Carve December 2023 is underway

Last year, the Carve December 2022 Challenge was a good activity for me to practice carving rubber stamps. The Carve December 2023 Challenge is underway and I'm participating again this year to brush up on my carving skills and expand my stamp collection.

Carve December 2023 stamps for the first 9 days.
#carvedecemer2023

Julie Fei-Fen Balzer at Balzer Designs, the host of Carve December, offers a list of daily prompts should you be at a loss for inspiration. You can use some, all, or none of the prompts and you can post daily or as you can. I'll do my best—as time, work schedule and life permits.

Carve December prompts for 2023.

Nine days into the Challenge, here are a few of my favorite prints so far.

Bird print.

Inspired by holiday botanicals, I carved these...

Poinsettia print.

Paperwhite print with watercolor.

This stamp had a real-life model for drawing the initial design. I think it turned out quite well.

Christmas cactus print.

Christmas cactus in bloom.

More stamps are in sight this month.

Hand carving holiday stamps with Carve December

After doing 100 Days of Printmaking earlier this year, and participating in Print Ink*tober Challenge, I hopped on board for Carve December Challenge with Julie at Balzer Designs.

Day 25 of Carve December

I followed most of the daily prompts but also felt free to carve what I wanted if the muse took another direction. Here are a few of my more successful prints...

Day 24 of Carve December.

I enjoy doing repreats with hand carved stamps.

Various days from Carve December 2022.

Slow drawing was added to a few of the prints for details that I'm not able to achieve with carving. I like combining the two techniques.

Carve December Day 17 prompt: intricate.

Carve December Day 3 prompt: dotty.

I combined four stamps to create Christmas cards.

Four stamps combined on the front of my Christmas card.

Inside the greeting card.

Just a few more days remain in Carve December. 

Printmaking results and supplies.

And my hand carved stamp collection continues to grow.

An October printmaking adventure with Print•Inktober

Break out the hand carved stamps, ink pads, and sketchbook for the Print•Inktober Challenge!

Collection of hand carved stamps ready for the Print•Inktober Challenge.

What is Print•Inktober?

Print•Inktober is a free, online, daily Challenge, hosted by Julie Fei-Fan Balzer of Balzer Designs  taking place the month of October. The purpose of the Challenge is to get your stamps out of the closet and into use! 

Like many online Challenges, Print•Inktober offers a inspiration prompt for each day of the month. Participants can follow the prompt (or not), post their daily print, and enjoy the creations of other participants. Here is what's in store for this year:

I have a lovely collection of hand carved rubber stamps from doing the The 100 Day Project—100 Days of patterns and textures with hand carved stamps. The Print•Inktober Challenge is a great way to get them out and print with them again. 

A warm-up page.

After pulling out my stamps and ink pads yesterday, I did a little warm-up page in preparation of the Day 1 prompt: Circle. 

Day 1 prompt: Circle

It will be fun to get back into printmaking this month. After my daily practice in the 100 Day Project, I expect to incorporate watercolors and slow drawing into the stamped patterns... and filling more pages in the sketchbook!

Nearing the finish line of The 100 Day Project

 The finish line is in sight! There are less than 10 days remaining in The 100 Day Project. I'm happy with the progress I've made and things I've learned with my hand-carved stamp project.

Combining stamped images with watercolors.

More mixed media

I've gotten more adventurous with the stamp carving over the 90+ days and have incorporated watercolors and slow drawing with the stamping. 

Stamping combined with slow drawing using colored pink ens.

New tools and materials

From a tip from a fellow stamp carver, I got 6 or 8 rubber stamp rounds that are pre-cut, so circles are more precise. I've added the VersaFine ink pads from Tsukineko which provide good ink coverage. And I've added a few more acrylic stamp blocks to my toolbox.

Stamp mounting blocks, circle stamp blanks and new ink pads.

I have 69 hand-carved stamps. Two of them have two sides that I use, so there are 71 images.

69 hand-carved rubber stamps, 71 images.

I'll be looking back through my sketchbooks after the final day. I'm sure I'll see the evolution and improvement of the prints. I'm having a lot of fun with this practice and will likely continue after Day 100.

Day 50 of The 100 Day Project—the halfway point

We're half way through the 100 Day Project 2022! It's flying by. Progress is steady, technique is improving, and I'm discovering interesting things.

Day 50 of The 100 Day Project 2022.

100 Days of Stitching: Stitched scroll with found objects

The 100 Day Project for 2022 started on February 13 and I'm doing two projects again this year. For my 100 Days of Slow Stitching, I'm on the third fabric scroll. The first 20 days are on scroll #1 and Days 21 - 42 are on scroll #2. 

Two completed stitched scrolls and the beginning of the third.
From The 100 Day Project 2022.

Since starting scroll #3, I've been experimenting with the blanket stitch and its variations. Here is the stitching for Day 50. 

Day 50/100: 100 Days of Slow Stitching found objects and fallen pieces.

100 Days of Patterns and Textures with hand-carved stamps 

For my stamp-carving project, I'm working in two sketchbooks and they are filling up quickly. Over the last 20 days or so, I've been combining multiple stamps in patterns and layers. One can eat up several pages just experimenting with different color and stamp combinations. It's so liberating and fun!

Working two sketchbooks for The 100 Day Project 2022: Patterns and textures with hand-carved stamps.

My carving is getting better and I've figured out a few techniques to getting cleaner designs. I have 52 hand carved stamps in my collection. 

52 hand-carved stamps in my personal collection.

I have a plastic pencil box in which I keep my stamps. This makes it easy for traveling.

Plastic box for traveling with stamping supplies.

Stamp carving discoveries

This 100 Day stamp project has the most learning potential for me because I've had very limited experience with carving rubber stamps. A few things I've discovered so far:

• the simplest design is often the most versatile.
• ghost prints (a second print without re-inking the stamp) can make the design appear more complex.
• ghost prints make it look like there are more colors of inks than there really are,
• every stamp has TWO SIDES!
• if stamps are the same size, or have a side with a common size, they are easy to combine into a new design.
• using acrylic mounts for the stamps make the process cleaner (less inky fingers) and easier.
• taking photographs (for both projects) is much better in natural light. I don't like the color shifts from incandescent inside lighting.

My pattern for Day 50/100:

Day 50/100: 100 Days of Textures and Patterns with hand-carved stamps.

Hand-carved stamp and patterns.

A quote by American filmmaker, Ava DuVernay, was illustrated in a recent Do the 100 Day Project post:

"Don't wait for permission to do something creative." —Ava DuVernay

Days 1 - 25 of stamping patterns and textures

We passed the 25% mark for The 100 Day Project last week. I'm pleased with my progress on stamp carving, printmaking and creating patterns and textures.

Sketchbook for The 100n Day Project: Stamping, Patterns and Textures.

Here are a few of my favorite prints from Days 1 - 25.

The 100 Day Project: oval stamp, multi-colors.

The 100 Day Project: rotation and multi-colors.

The 100 Day Project: multi-color zigzags.

The 100 Day Project: layering two stamps.

The 100 Day Project: test page.

I  think I had a breakthrough here as this design got several comments on social media. 

The 100 Day Project: triangle stamp with symmetry and rotation.

My stamps are getting more sophisticated.

The 100 Day Project: inspired by free-motion quilting designs.

And my collection of hand-carved rubber stamps is expanding. I like experimenting with multiple stamps in a single pattern.

My box of hand-carved stamps.

Lots of great options!

The 100 Day Project for 2022

Are ya gonna do it? Who's in? The 100 Day Project starts on February 13 this year.

The 100 Day Project 2022
#the100dayproject   @dothe100dayproject

I did two 100 Day Projects last year and it was so worth it! One involved selective cutting fabrics for 3/4" hexagons. The other one was drawing and mindful mark making.

My 100 Day Project: Printmaking with mixed media

After much contemplation, I'll be focusing on printmaking this year. I've left the door open for the possibility of incorporating other drawing and painting mediums—watercolors, colored pencils, Micron pens—should the mood strike. The work will be abstract. Making marks and creating textures. 

Here are the main supplies I've chosen to work with: rubber stamp blocks, carving tools, ink pads, watercolor paints, Aqua water brushes.

Supplies for The 100 Day Project: rubber stamp blocks, carving tools, ink pads,
watercolor paints and Aqua brushes.

The type or size of sketchbook for this mixed media project hasn't been determined yet. It might be that I use a few different sizes (a smaller one when traveling) with different types of paper. 

Sketchbooks for mixed media.

By the end of the 100 days (May 24), I should be better adept at carving stamps and making prints. I'll also have a stash of textures, prints and drawings to use in other things—bookmaking, cards, collage, art journaling, etc.

Commit to doing something creative for 100 days

This is the 9th year of this global art project. Anyone can do it and it's free! For inspiration and suggestions for choosing a topic/project, visit this website. Or read Michael Bierut's perspective on the original assignment (the impetus of today's The 100 Day Project) he presented to his graduate graphic design students. 

It's about PROCESS and showing up every day.

"Assignments can be too complicated but never too simple." —Gordon Salchow.