Too Soon?

Yes, it's only October but please don't hate me! I always end up rushing around a week before Christmas having done zero preparation so I challenged myself this year to acquire at least some semblance of organisation. So, having just purchased a few odds and ends from Hobbycraft I thought I'd try out some seasonal tags.

Favourite find was this Confetti Glitter Glue which has stars and snowflakes in it (how cool is that?!) and the Naughty or Nice stamp. I had to play with them right away and tags are brilliant for this; they're ideal little blank canvases and you don't have to stress about making a mess of them.

I rounded up some watered down re-inkers in mist bottles, washi tape, ribbon, the confetti glue and rubber stamp. Spread the confetti glue on the tag with a palette knife or something similar as it's quite thick and let it dry - this took several hours but the room wasn't very warm - then spritz with misters, add the stamp and washi tape fragments and finish with a ribbon bow. Super quick, apart from all the drying time, and easy, and I think it will make a nice addition to my Christmas gift wrapping!

More New Camera Love

Took this late yesterday afternoon with my new Lumix. Needless to say the lighting was poor, a mixture of deep shadows with a few stray shafts of sunlight thrown in and I took the picture without the aid of a tripod. I have burned the background out as it contained the distracting clutter which lives on top of my work table and played around with the colours just a little for effect but otherwise this pic is pretty much straight out of the camera. I really am impressed with how well it handles low light and the lack of camera shake, and all this was on the default auto settings too - often not the best choice with a lot of cameras given the situation.

Anyway, there's a selection of my hand carved stamps along with three little African wood blocks which I picked up a few years ago. Today's been yarn dyeing, and over-dyeing, day and I'm pooped now. Time for another cup of coffee methinks!

How To: Create Your own Printing Blocks

Today I thought I would share the process of creating some of my block printed book covers - it's quite straightforward and a lot of fun to make your own printing blocks or stamps and you can use them for all sorts of applications.

What you need:

• Block for cutting:

I like Speedy Stamp for quick results because it's very easy to carve with the minimum of tools, but you could also try wood blocks or lino if you feel a bit more adventurous!

• A cutting mat or stack of newspapers to protect your work surface.

• Lino Cutter:

these can be picked up quite cheaply from art supply shops and the one I have has several interchangeable blades, although I mainly use the finest one as most of my blocks are quite small.

• Stanley Knife or other craft knife for trimming the finished block.

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I begin with a preliminary sketch or photograph of my design. For the block shown here I simplified a design I had previously drawn in my sketchbook.

I like to draw my design straight onto the block in pen or pencil, but you could trace it if you prefer. You may find it helpful to fill in any areas you don't want to cut out - remember, anything you carve out will appear as a void in your finished print. Once I'm happy with the outline it's time to start cutting.

Take care, as ever, with your sharp cutting tools and start off just taking little nibbles out of the block until you get used to how much pressure you need to exert and feel comfortable holding the lino cutter. It's helpful to stop frequently and angle the block towards the light so you can see how the carving is progressing. Once you have finished cutting, trim all around the edges very carefully with your craft knife. It's important that you don't undercut the block, ie the base should be slightly wider than the top edge to allow for even pressure when printing.

As you can see I took a bit too much off the bottom point of the flower when trimming it up. Don't worry, one little area like that won't affect the block's usability at all!

At this point you want to try your block out so go ahead and ink it up for a test print. You will probably find that you've missed a bit somewhere when carving, or that some element needs a bit more work, or that there are unwanted high spots on the block. Just go back into it with your cutter and carry on until you're happy with the design, then start making your own giftwrap, cards, book covers etc with your spiffy new hand carved stamp!