Scandinavian motif to carved stamp tutorial

[photojenn (Jenn)]

I’ve recently become fascinated by repeating stamp patterns and wanted to take a Scandinavian motif from a knitting book and turn it into a stamp.

Here’s the final stamped image, slightly askew but I’m getting better!

First I started by making a grid on the stamp block using a #2 pencil. I needed 12 squares by 12 squares so I cut my block to 3"x3" and made the grid 1/4" squares.

Next I drew out my pattern onto the block, coloring in the portions I wanted to keep

Next I took a fine v blade and carved around the image (the astute will notice that I missed a few lines, oops!)

Then I carved away anything that wasn’t colored in. I started with a number 5 v/u blade to get the big sections then went back in with a number 2 v blade to get the corners straight.

And the final stamp

And here’s the book I pulled the original motif from, however I did modify it slightly to make the corners more interesting.

For carving I was using Dick Blick Readycut which I like because you can easily see if you’ve carved down far enough.

Thanks for looking!

[endymion (Pam 🇺🇸 (she/her))]

I am just loving watching you play with stamp carving and repeating motifs. How cool! Great idea to use existing patterns and convert them to stamps.

I didn’t know about the Dick Blick carving blocks. It must be so helpful to have the darker top part so you can get a better idea of what your stamp looks like as you are carving it. Going to go check and see if they are latex-free…

… Still not sure, but they are all out of stock anyway at the moment.

[Smmarrt (Susan - You can just add more paint!)]

Wow! Such tiny squares!

[TheMistressT (Tara - she/her)]

This is so cool! And so clever of you to turn to this source for a repeating pattern!

[kayrun]

Impressive! And a nice tutorial, too!
I tried carving a stamp for a swap earlier this year, and it is challenging, to say the least!
I should look for that product.

[Tanath (Anat)]

That’s very cool. Taking a design from one type of craft and applying it to a completely different craft.

[wittychild (Jen 🇨🇦)]

So neat! I don’t think I’ve got the skills for this, but the way you gridded it makes it feel really accessible for newbies.

[gozer (Becca)]

Wow. You made a grid and all! LOL! It looks very cool and I really like the design.