Cases

Ink, Paper, etc...

Directions:

1. Measure the size of foam 1/8 th inch larger all around the die cut area to be sure to cover it completely. There is one clingy side and one sticky side of the cling mount foam, when making your “sandwich” for the Big Shot, the “cling” side will be down on the die if you want the stamp to look exactly like the finished die cut, or up toward the cutting pad if you want the stamps to print in the reverse image. “Up” or “down” might make a difference in your measurement, begin with the goal in mind.

1. Adhere craft foam to Cling Mount Foam. Make it nice and exact as possible, you want both pieces to cover your die cut.

2. Make your Big Shot “sandwich” - cutting pad, die, foam pieces, cutting pad. If you are wanting an exact image and your craft foam side is up, be sure that your cutting pad is new and smooth. The texture of a cutting pad will mar the foam if the cutting pad is heavily worn. What I do with my cutting pads is use one exclusively as a cutting surface and keep the other smooth. Then when the both sides of my cutting surface are excessively worn down, I swap it out with my smoother one and use one new cutting pad as a smooth backer. That way I don't have to use both my new ones in a set at once, and I always have a smooth sheet of acrylic to use to cut foam, ink up to load my brayer, or it can be used with Cling Stamps to create a large composition for decorating a greater area, etc...

1. Run your “sandwich” through the Big Shot. It will be a little thick and you might need an extra hand, but it will come through just fine.

1. Pop out your die cut stamp, peel the backing off the “cling” side of the foam and adhere to your acrylic block, ink, stamp, and clean just as you would a conventional rubber stamp. Works great with Classic Ink, Craft Ink, Versamark, watercolor techniques, “Kissing” techniques - where you stamp on the foam and then stamp the foam onto your paper, not what you do with your honey on Saturday night, what are you thinking?

The Stampin' Up “Lattice” Die was my personal favorite. Not only did it create an intriguing background, but you also get all the groovy inner pieces to make patterns with. Flowers, borders, relief patterns... so much to do with those pieces! I've photographed a few ideas but there's so much more you can do with this, give it a go!

The “Top Note” Die was a great one for watercoloring and kissing – really a unique look.

Sharing your creativity does make a difference to everyone around you. 

Enjoy!