The book is
beautifully laid out and heavily illustrated with Gennine’s own stamps. Like
all good craft books she goes through the basics from tools to techniques, but
really there’s not much to tell because the craft requires very little stuff to
get started.
There’s a talk on inspiration, composition, rhythm and pattern…all
good stuff and a great reminder that simple is usually the most effective (must
remember this!).
Nearly all of the
projects in the book can be completed using ordinary erasers you buy at the
stationary store, this is important to me as I think that crafts need to be
affordable in order for people to experiment. Gennine uses them to stamp on all
kinds of surfaces from paper to cloth, to rocks and pots, it’s very inspiring! Just Look at those gift tags! Wouldn't you just cry if someone presented you with a gift donning one of those?
And Oh My! Look at that paper...Mushroom Paper! I can't even begin to describe to you the delight that handmade wrapping paper brings me; I would be grateful for an empty shoebox as long as it were dressed as well as these parcels!
If you know me at all you will know that by this point in the book I’m already
itching to get going, dreaming of masterpieces made up of series of my
hand-carved stamps- Earth to Hayley, “you need to learn the basics first!”
So one evening, after
sending the little ones to bed I set to work. I know I have a tendency to jump
in at the deep end with any new craft but this time I purposefully made myself
start slow and simple. I carved a cloud, a petal, then something abstract and a
little more challenging….but I was still having trouble, why? Although
difficult it was very addictive and I ended up using all but 6 erasers to carve
that evening. I found that I was missing the no.1 cutting blade from my set
which, lets face it, is the best one as it allows (for normal human beings
anyway) you to achieve all the little details you want in a hand carved
stamp. In hindsight I think this actually helped me as it forced me to work
simply using bold shapes.
Here’s what I made; stamp collection Mark.1! Its an odd selection I admit, but each was inspired by
something!
I especially loved the Mushroom. I stamped it out on the page during
different stages of completion so you could see the process more visually. The
little blocks were inspired by church floors I have seen. The petals were from
a pretty tissue box I had, however they worked better separately from one
another.
Here I used the petal
to create a patterned paper, it reminds me of dragon skin (not that I have ever
seen a dragon).
The Cacti ones are
directly from the book and I love how clever they are, they are stupidly simple
to carve yet so effective!
By the way, if you’re
looking for a relaxing way to pass the time, then stamping your own wrapping
paper is for you! I stamped all 3 sheets whilst in between things to do, when I
would otherwise be loitering, trying to find something useful to pass the time.
It was very therapeutic!
After lots of fun, I
was eventually frustrated at the lack of detail I was able to achieve, so I
packed it all away and ordered a new set of blades. The new ones arrived and
also a larger rubber plate that I reeeaaaaallllly wanted but didn’t really need
and bought anyway (I’m so glad I did by the way). So I started all over again
and instantly there was such a difference! The news blades were sharp, cutting
cleanly and easily with very little effort required. I’m not a weakling after
all! I’m working on something QUITE exciting, I’ll have it to show off soon!
Thanks for stopping by, I'm off to watch the Great British Bake Off...EEK!
See you Soon,
Hayley
x
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