This story begins many, many moons ago. Mark told me about this amazing pen, known as a blender pen, particularly those with a chemical known as Xylene. I was fascinated, and he wrote up a page that I later put into the stamp carving tutorial at http://www.atlasquest.com/tutorials/carving/transferimage2.html.

And all this time, I never tried that method of transferring images. He swears by it, and even mailed me a blender pen to give it a try myself. Then I promptly lost it, what with being unemployed and all and traveling around.

Somehow, it resurfaced a few months ago, and I set it aside somewhere where I knew I wouldn't lose it, and it had been collecting dust there ever since. I didn't lose it--I just forgot where I put it. ;o) Just kidding, I actually remembered where it was, but I don't have ready access to laserjet printers so most of the images I use don't work with the blender pen. I was waiting for that perfect image from a newspaper to give it a whirl with.

And about a month ago, I found it. It was a beautiful image. Already black and white, a perfect line-style drawing with no complex shading. There was shading, but it was done with lines. Intricate, detailed lines. It was an image I loved, but it was an image I dreaded the idea of tracing. I could imagine the hand cramps after tracing around the image for an hour or two.

It was time. It was time for the blender pen.

I only had one copy of the newspaper, so I didn't want to screw up this image I liked so much, so I tore out a tiny picture from the Ask a Mexican column, and tried transferring the image using a blender pen just to make sure it would all work as advertised. The transfer wasn't quite as dark as I wanted, but it work. It was clear, and it was in sharp focus.

Now it was time for the real deal. I taped the image face down on the carving block--PZ-Kut, I decided, since I wasn't sure the detail I intended to carve would be easy to do on MasterCarve (I'm out of Speedy-Stamp). And I went over the image three or four times with the blender pen. I peeled back a corner, and the image transferred pretty well, but once again, not nearly as dark as I would have preferred, so I put it back and tried the blender pen some more.

That was a big mistake. When I lifted the image again, the bottom half of the image in particular suddenly turned much more fuzzy and hard to see. Nothing was darker either.

But I could still see the image, if I squint really well. I feared it wouldn't be enough, though. I feared it would turn out as an acceptable, but nothing special carving.

And it was hard to carve the bottom half of the image, being so fuzzy and indistinct, but I did, and it turned out WONDERFUL! I'm not sure I'd have gotten such great results if I had traced the image and used a thumbnail rubbing like I usually do, without that extra detail.

It's a pretty darned good stamp. I was originally going to give it to dbltall in payment for taking some of my stuff off my hands, but I just can't. I like the image too much. I want to do something special with it. Create a box around it that will be known throughout the lands. The kind that people worship and pay their respects to. I need to find the right location for it, and create a hand-made logbook that will fit the theme perfectly. I must build a clue, creative and witty around this stamp.

It started as a simple experiment, trying to transfer an image using a blender pen, but it has turned into a mission. It will become a box to be remembered.....

In any case, I can't wait to find some more newspaper images to transfer. =)

-- Ryan

Hey Ryan, could you maybe turn this special stamp into a virtual box??? That way those of us who don't get to travel much can see it too. My thinking is that there's no way I'll ever be able to make the trip to find it, unless you plant it literally in my back yard. But if you make it a virtual find, hundreds of people will be able to enjoy. You could still use the "creative and witty" clues with the virtual. ;-)

You could also still make it a traditional plant. Lots of people don't like the virtuals and would still go out and search for it. I would be willing to find it both ways if it was planted close to me. Hint, hint. Planning a trip to GA anytime soon?

castles16 ~a girl can hope, can't she~

Some newspaper print will transfer just as easily as pencil. Slap it on there, give it a good rubbing, and you've got a carveable image. No blender pen necessary. Just an FYI!

*S

Hey Ryan, could you maybe turn this special stamp into a virtual box?

I considered it, but it just doesn't seem right to turn it into a virtual box. I will, however, make the image public when the box eventually goes missing since I have no intention of ever recarving it. Once the box is gone, perhaps I'll turn the image into a virtual box or otherwise make it public for the world to see. =)

Of course, some people might see the image in my logbook too. *wink nudge*

-- Ryan

I must build a clue, creative and witty around this stamp.

Wow! A stamp even better and a clue even wittier than the Green Tortuga's already stratospheric standards?
We're all in for a treat!

Mariette
(so am I getting the Ask a Mexican stamp then? ;)

You said: "his story begins many, many moons ago. Mark told me about this amazing pen, known as a blender pen, particularly those with a chemical known as Xylene. I was fascinated, and he wrote up a page that I later put into the stamp carving tutorial at http://www.atlasquest.com/tutorials/carving/transferimage2.html.

And all this time, I never tried that method of transferring images. He swears by it, and even mailed me a blender pen to give it a try myself. Then I promptly lost it, what with being unemployed and all and traveling around.

Somehow, it resurfaced a few months ago, and I set it aside somewhere where I knew I wouldn't lose it, and it had been collecting dust there ever since. I didn't lose it--I just forgot where I put it. ;o)"

Well Scooby Doo and the silly crew! I can't believe that I'm finally hearing about this! What a friggin' flashback!

Newspaper saturates very quickly so go light. I'm glad you wrote this up b/c I had given up on my find of the blender pen powers since the old-style printer's ink is phasing out. You've breathed purpose into the blender pen for another round of life, provided the user is interested in newspaper images.

Thanks Ryan, glad you still have that old pen and actually used it. And I'm most happy that it turned out well for you.

What a trip. Thanks buddy,
Mark

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I had given up on my find of the blender pen powers since the old-style printer's ink is phasing out.

I use a blender pen whenever I can to make my transfers and am very satisfied with the results. I think the key is to have photocopies made on old style copy machines like 7-11, corner food marts and such. Bought 2 of them the last time I was at the University art supply store - they are not easy to find outside of the big cities.
H-A-F