Anybody carving any turkeys today?

I'm talking stamps, what did you think? ;-)

I've already got a turkey stamp planted in the wild. I'm asking if anyone else has or is planning on doing one today.

Not today, but I really should do one. We have a huge flock of wild turkeys in my neighborhood (30+)

I've got a turkey planted in Turkey, Texas.

I made one last night and planted it! We have the whole family with us today, so it was fun going out and getting to box. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!!!

We have a huge flock of wild turkeys in my neighborhood (30+)

I wonder if that count will go down after today. :D

I’m carving a micro snowman today. Trying to, anyway.

It almost did yesterday. There's a pretty busy street by our house and part of the flock stepped out into morning rush hour traffic!

But we do have a neighbor who's not fond of them and he's made thinly veiled threats about "Thanksgiving is coming!"

I’m carving a micro snowman today. Trying to, anyway.

Hope you send me a pic!!

I've planted turkey stamps on Thanksgiving in the past but didn't this year.

Haha I think Holiday Stamps would be Hilarious!/ Fun/ Interesting!Each holiday attempt to plant a box to go along with the day!

Dat carves bad to the bone

wow - great carve

What?!!! This is the first year I haven't escaped my family to go boxing. Not too terrible, though. They were here helping me get my house livable after Harvey. Who thought painting baseboard could be so relaxing? Probably the fumes.

I'm carving my second stamp on Tan-Z. I noticed the texture on the back before, but I don't think that I brought it up on the forums. I'm asking here so that others can see the response, and join the discussion if they want.

Webfoot, what makes this texture? Is it just because they didn't roll it on the top, or did they roll this texture into it when it was forming?

It does make it so that only one side can be carved, unless one has a way to utilize the pattern.

I don’t know the answer but we have already been through a fair amount of it. I haven’t really lost a piece due to a carving mistake but I’m sure it’s coming. I have been giving some thought to trying to sand down the back so it can be used. I don’t have any solutions yet but if I do I’ll post them.

The material is fairly thick. I wonder if you could cut away that texture on the back with an exacto or a larger gouge. People shave down, or cut off the back of stamps for micro postals, but it's not that flat. Would be hard to get a smooth surface for stamping.

maybe there's a way to secure it in a vice and cut all the way through with some kind of knife, like a guillotine?

what makes this texture? Is it just because they didn't roll it on the top, or did they roll this texture into it when it was forming?

The Stampeaz webstore describes Tan-z as "smooth on one side and pebbled on the other, <the answer>due to the extrusion process used to make it</the answer>, so it's very easy to tell which side to carve."

I was thinking more along the lines of a belt sander. Though holding it in one spot while working on it would be a bit tricky. I have an orbital sander that might work.

The thing is, Tan is quite a bit less flexible than pink. When roughing up the carving side (so it will hold ink better) I’ve sanded a *slight* low spot. That alone can cause printing issues. Whatever method is used needs to leave the surface pretty darn flat.

due to the extrusion process used to make it

Well, that answers my original question. This has generated a lot of interesting discussion though.

I'm just about out of all the materials I've purchased in the past and have had thoughts of ordering Tan-Z but after the original posts of the trials of the material I've seen almost none that are overwhelmingly positive. Seems like it's one problem after another.

A question for all you out there that are using this material - is it worth the effort to purchase or should I go to Michael's and buy some pink stuff?

BTW BBStacker makes lots of carving errors and almost "needs" the other side of the material.

I have found the material to hold fine details and as much more workable than OZ and more consistent throughout the material than SLQ and current Pink stuff. Also, I like supporting fellow letterboxers and Webfoot is one of the good gals! My vote is order a slab and try it out. If it is not for you, you can hit a local store, but I am guessing once trying the stuff and getting used to it, you will like it (and perhaps mistakes will be fewer in occurrence too with familiarity of the material).

Also the more people experiment with the material, the more likely a technique to use the underside will come through.

Jeff (and his $0.02)

I have already carved up 2 12x12 sheets of it and find no issues with it other than cutting the stamps apart... you have to be careful as it's like it has a grain to it and if you are cutting across it - you can get hung up and then it lets go - causing the cut to go astray. But carving it is much better than pink any day of the week for me... I hate pink :)

The Tan is much better than Pink in my opinion. I had only used pink until I tried the Tan. Wow, what a difference! After going through a couple slabs I went back and used the Pink for a donation stamp. It seemed like I was carving mud, ha ha.

I’m not sure it will help with your mistakes but it did with mine. Because it offers more resistance, the carving tools have less of a tendency “slip” into an areas that weren’t meant to be cut. I also like the way it prints much better. Because it’s less “squishy” than pink, I find I get less accidental transfer marks.

I agree that you should get a slab and try it for yourself. I also agree that it’s good to support the community.

DZ

A question for all you out there that are using this material - is it worth the effort to purchase or should I go to Michael's and buy some pink stuff?

Tan-Z is more like OZ. I'm not a conosour so it carves the same for me. Others notice a difference.

Let me echo the idea of buying a slab and trying it.

Tan-Z - my comments are totally overwhelming positive. I did like the old pink, sure, but am over the moon about this stuff. Yes, it's quite firm and maybe that's why I feel like I can do (for me anyway) more challenging carves, and stamps up dandy with different inks. Light pre-sanding makes a world of difference. And yes, so grateful to Webfoot.

...is it worth the effort to purchase or should I go to Michael's and buy some pink stuff?

Why don't you just forget both of those and buy the Japanese stuff?

http://www.stampeaz.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=747

Why don't you just forget both of those and buy the Japanese stuff?

If that’s a serious recommendation, can you tell us why (the pros and cons)?

There is no "One Size Fits All" perfect material, and, to be honest, all of the carving materials have their issues. You have to determine what material works best for you and your carving style. I loved Orange when it was available, but other people hated it. Conversely, I hate using OZ and some people think it's the greatest. Get the smallest piece you can, then try it. If you don't like it, then go back to pink, or try something else. Tan-Z is the new kid and everyone has something to say about it. If you go back to messages posted when OZ came out, you'll probably find everyone giving their opinion on it, and a good bit of those will be negative comments, but people learned to like it.

dp

buy the Japanese stuff

I bought a slab of both types from Webfoot and liked one of them. The other was way too soft and I couldn't get favorable quality lettering with it. Sadly I can't remember which one was a bit more firm. But I was thinking as you are and thought I'd post the question on Tan-Z before making a decision.

Thanks for all the replies everyone. Seeing such positive comments convinces me that I should give this new material a shot.