Carving Capers!

In my enthusiasm to make a start on this crusade, I turned the studio upside down looking for my lino cutting tools - we've still got boxes that we're unpacking (nearly 5 months after moving in - you can't rush these things!)I didn't find the tools but I found some scraps of lino and decided to make a shadow stamp for my anatomy stamp - a la Michelle - I stamped the image onto the lino and cut it out using a scalpel. I inked it up, it looked ok, so I stamped it. Then I inked the head and stamped over the 'shadow', something just didn't look right. I sat and looked at the stamps and the stamped image. It took a little while for me to figure it out the 'shadow' is a mirror image of the stamp, so it has created a reverse image rather than a shadow. So while I'm back to square one, I do have a silhoutte of a head stamp!

I went into town this morning to try and buy a carving block, with no joy - This is the bit that I am finding difficult living in a small country town, 8 hours from the city - I guess I'm just going to have to order what I need online. Stay tuned for future progress.

It's crusade time again - you know how much I love Michelle Ward's GPP Street Team Crusades - This month's crusade is Cut It Out - Make a tool of your own. Michelle is challenging us to create our own tools either carving our own rubber stamps or creating a custom stencil. Now I haven't created a stencil before, so I'm looking forward to Michelle's hints and tips

I have tried creating my own stamps and lino prints before, here are some pics:

Raven

Triskele or Celtic Spiral

Phoenix rising from the flames.

Thanks to Michelle for the great ideas, I'm inspired to hunt out my tools and carve some stamps.