Self-Imposed Deadlines

After a beautiful, hot weekend up north, I returned to my apartment this afternoon to survey this week's 'To Do' list and get back to my printing projects. I would love to be able to say that I triumphantly scratched off each of the seven tasks, but after two and a half days without internet and no digital camera (Rob's was reclaimed for a wedding) I was only able to accomplish about 50% of the list.

In the 'accomplished' category: 4 new repeatable stamps, 2 new cards, regular(ish) blog posts, and a draft of my City of Craft application. In the 'still to be completed' category: all of my 8 new prints, a new posting on etsy, and the giveaway (officially back-burnered, I think).

Despite not finishing everything quite as planned, I'm still happy with the new prints I've been working on. The stamps I created today were both text based: an ampersand and an @ sign.


Both prints were fairly easy to carve, although I did have a huge close call when I slipped and accidentally dragged my blade across the ampersand stamp. Luckily, the mark doesn't show up in the print.


Once I had the stamps cleanly carved and even, I started experimenting with different patterns. The @ sign produced a somewhat boring straight print, but the rotating pattern produced a much more dynamic final product. With some careful planning, I think this pattern would make a really funky 8 x 10 print.


I tried similar patterns with the ampersand, but ended up focusing on potential card prints. I've decided that my first project based on the ampersand stamp is going to be a set of four note cards each featuring a different variation of the stamp pattern.

At first I tried to figure out a set that would feature four cards printed with the stamp once, twice, three times, and four times, but I couldn't figure out a good three print pattern. Instead, I'll likely go with a single image, two with a double image print in two variations, and a final card with the four print image. The ones below are rough samples of what I'm planning. I'll have to work on getting the stamp placements exact because the patterns are so much more effective when they're perfectly aligned.


I only had time to test one pattern on an actual card before the third season of Mad Men started (fantastic and heartbreaking as always). Once I've had the chance to create a good quality set of four, I'll be able to make some much needed updates to my etsy shop.