Lines and shadows

Some days are just not worth it. Not a moment of it... or so it seems at the first glance.

I am still happy to go into my bathtub now with some great bathing stuff smelling of wild roses and with a little bit of girly sparkles. I bought one but being at home it was not enough so I made some stuff by myself. It's a lot easier than most people think if you have the right ingredients at home. Some of them will be not really cheap but they'll last forever! And after the bath: Just go to bed! Cuddling with my cats, reading a little bit and then just falling asleep... and forget about the day.

On the good side there are the people who will be at your side at a day like this. Giving you some reassurance, helping out of the black hole, drink some champagne with you...

...or tell everyone that their earrings were made by me! ^^

But still... such days drains out every little bit of energy which I have.. and for which I had to fight for over the last days, weeks, months... just emotions but harder than any exercise... so the mind is sleepy but the body is wide awake. In some old evolutionary ways waiting for the attack to come which made the body so nervous.

In this "in between time" I crave to create things. A quote of me is that crafting or better creating keeps me sane. A lot of people smile or laughs when I say this and most of them never realize that I don't mean this in some figurative sense but just the way I said it.

It is like breathing very deep and hard, like getting this nervous energy of the body and the drained moments of the brain in a line. Both together are able to create and not only craft. Although the line between stuff and art is a very thin line and at least in my simple opinion also a very subjective line in a lot of aspects, if I am in a state like this I cross this line at least for myself.

I don't think about what I am making. It is more like looking at something which is already there and creates itself. Sounds strange? Try to image how it is to see and feel the creature which comes out of the broken and rough rubber-like material while you are carving.

They are just shadows, some lines, they are rough and cut within the quadrate... but they have life. They look at me, straight, quiet, watching, and in their own way they are a essential part of me.

I am not sure whether I like them. But I do love them.

I never showed you this stamps!

As you see this are really basic stamps. I made them all from the rubber of normal school erasers )the really cheap ones ^^). I like the random background / muster stamps and I think there is always a need for a lot of arrow stamps! Don't you think so? And tags... no one should ever forget tag stamps! 

And a little castle... and a tiny house... and just a square. But sometimes you need a square! And don't forget I am just using a black ink pad to test and show the stamps. I think a lot of them would be quite cool in a lighter colour to create some kind of background texture.

I am really sorry I forgot to take pictures how I carved the stamps. I wanted to because especially a tag or an arrow is quite easy to do even for your first own handcarved stamp :)

Beloved owls...

This is an image made with my new owl stamp. Not a small one this time because I would love to use it also on fabric. 

You have to know that this image comes from the fabric of the bed linen I had as a child and which were also used by my sibling. 

I nearly forgot it but my sister gave me some of the cut bed linen (don't worry, there is another one with different colours in the memory collection of my parents :) ). Strange how something which was so ordinary now changes to something so special! I just had to smile and I'll make a cuddle pillow just for myself with the fabric! 

I just made a foto with my digi and printed the image in black and white. From this print I cut out on of the owls. I went over the back with a pen to create a kind of copy paper for image transfer.

If you put this side over the rubber and trace the lines of the image they'll go over the rubber. Perfect for carving! But be careful, never ever use too much pressure or you may scratch the rubber. And of course I also made a stamp for the bigger star! 

I found the design for the bed linen in a brown and white combination at smafolk (a danish design, they have also beautiful kids clothes!). But not with other colours (the one stored is green :) )... It must be purchased at the early eighties... or even earlier? So if any of you find one of the other coloured owl fabrics and / or bed linen... please, please, please.... send me a piece! 

The owl would be sweet for cards and tag... but also for fabric! (Okay, my fabric stamp pad is nearly empty...)

I love it!

New little stamps...

I forgot to show you some of the stamps I carved! The blog entry was finished but I wanted to wait until they arrived their destination... and over this waiting time I never showed it... 

These stamps I made for "für große Mädchen". Translated into english: for big girls (big = grown up)

She wanted a stamp which said "handmade". But you know me as soon as I start carving stamps I am addicted and want to carve more! Also I wanted some more personal stamps for her...

So I searched through her blog and found a lot of her cute owls designs. I tried to get a silhouette which would remember her owls :)

You see: They are really tiny! I am measuring in cm, not inch!

Handmade...

...her blog name and also the sign for her craftings...

...combined with the owl...

Just for you: This was my design sketch for the owl! 

PS: How about some fabric with the tiny owl? I am collecting some digital designs to get them on fabric (but I want to order rather a bunch of fabrics than only single ones...). I already have my octopus and tentacles... the mushroom frrom the stamp... mh... still collecting!

PPS: There are some more blog entries like this waiting to be published... but only can be showed when they have arrived atz their destination ^^

Fish bones stamp...

This is such a fast project, shame on me to even post it ^^

Although I normally make my own design to carve I couldn't resist when I saw this little school eraser with a fishbone... 

Just carved the outlines (and changed the end a little bit) and that was it! The rubber was perfect for carving! Softer and better than most erasers I tried so far :) I only used my lino cutting tool with the little V-shaped blade.

More small stamps... one never comes alone!

Just some leftovers I played with. The little bug is around 1 cm long... so really my small leftovers ^^

There are some ideas in my mind which I want to realize for some prints / cards. On one hand I didn't found the time until now to realize them and on the other I was still missing some material... 

The reason for the ideas is simple: Centi send me one of her beautiful flower ornament cards... and I want to send her a card in return. You know... that is already some time ago but when something is in my head (with its teeths bitten deep into my neurons) there is no way for me around is.

@centi: I didn't forget your card, I am still trying to figure out how to realize my idea. Hope you don't mind?! *imagine big puppy eyes*

Little stamps (and a sorry ^^) again!

There it is again: I am sorry for being so quiet in my blog! I am writing this a little bit often in the last few weeks but I think every one knows the time where life and all the stuff is a little bit too much. But hopefully not for too long anymore :)

In the meantime: Some more little stamps. Or better... a little "carving" tutorial. Mostly I use cheap erasers for carving my rubber stamps. They are cheap and everywhere available :)

(Did you count how often I used the word little? ^^)

To get perfect round circles I am using a tiny cookie cutter! It is just about 2 cm...

Just press it into the rubber. That's all!

There you go!

Or you can just press the cookie cutter down a little bit and carve around the metall with a sharp knife.

And now just carve some ornaments in the circle :)

Out of the leftovers I made two little mushrooms and a little letter...

And although I didn't have much time and nerves for creating stuff over the last few weeks, there was some progress which is just not finished. I cut a lot of fabric for pincushions or needle cases, Lachafa will be back in town next week and we will make some notebooks out of old book covers. Also there are some tentacles which just need a last touch...

So if you just have a little bit more patience with me: There will be a lot of cool stuff again :)

More little stamps.... keys!

Just little keys...

I carved them out of erasers (or a little part ^^). I just thought keys were missing in my stamp collection.

Now I have to think about what to do with them... or better what to create :)

I am open for ideas!

Button stamps...

It is already some time ago sinced I carved some stamps. Here we go, some little new stamps carved out of normal erasers. Little buttons and the word button in english and german (Knopf). And I love the mirror inverted N! With a white pen I added some painted stiches on the buttons. :)

Small chameleon stamp...

...okay, I am not really satisfied with this one. I know, one should not say something like that, we all hate it. It is like be a guest at dinner and the person who cocked it is excusing herself all the time before you even had a taste of the food ^^ (and it is never so worse like the cook it telling you!).

Still, I am not satisfied and have to say it. The eraser I used was a bad kind of rubber... it was tooo flexible and not cutting well and at the same time crumbling! Bah.

But after painting something like a border of the chameleon and giving one a little red tong... mh... maybe I will use it ^^

And I like to share the how-to with you because it is easy. And even if I am not really satisfied (last time I said it, promised!) it is a fast little project and if it goes wrong you will lose not really anything if you just use some cheap erasers. In fact some of my best stamps are made out of cheap erasers. One has just to try different ones. :)

Here is the little picture I used (from graphics fairy, I just love this skeleton!). It is really tiny and the details are not cutable. It is not even half an inch high (even under 1 cm ^^). But I like the shape.

I just use a pencil to paint over the picture. Then I lay the painted side on the eraser and just rubbed carefully over it. With this the picture is transfered on the eraser.

Then cut the lines! And if you are unsure: Stamp it on paper and just cut away all you don't like :)

And don't forget to paint a red tongue ^^

More stamps...

...because my twin needle broke... *sniff*

I have several sewing projects at the moments... all with jersey fabric... but without these needle (No, I don't have an overlock one...) all the work stopped. Inevitably.

Therefore... more carved rubber stamps! The last leftover of the big rubber plate for a mini jelly fish... and an normal school rubber for a bigger version...

Still not what I have in mind but good practice ^^

...both jellys stamped...

...bigger jelly...

...with a black fish and lobster...

...the former rubber plate... ^^

"Thing" rubber stamp...

Okay... it is too late, again. Or not too late.. it is quite simply in the middle of the night. But sleep and I, it seems we had a little disagreement with each other at the moment. So here my good night goody today (for a not so good night... ^^)
My last rubber... I just cut it into... a something. I like it... actually I think it is somehow cute!

Stamped on a normal envelope (although I think I will also use this for some gift tags :) )

It was just cut with a scalpel but I think I will buy some carving tools soon... better to get the details out of the rubber without the risc of cutting the small parts away...

Just another life sign...

I am still following my New Year's pledge... create more stuff and don't allow any banal and common excuses.. there are none!

But I don't like to post something which is not finished... I am not sure why, but somehow it seems not suitable for me. *shrugs*

Also there is some stuff which was finished but meant to be a gift and therefore can't be displayed here now :)

I have now a deviantart account (thanks to lachafa :) ) --> saraccino

My small avatar (which is now also on top of the blog) was made put of one picutre with my small tentacle rubber stamp :)