About once a week someone posts a message on the AQ boards about this much sought-after, but sold-out, carving material. Produced only by our friend Webfoot, it is getting in extreme short supply after a required change in formula. Desperate carvers are resorting to bribes, trades and begging to get their hands on some of the stuff.Poor Webfoot has been working diligently trying to get this creamy, wonderful carving material back into production. For those of us that have some, it's not at the crisis point quite yet. But for those with little to none, it is starting to have a ripple effect - the most obvious one is no more carving. What? No more carving?? That translates into no new traditionals being planted, folks not signing up for postals or LTC swaps, and more. For a carver like me, this is bordering on the tragic. I carve for relaxation, for hobby, for artistic release...
What in the world are we gonna do? Well, the options are few, in all honesty. We can resort to the next most popular carving material - the pink stuff. Officially called Speedy-Stamp, the pink material is more rubbery-squishy than our beloved PZ, which tends to have a more firm consistency (especially the orange, which can have a rather waxy feel). There are some that get incredible details from the pink stuff, to be sure. But for those of us that are die-hard PZ carvers, this is close to blasphemy. If this is going to be our only option, then a lot of us are going to have to re-learn our technique, I'm afraid.The other options are less desirable than even the pink stuff. MasterCarve is a material that I used for a short period of time with limited success. It is even more squishy and rubbery than the pink stuff, and a lot thicker, requiring an awkward cross-cut that leaves you with two slabs. Further, the longevity of this material is questionable, depending on it's use. To put it simply, it falls apart. Not good.
Speedball's offer of Speedy-Cut is no option at all, for this material is not only soft, but crumbly. It is good only for limited stamping, at best. What a joke.
I suppose we could all go back to using erasers...
The only choice we have is to be patient. If you are a praying person, you may consider putting this on your prayer list. Send Webfoot good thoughts, vibes, or whatever...we need a miracle here! For me, I don't care what color it is, or what size the slabs end up being. I just want everyone to be able to have a cache of material in their carving supplies and feel free to carve to their heart's content. And, until our miracle materializes, we are all left with carving with those dreaded scraps, begging and borrowing from others and turning our face away from enticing swaps and sweet box locations.
It could be worse, I suppose...Webfoot could just say forget it and not be trying at all. I say, "Let's support her all we can!"
7 comments:
I agree! Let her be. She's doing the best she can.
You forgot one option: We could always go back to carving stamps the way they were done before any of the rubber was invented. Lino blocks and wood. If Escher could do it, why can't we? ;)
S
Well said, my friend! :o)
I, for one, am so glad you wrote this. I know Webfoot will appreciate the support.
I just discovered stamp carving like a week ago! i got a little kit with the pink stuff in it and liked it. i found some speedy cut really cheap but i thought it was super soft and wouldnt hold up (now i see i am right). i went yesterday to try to order pz kut since i just found out but i missed out and will have to wait.
I'm one of those no longer signing up for stuff. There's one more that I signed up for when things sounded promising in December, but that's it. No more signups until I have something new in my hand. :( So many hopeful vibes going Webfoot's way...
Support Webfoot !
Great blog entry my friend ... love me some PZ!
I just happened upon your blog and am glad I'm not the only one relying on it. Well, I guess I'm not glad, just interesting to see how other people rely on it. Maybe it's not smart to rely on something that is only made by one person? I actually have a hand carved rubber stamp business that is part of my income and I rely solely on PZ Kut. I've got a small stockpile, but it is dwindling. I use the pink stuff for simple designs, but I get a lot of orders for small text and the only thing that works is Orange PZ Kut, it's the only stuff that truly holds up and that I feel good selling to my customers.
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