Creating a Buzz
Stamp designed and
carved by Molly Westcott
For this illustration I took inspiration from
looking at images of bees. Once I had a
design drawn out, I carefully traced over
my pencil lines with a fine liner and took
a photo of the drawing. I always take
photos so that my designs are replicable,
I can simply print them out every time I
need to carve them instead of trying to
re-draw or trace them. It also means that
if I want to resize the design, I can do so
easily on my laptop.
I then printed out the design the size I
wanted the stamp to be, and went over
the lines again in a soft pencil. Then I
flipped the design over and transferred
the pencil lines on to my rubber. With
small, more complex designs like this, I’ll
go over the lines in pen so that they don’t
smudge or blur while I’m carving.
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Stamp designed and carved by
Molly Westcott
I didn’t want to over complicate this design,
so I only added leaves to the second half of
each arrow. Using my smallest carving gouge,
I carved out small leaf shapes and kept the
rest of the design bold and familiar. I always
hold my breath when it comes to carving the
“familiar” such as letters, numbers or symbols.
With florals, small wobbles can become a part
of the design, but chopping off the top of one of
these arrows would mean having to start again
from scratch.
Once the small details are carved I use a bigger
‘U’ shaped tool, to carve away the excess
rubber until my design has fully emerged. I
do multiple test prints throughout the carving
process to make sure there aren’t any areas I’ve
missed, and that all the details look just right.
When carving a stamp, the design is back to
front on the rubber, therefore, sometimes I don’t
see the areas that need more work until they’re
stamped and facing the right way around.
Go Shopping!
Ready made stamps and bespoke designs from The Delightfully Chaotic Co. from
http://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/delightfullychaotico and http://www.thecreativescorner.co.uk
Retailer Project: Delightfully Chaotic Co.