Art Experiment Saturday Share

Welcome to Sketchbook Share Saturday! I’m sharing a peek into my art experiment notebook, and I hope you will share yours as well. If you’re just tuning in, you can find all the “what”s and “why”s at The Great Art Supply Experiment Introduction. I’m trying some new things, picking up my art supplies, and having fun, learning along the way. No rules, anything goes!

This week I decided to make some hand-carved background stamps to use in my other art pieces. I’ve been on the road for spring break, so stamp-carving supplies were easy to bring along with me. All I needed was a set of tools, carving material, and a pencil. I decided to draw free-form stamps, so I didn’t need to bother with any other materials or planning in advance.

Hand Carved Pod Stamp from the Art Experiment series from Carla Schauer Designs. — Hand Carved Pod Stamp

Before these, I had attempted stamp carving only once before. It was for one specific magazine project, and I cut myself twice (those tools are sharp!). My tools have been in a cabinet ever since. But the more I’ve been painting and drawing, the more I’d like to have specific reusable background stamps of my own. So out came the supplies, and on the road we went.

Hand-Carved Leaf Background Stamp from Art Experiment series by Carla Schauer Designs — Hand-Carved Leaf Background Stamp

Honestly, this trip was about hanging out with the family, so I didn’t attempt too many. I made the 2 leaves above to practice making positive and negative shapes within the stamp image. (Forgive the photo quality, I’m working with index cards and an iphone on the road. 😀 )

Hand-Carved Triangle Stamp from Art Experiment series by Carla Schauer Designs — Hand-Carved Triangle Stamp

I also used the extra bits of carving material to try making tiny stamps. This was a bit difficult for me without having more carving experience, but I did end up with one usable tiny triangle. The whole stamp is under 1/2″ long.