Something About Nothing

The most important part of a stamp is the rubber that it is carved from.  Depending on how long you want to use the stamp and what detail you need, almost anything soft enough to carve will work.  A few years ago I collected a number of erasers as I was getting ready to teach a class on stamp carving.  It was fall and there were lots of back to school sales, so why not buy all the stamps? Just kidding.  I did manage to restrain myself but it was still a lot more erasers than I needed and I am still using them.  They have been decent little stamps and are easy to find if you don't have an art supply place near by, but there are a couple of issues with eraser stamps:  1) It can be difficult to tell which eraser is going to carve nicely until you try it out.  Some carve just as well as the rubber made just for carving and some are crumbly.  If this is your only resource then buy one or two and give it a try before stock piling the eraser...

Day 8 - I really like drawing these swirls and leaves for some reason.  I thought they were a good match for these giant 'Oops' erasers I have.  They carve like butter.  I feel like this stamp looks more like corn stalks than leaves and swirls though. Day 9 - Another variation of the swirl and leaf that I can stack or line up in a row! And again, I am seeing corn on the cob!   These erasers are 5/8" thick and so they create a LOT of excess.  I probably should just slice them in half before I carve them but I don't know that I have a way of doing it evenly.  Oh well.

It's back to school time! I LOVE back to school time!! What I really LOVE are the back to school supply sales!!! I went shopping today to grab some deals and while looking for something else I came across these erasers.   They are 4 1/8" long x 1 1/2" wide by 5/8" high.  BIG Oops erasers.   I like erasers. I REALLY like erasers. They make good stamps and the fact that these big ones were on clearance made them more attractive.  I bought two and brought them home to make sure they would carve up okay. One slice and I could tell they would be great so. . . . . .I rushed back to the store and bought them ALL! There were only 12 more but I don't feel like I made ANY mistakes in this deal! I'm looking forward to carving them up when the kids head back to school next week!