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:

Start with the most difficult and intricate part of the stamp first. That way, if you mess it up and want to throw it away, you haven't lost much time. If you wait to do the hard parts last, you will have wasted all that time doing the easy parts just to throw the effort away when you mess up on the hard part!

Cutting at sharp angles (left) creates ragged edges and poor carvings. Use shallow angles (right) for clean cuts.
Hold the carving tool at an angle to make shallow, horizontal cuts. Gouging the carving block with deep cuts will cause ragged edges and cause the stamp to fall apart quickly.
When following the curves of your image, it's easier to rotate the carving medium under the blade than it is to twist the carving blade around the stamp. If your carving block does not rotate easily, try putting tracing paper between the carving block and your work surface to make rotating the stamp easier.
Start carving from the shallowest places and work towards the deeper areas of your stamp. You will find it easier to carve shallow areas when deep pits do not surround it. The carving medium is more stable to work with the less it has been cut.
Whenever possible, carve away from your image. Start at a corner where two lines of your image come together and carve out from there.

The cut out portion of your stamp should slope away from the stamp's surface
Never undercut the image. The cut-out portion of your stamp should slope away from your stamp's surface for maximum stability.
Only cut as deep as necessary for a clean-looking image. Excessively deep cuts will make your stamp prone to crumbling. In addition, ensure that while cutting, the cutting tip does not fall below the cutting surface. Otherwise, the tip will tear pieces out of the carving block rather than cutting them—a vastly uglier cut!
To see your carved-out areas better, ink the surface of the carving medium with an ink-pad of a light color or use a highlighter over the image.
Keep your nibs sharp or else buy some new ones. A dull nib will tear away pieces rather than cut them out resulting in very ugly edges.
Make sure you have good lighting so you can see what you're doing! Many letterboxers prefer a light-and-magnifier model on a long arm that attaches with clamps to a table for a hands-free light and magnifying experience, both for the good light and the magnification.
If the carving medium has too much 'give' when you're cutting, you can cool the carving block in your freezer or refrigerator to firm up the surface.

Think you're done? Not until after you've put it through a stamp test!
Cut away from you. Not only is this easier, but one could build a case that it's safer too!
Cut a long line with one, long continuous cut to get the cleanest edges. Using several cuts to make one line creates a more jagged appearance. (Of course, you might desire this effect, which might represent hair on an animal or an impressionistic look.)

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.

A Letterboxing Community

Stamp Carving 101

Carving the Image