Just attended a Home Made Rubber Stamp Workshop at UWE in Bristol. I really enjoyed it and think it will be really complimentary to making artists books. Stephen Fowler was a great tutor and has been making rubber stamps since 1991. I had a very small drawing of a little bird on a branch (taken from my blogger banner, which is taken from a photo). I asked if such a small image was too ambitious for my first attempt and he just said “go for it” and I’m glad I did. It came out way better than I thought.I wanted to try some text so I just did the word ‘Birdy’ which was from printed text. The poem (Hope is the thing with feathers) was done with a little rubber stamp print kit so I’ve ordered a Shiny S-200 DIY Printing Kit to have a play. The workshop was also very much about collaborative work and we each received a little pamphlet stitch bound book of all the work to take with us. One of the ladies Rupinder Dulay asked if I would put my bird in her house stamp and it looks really nice (image 2nd from bottom). She has also started up this lovely gallery in Scotland. Another thing that always amazes me about those courses, the distances people travel to attend. I am very lucky to just have an hour train journey.
My bird in Rupinder’s house
(reminds me of “keep a little bird house in your soul”)
All Participants Rubber Stamps
Home Made Rubber Stamp Workshop, UWE Bristol.
4 comments
I'm quite impressed, especially the detail on those thin lines and beak.
Thanks. I was actually surprised myself. I had a few of these images in different sizes and I picked the smallest one, I didn't think you could get so much detail with rubber. We used scalpel blades for the cutting and they did cut quite precisely.
your images are wonderful – this is right up my alley (so to speak). i would love you to blog about the process involved (if that is ok).
Thanks Jane. I do intend to do a tutorial on here about the whole process from start to finish. It is really satisfying cutting into the rubber, I don't know why. It is also a very 'forgiving' medium – meaning if you don't do it spot on it still looks nice.