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Stamp Carving 101

Carving the Image

Comparison of a negative-stamp image to a positive-stamp image
Negative-stamp images (left) are quicker and easier to carve, but positive-stamp images (right) generally look better

After you have your desired image on your carving block, carving a stamp becomes nothing more than cutting away the parts of the carving medium that you don't need. You have two choices: (1) Carving a negative image or (2) carving a positive image. A negative-stamp image—where you carve away the dark areas where the pencil marks transferred—is quicker and easier, but tends to look less professional. The positive-stamp image—where you carve away the light areas from around the pencil marks—generally is slower and more challenging to carve, but the results tend to look much better. Most beginning carvers have better results with positive-stamp images, so we'll use that technique for this tutorial.

To carve your stamp, begin by cutting out the carving from the rest of your carving block with your X-acto knife. This gives you a smaller, easier piece to work with. Then, using a #1 nib on your carving handle, start tracing the edges of the dark areas. That done, use a #2 nib to deepen the cuts—as necessary—you already created with the #1 nib. And finally, move on to the #5 nib to clear out large areas as necessary. Remember, small cuts first. You can always cut away more of the carving block if necessary, but it's not easy to put it back if you cut too much!

Here are other carving tips to keep in mind:

With a little practice, you will develop these techniques and build on them until they become second nature. And after a while, your stamps will have a certain look to them that other letterboxers will recognize as being your particular style.

Finally, when you think the stamp is done, try it out! Your carving might contain small flaws invisible to your eyes, but they pop out quickly when you actually use the stamp. So give it a try, take a close look at the printed image and see if there is any tweaking left to be done.

  1. Stamp Carving 101 Intro
  2. Gathering Materials
  3. Finding Images
  4. Transferring Images: Part I
  5. Transferring Images: Part II
  6. Carving the Stamp
  7. Mounting the Stamp
  8. What Now?
  9. Samples & Examples