I will just give the same advice to both of you then...carve slowly. Don't push harder on the knife/gouge/whatever tool you're using than you need to. Keep your fingers out of the way of the blade, because they do slip and skip, especially if you're pushing too hard. it's a lot easier to take a little more off than to put any rubber back on, so carve shallow, then if you need to make it deeper, carve shallow again in the same spot. eventually it will get as deep as you need it to be. look at commercial stamps, the stamp part doesn't stick up a lot past the unstamping part. as long as yours doesn't make stray lines that you don't want, it's deep enough. test it occasionally by coloring with a light colored marker, light blue or green are my favorites for testing. Not only can you see in the image exactly where you need to trim, but you will see the ink stained rubber that will tell you where you still need to carve.

that's about it, all it takes is practice. it is good to start with simpler shapes, and leave letters for later, and faces...well, I'm not even up to faces yet, but I know it will eventually come. it is easiest if you use the pencil transfer method when you're beginning...which is to draw or trace on a paper, turn it over and rub the pencil onto the rubber, then carve. if you use this method, you will NEVER carve something backwards, because turning the paper over reverses the image automatically, then turning the stamp over to stamp it turns it forward again.

night writer

My 7 year old carves all the time. When I taught my kids to carve I made sure they understood the basic rules of carving.

1. The blade is SHARP. It WILL cut you if you jam it into your hand.
2. Always carve AWAY from you. NOT towards you.
3. Turn the material, not the blade.
4. Go SLOW. This is not a race.
5. Stay in one place while carving. You must sit at the table or stand next to it to carve. No walking around with the carving tools.

Other than that, make sure they know ahead of time how they want to carve their image. Is it a negative image? Or a block image? Or a "coloring book" image? Each one will have different requirements for carving. Have to decide how it's going to go.

And above all else, have fun.

Maiden

Thank you both for the helpful tips. We are going to try our hand at it tonight. I have practiced on the erasers, but not the real stuff. Will update you all on whether we have ten fingers each when we're done. (smile)

When you are deciding whether or not to do a positive image, I'd recommend *not* doing that for a first-time carver, especially a child. I'd start with negative images or silhouettes. Silhouettes produce a nice bold image without requiring as much detail work.

MC