I was carving an image the other day in which I needed to carve some tiny dots, and these dots needed to be circular, not irregular shapes. Every time I try to do that using regular carving methods, the results are less than satisfactory. So this time I tried something new.

I whipped out my trusty set of carving needles. One by one, starting with the biggest (a truly scary 12 gauge), I chucked each one up in my power drill with the pointy end pointing into the chuck, the butt end sticking out. Then I chucked up a diamond bit in my Dremel, selecting a bit that had a conical point that came to a very sharp tip.

Running the drill, I ran the diamond Dremel bit right into the tail end of each needle, holding it against one side so it could grind a taper on the inside edge of the opening. I kept grinding until this taper met the outside surface of the needle, making a circular sharp edge. I then held my Arkansas sharpening stone flat against the side of the needle -- with the drill still running -- to dress the outside edge.

I did this with four of my needles, the 12 gauge, 14 gauge, 16 gauge, and 18 gauge. Going with needles smaller than 18 gauge here might be challenging, but the main reason I stopped there was because those were the only sizes I needed for this job.

When carving, I simply set the butt end of the needle on the rubber and pushed down. I had to trial-and-error a bit, as the first couple tries I didn't push hard enough to do anything. I was working with PZ Kut Orange, though, so once I had made a cut I could see it.

The reason I cut the taper on the inside of the needle was so that, as it was pressed into the rubber, it would tend to compress rubber inside the circle. That way, once the needle was pulled back out, the remaining standing dot would be tapered properly wider at the base. Note, however, that you cannot push the needle very far into the rubber; basically you just want to break the surface, then do the rest with your other carving tools.

It worked wonderfully. In fact, it kinda screwed up the image because the tiny dots were so much cleaner-looking than the rest of the image!

I did find out that the same needles can also be used to make a negative dot -- white dot on inked background. Instead of pressing lightly, you press harder and turn it a little. The edge still cuts a clean circle, but the rubber within the circle is compressed into the needle and then ripped loose by the turning. You pull the needle out of the rubber and the plug comes with it. This leaves a tiny plug of rubber jammed into the base of the needle, but I found that the next smaller needle could be used to get it out.

Very interesting! I actually just use my dremel and that very same bit to create perfect negative circles in my orange pZ... works like a charm... and you can vary the diameter depending on the depth of the bit into rubber. I'll have to consider this technique for possitive circles though! Thanks for sharing.

~Queen Beeloved

I am very new to stamp carving, but I make negative dots with toothpicks. This works well with the pink stuff. I tried it with stampeaz, and the results were undesirable.

Mandy
GJ

Reading this gave me the idea of using a small punch to make dots. Just punch a little way into the PZcut and then carve around the circle left. Has anyone tried that? i have all sorts of size of punches, (the kind you hammer not the hand press kind), from all my scrapbooking stuff. i tried it and it seemed to work.

deniserows
"no uni taskers allowed in my craft room"
slogan sorta stolen from Alton Brown

I use my awl to make small negative dots. I have also used a very small phillips screwdriver or a Torx bit to make star shapes. They work very nicely on Mastercarve.

For larger circles I have used a similar approach... I have several different eyelet setters... you know the little metal circles on shoes? You can get the setters at the fabric store in several sizes and I just knock it on the pz and then pick the plug out with tweezers. Works well for larger negative circles. -or O's using two different sizes set inside each other.

~QB

Quote

I am very new to stamp carving, but I make negative dots with toothpicks.

I needed a couple of different sized negative dots (holes) for my sig stamp, so I bent open a large paperclip and a small paper clip and used them to make the holes.

TG

Ahh. . . I checked out your signature stamp, and I see what you mean. Great Job!

GJ

Wow that's a really great technical description of how you created your dot tools.

I just use drill bits..... no drill. I twist it by hand and get the dot as deep as I want, perfectly circular, with no fuss. We picked up a set of drill bits at Dollar Tree and keep them in our carving basket. This made Bob happy since we could put his bits back into the garage. They range from tiny to large and are safe for the kids to handle.

Tee

I use the tip of a mechanical pencil to make tiny dots--lead removed of course. Works great.
S

I use a mechanical pencil too...for positive or negative dots. I've got a few different sizes. It works like a charm every time and is very easy. You just need to be sure the tip of the pencil is metal and not plastic.