carving up a stamp

i have been so inspired by others making their own stamps that i ordered a Speedball carving set for myself. my order and carving set arrived yesterday (so excited!!)

so, last night i set off to give this a whirl and see how i do. i had purchased a couple of $1 big erasers at my local dollar store to carve up. i figured i would start on the cheap erasers to start until i was able to hone my skills a bit.

i sketched around my eraser so i know what size to make my design and then, drew within my rectangle.

once i was happy with my sketch, i colored on the back of my sketch and then, drew on my sketch to transfer the graphite onto my eraser. you can see the carving set i purchased. there were two sets available- i did buy the set with all of the carving sizes because it was a minimal amount more- so why not have all the sizes?

 you can see here how the image transferred onto my eraser. it is not the best, but, looking at my sketch and seeing the image on the eraser really was not too bad. i may have to see if there is a better method- or if you have a better way...please leave me a comment! i would love to know!

when i was done with my carving, i went and found my ink pad to see how i actually did. so excited to see it actually print onto paper!! i had a couple of small edges to take down just a bit more, but, for the most part, i was done with the carving and VERY happy with my first attempt.