#52stamps : Week 1

"Stamp carving is one of those things I always love to do but don't always prioritise time for." I wrote that to start this blog post and immediately a little voice in my head said "Would it really be that hard to create one new stamp a week?"....I thought about whether this was unrealistic and I decided I will give it a go. It would be so cool to have 52 more stamps to use by the end of the year. When will I do it? It's very portable - as long as the design has been transferred to the stamp (easily done at night) I can carve in the car while waiting for boys + I have a quilt group that meets weekly during term time on a Monday night and I'm always looking at things to do there so that's two easy options. I'll share weekly - hopefully you'll see at least one new one every week. It doesn't have to be expensive once you have the tools : this is mine

and I bought erasers from The Warehouse very cheaply : the pack of 6 small cost $1.50 and the 2-pack was $1 each. Keep an eye out in Dollar stores too to pick up larger erasers

See the end of this post for useful tutorials and inspiration.
As you do with a new project, I started off enthusiastically this week by carving more than one stamp. Because I'm taking Moonshine with Effy Wild I thought it would be really fun to carve some Moon Phase Stamps - inspired by this tutorial. 

Not perfect but cute right?....from the top : new moon, quarter moon, full moon, another quarter moon (I was trying to improve so tried design again - didn't need to!), one that totally didn't work so carved over it to create a pattern ♥, and a loose star. 6 stamps out of 3 blocks because you can carve both sides. Am inspired by some class mates so hopeful that next week you'll see the words SHINE and Magic.
I'm no expert, but if I keep carving #52stamps I might be better by the end of the year!
My favourite inspirations for stamp carving are Julie Fei-Fan Balzer and Geninne D Zlatkis. Julie's just finished posts about her Carved December challenge and you can see all her stamp carving posts HERE. She's published a book and has online classes on this subject but I can't comment on their content. Geninne published this fab book (see my review HERE) 

and has a really useful section on her blog with stamp carving tutorials HERE. Please share in the comments if you have other artists that inspire your carving.
You can follow me on Instagram HERE and join in too. Let me know if you're doing that - would be great to inspire each other ♥ See my other posts about stamp carving HERE and my first ever post where I share some other inspiration HERE.