Restart.

Since returning from our road trip, I have been reticent to do any stamp carving. Because my hard work, planting-planning, and beloved sig-stamps being stolen, it has kind of paralyzed me. I had been somewhat struggling with the transfer methods anyway, and having everything suddenly disappear just added to the frustration. 

But, as many of you know, there has been an ongoing thread on AQ talking about laserjet printers and using acetone/wintergreen oil to transfer. While I had been hesitating to get back to carving, shopping on Amazon has not been an issue (!!). Just for fun, I looked to see how much a small laserjet printer might cost. To my surprise, I found one for under $100. That was doable. Besides, I could send it back if it sucked.

It didn't suck at all - it works great. It has got me over the carving-paralysis I was experiencing. And, this transfer method actually works.

It is actually pretty compact - smaller than I expected. Once I got it up and running, I was surprised how efficiently it printed. When I quickly applied the acetone to the prepared transfer, the image magically appeared on my material (I am using FirmKut) - no smearing. Even though I had read that many carvers prefer this method, I was still amazed at the transfer quality. Of course, I had a few goofs to start: first I used waaaay too much acetone (you only need to swipe a cotton ball with acetone minimally over the paper to wet the entire image), and another transfer ended up with big blotches. I quickly figured out that I need to adjust my printed images to stark black and white for best results. I did muck up some material with my goofs, but decided to try to sand them off with my hand sander - worked like a charm! I do hate wasting material.

This was one of the first test transfers with the new method. Since 3 bonsai stamps were in the stolen bag, it was fitting to use this image for a test. This was one that I used too much acetone during transfer - if you look close, you can see the pattern from the cotton pad I used! Sheesh! I do wonder if the acetone will affect the stamp material over time, but that remains to be seen.

a new ink/siggy case with my re-carved favorite

My little Team Lazy Bxrz PNW, a favorite siggy for travel, was also in the ill-fated bag. It has been rather therapeutic to re-carve those stamps that I am still lamenting. I also had to create another ink/siggy box for my LB bag. I am happily back in business.

ready to carve

Last but not least, the lost team stamp. The original was 2" x 2", which seemed a bit large, so I shrunk it down a skosh, it is now 1-3/4". It was originally carved on Tan Z, which can be tricky to ink and get consistent impressions, especially if not using pigment ink. But it was so cool! I decided to resize it and give it a shot on FirmKut. You can see the quality of image transfer; I have gotten used to the yellow Stazon ink over top to add contrast, which also prevents smearing (especially with pencil transfers). The laserjet ink transfer does not seem to smear, which is a happy thing, but I still like the contrast.

I don't think I will be re-carving this lost stamp (it is actually two stamps) anytime soon. I was planning on planting them where the old Pekin Community High School stood back in Illinois (unfortunately, it has been torn down). Since this was place-specific, and meant to honor Obimaster's time there as a young adult, it just doesn't make sense to re-carve. While we very much enjoyed our visit, we won't be going back anytime soon, sadly. (I would be willing to re-carve if there were a boxer interested in planting somewhere near the old high school ... perhaps in Mineral Springs Park? Let me know if you are interested!)

Home of the Pekin Dragons

I am still remembering things I stuck in that bag that are now gone. I have learned a valuable lesson from this: Never put all your stamps and boxing paraphernalia in one bag (especially a nice one that looks expensive). I had grabbed a very special set of stamps to take on the trip at the last second, and thankfully I put it in my personal bag instead of the boxing bag. It was saved from theft, and ended up being the only hand-carved stamp(s) we had on the trip. (And I am soooo glad I didn't take a carving kit! I would have lost my favorite tools and material!)

the Owl & Turtle stamps

These stamps were carved for my son (Blarg, formerly T-for-Turtle) when he was a little guy - Owl and Turtle (two beanie babies) were his favorite friends. If I am remembering right, these stamps were a personal traveler for gathers on one of our previous road trips (I should dig out pics of boxers posing with Owl & Turtle - it was part of the requirements of the personal traveler!!). He still has Owl & Turtle, and they are treasured. We actually took them as 'mascots' on this trip, and had a lot of fun incorporating them into the trip as if they were fellow travelers! I am so very grateful these stamps were not stolen, and we were able to use them in the logbooks of the boxes we found along the way. All because I was lazy and just threw them in my purse. Go figure.

Obimaster & Turtle

Seaman putting up with Owl

OK, that's enough rambling for today - off to carve for a bit! Tell me about your experience with the laserjet + acetone method, and any tips or tricks. I want to hear them!