Stamp Carving with Speedball Rubber
My love affair with stamp-carving started in art school, when a fellow drawing classmate carved stamps out of erasers for his end-of-semester project. I remember being baffled that it could be done, that you could just carve your own stamp using your own image.
Upon graduating art school a friend approached me about collaborating on a chapbook, she would write the poems, I would create the imagery and chapbook prototype. Originally I thought about carving linoblocks for the images, but lino can be tricky to work with and I wanted something that would be easy to print over-and-over again without much fuss. Then I remembered that classmate from years earlier and his carved stamps, so I scampered off to the local art store and bought my first hunk of Speedball Speedy-Cut. Having only previously carved erasers and linoleum, this newfangled medium seemed like the perfect marriage of the two. It was flexible and easy to cut like erasure, but held more detail like linoleum. I burned through it in no time: carving kelp, a jellyfish, seahorse, shells, and several fish. I needed more to complete the chapbook images, but had bought the last block of Speedy-carve on my prior visit.
Upon graduating art school a friend approached me about collaborating on a chapbook, she would write the poems, I would create the imagery and chapbook prototype. Originally I thought about carving linoblocks for the images, but lino can be tricky to work with and I wanted something that would be easy to print over-and-over again without much fuss. Then I remembered that classmate from years earlier and his carved stamps, so I scampered off to the local art store and bought my first hunk of Speedball Speedy-Cut. Having only previously carved erasers and linoleum, this newfangled medium seemed like the perfect marriage of the two. It was flexible and easy to cut like erasure, but held more detail like linoleum. I burned through it in no time: carving kelp, a jellyfish, seahorse, shells, and several fish. I needed more to complete the chapbook images, but had bought the last block of Speedy-carve on my prior visit.
(Oops, reverse the names. Pink = Speedy-Carve. White = Speedy-Cut)
This took me to the dreaded Michael's, in the hopes that they carried something similar in their aisles of scrapbooking paper and floral arrangements. As luck would have it, they did carry Speedball, but not the brand of rubber I was familiar with. Instead it was pink, thinner than Speedy-Cut, and went by the name of Speedy-Carve. I bought it anyways, took it home, and discovered that it was even nicer to cut than Speedy-Cut! It held finer details, didn't crack with repeated stamping, and was much more durable. I have loved it ever since.
Which brings me to the blue rubber, Speedy-Cut Easy, which I bought on a whim because it was cheaper than the pink Speedy-Carve and I thought I'd give it a whirl. Honestly, I hate it. It crumbles easily, doesn't hold fine detail at all, and rubs off on your fingers like erasure rubber would. Blech. Save yourself the anguish and buy the pink Speedy-Carve! It might be a little more money, but the stamps will last much longer and therefore pay off in the long run.
Happy Stamp-carving!
This took me to the dreaded Michael's, in the hopes that they carried something similar in their aisles of scrapbooking paper and floral arrangements. As luck would have it, they did carry Speedball, but not the brand of rubber I was familiar with. Instead it was pink, thinner than Speedy-Cut, and went by the name of Speedy-Carve. I bought it anyways, took it home, and discovered that it was even nicer to cut than Speedy-Cut! It held finer details, didn't crack with repeated stamping, and was much more durable. I have loved it ever since.
Which brings me to the blue rubber, Speedy-Cut Easy, which I bought on a whim because it was cheaper than the pink Speedy-Carve and I thought I'd give it a whirl. Honestly, I hate it. It crumbles easily, doesn't hold fine detail at all, and rubs off on your fingers like erasure rubber would. Blech. Save yourself the anguish and buy the pink Speedy-Carve! It might be a little more money, but the stamps will last much longer and therefore pay off in the long run.
Happy Stamp-carving!
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