I'd happily use 1/8" material, as I mount my stamps anyway.

That's a good solution for stamping. But probably not for carving - I think mounting foam under the material while you carve, would allow too much "give" as you use pressure with your tools.

What is the time difference between sneaking something in and a custom run? If it's only a few weeks, I wouldn't bother - if it's a few months...

I heard back from my production folks and it looks like it would be 8 - 10 weeks for a full production run with my specified thickness, width and length.

I'm still waiting for a couple more samples (at 1/8" this time) to try, so if they're big enough, I may be sending out a couple pieces for people to test and give me more feedback.

If the test carving team comes back with positive enough ratings, is a short, "sneak between" production run of this stuff at about 1/8" something that you'd be interested buying, or would you rather wait for a while for the thicker, custom run stuff?

I'd be willing to try it. What will the shipping price be for the size (length & width) that you're thinking of doing?

I'd be willing to try it. What will the shipping price be for the size (length & width) that you're thinking of doing?

Unknown at this stage. I have my team sharpening pencils and doing calculations. I may actually have to have some in my grubby little webbed feet before I know, since it may come priced by weight and I'll need to weigh a block before I can figure out how much it costs both to produce and to ship to my doorstep (at least, I hope they don't leave it at the bottom of the hill - it would take me a really long time to schlep 5000 pounds of the stuff up the hill to my garage!).

Taking the sample from 1/16" to 1/8" may allow a better test for elasticity and release of material, but may still be a bit thin to manage the bending/buckling of the material when held while carving, without some form of backing. The 1/16th depth of the sample meant the gouge tip could be felt on the backside of the material while being carved in the hand-held form of carving that I do versus flat on a table.

That being said...this material has good potential and I could see absolutely wanting to try a thicker sample.

I agree Foraych. The 1/16 just wasn’t a good test for me. But there were features I liked making it worth trying a thicker sample

I think mounting foam under the material while you carve, would allow too much "give" as you use pressure with your tools.

That's the way I have always carved! In fact, recently I had to resort to carving before mounting for the first time because the Seed material is translucent and having it mounted on black foam makes it too difficult to see the image.

I agree Kirbert. I find some issues with carving, especially on pink, are solved when you mount the material. The reduced flex of the material lets you adjust tinier details better than when it is unmounted.

The difference of opinions on this may be the result of tabletop carving vs. hand held carving. I am a handheld carver so when I mount it, it has less give. When a tabletop carver mounts on foam and puts it on a table it has more give that the table alone would have.