Hello there!

There’s always a good reason to talk about love, to be inspired by love and to carve heart shaped stamps 😉 ! Today I want to show you this new addition to my botanical stamp collection. Pretty unconventional stamp design, as it is a botanical heart shaped wreath.

I envision it as a nice “Thank you” card design, or with some inspirational quote around or inside the wreath. As you see, this hand carved stamp is now carved, but the process of deciding what to do with it has just begun. This is the fun part about designing a stamp, being uncertain to some extent of the future use of it.

Here I show you the few steps that involve the making of a hand carved stamp from scratch. Materials you will need: pencil and paper, tracing paper, carving block and carving tool. Once you finish carving, you can use ink pads or markers to try your stamp out!

Step 1: having an idea in mind is always helpful but not a requisite. Let your mind guide your hand into designing, make several drafts to decide from.

Step 2: once you like your design (or designs), trace it onto your tracing paper.

Step 3: when your design is on the tracing paper, flip the paper onto the carving block and press with the back of the pencil or your nail, to transfer the drawing to the carving block.

Step 4: you now have the drawing in the carving block, and you can start carving. Be patient and remember that every stroke leaves a trace, so be very careful.

Step 5: once the stamp is carved you can finally test print it! Enjoy checking out how your brand new stamp prints, even if it does not look exactly how you imagined it! That’s the beauty of print making!

I hope you find these steps easy to follow and comment below any questions.

Enjoy the journey,

Love, Mery