My First Attempt At Carving Rubber Stamps
Trying new creative work without judging it (much).
I’ve wanted to try carving rubber stamps for a long time. Years, actually. Geninne Zlatkis was the artist who, through the internet, first showed me what was possible in making and using them.
Well, this past summer I finally purchased what I needed to make stamps: a carving block and cutting tools. I had everything else I needed on-hand.
The summer came and went and I hadn’t done anything with the supplies. But once December hit and the pace of life slowed down, I had the urge to break them open.
Now, I had little experience with carving. I vaguely remember carving wood in “shop” class as a child. And I’ve carved a pumpkin once or twice. But that’s it.
Past experience with any new creative endeavor has taught me not to expect perfection. But, if I’m being honest, there’s always the hope you’re going to be the creative genius who builds a masterpiece with no prior experience.
Before I started, I watched a few short YouTube videos on how to make stamps. In general, though, I didn’t know what I didn’t know. And maybe that was a good thing, I thought. I could “make it my own”, whatever that meant.
I asked ChatGPT what was trending in art for 2025 and snails were on the list.
Great!
I have a thing for snails and had an old sketch on my computer that would be perfect for this project. I printed the snail on a regular sheet of paper with a laser printer. I also had graphite transfer paper, I hadn’t used before, and thought it would be perfect for transferring my sketch to the pink block.