Thursday, March 5, 2009

stamping with children part 1


I like to involve my children in whatever creative project I'm working on. Not everything lends itself to each age, but carving stamps was perfect for all of us. I asked them to create a small picture that represented them or something important to them. My daughter made a mini self-portrait. My son, the comic book aficionado, drew his signature thumbs up that goes on the top of all of his hand-drawn comic strips.

I taught them how to use tracing paper to transfer their image to our carving block.

They both thought it was magic! I guess it is. How to? Trace your image onto tracing paper in pencil and then lay the traced side down onto your stamp block. Using the side of the lead gently scrape the pencil over the entire picture. Lift and viola! Carve.

My 10 year old son is able to do most of this on his own, but I helped since I wasn't trusting my current blocks (I've since gotten my new supplies!). My daughter watched as I carved. I had not anticipated the sweet feelings that surfaced when I was carving what had come out of their fingers... from their minds. Deep connecting. It's quite beautiful to carve your child's work. I hope you'll try it, too. To speed up the process to the final product, I did a simple outline of the picture. For my son, we later did one in relief, as well.

We ended up printing all morning. I spread out Kraft paper and white paper and we stamped away.

My daughter loved coloring the outlines of her self-portrait. We've be using this stamp to sign notes and letters... along with her written name. Mounting it on a wooden spool makes it easy to use.

Happy stamping! Pin It

37 comments:

  1. Oh Maya, so sweet and VERY inspirational ... you are truly amazing, each & everyday. Every time I check on you on Flickr (and then here), I'm amazed by all you do, all you create & all you share with us all. Thanks from the bottom of my heart ! xoxoxo

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh! I can't wait until my little boy Yashar (now 15 months) is old enough for us to do this together.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow...Such a wonderful idea and tutorial, but even better story behind it! My kids would love this idea. I can't wait to try it with them.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love seeing glimpses of the space where you create. The table your daughter is at looks like such a sunny, inviting place to work.

    ReplyDelete
  5. So much fun. When my children would come to visit at the office their favorite thing was to tear along perforated papers and to stamp things with the date or FAXED . A homemade set of stamps would make this even more fun now wouldn't it.
    A new generation of happy little office workers :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. They look great! I especially like the idea of attaching a spool. We make our own stamps for letterboxing and my son just draws directly on the mastercarve block (made by stadeler?). He'll be excited to see the stamps your kids have made. Have you guys tried letterboxing yet?

    ReplyDelete
  7. These are great-thanks for the tutorial!

    ReplyDelete
  8. What a great idea! Love how the stamps turned out. You've always got such creative ideas...I love the inspiration you send out. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  9. oh my goodness. This is so cool and something I could even do with my kiddos. I love the idea of them making their own stamp. Now to find a carving block.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Do you like your new carving blocks? If so, what are they? I'd love to know, because the ones I have are too crumbly!

    ReplyDelete
  11. The little nuts didn't fall far from the tree! Great idea for kids.

    jody

    ReplyDelete
  12. thank you for sharing this tutorial - super cute! this would definitely be fun to try with my children when they are old enough. stamp making is so cool!!! all good wishes =^..^=

    ReplyDelete
  13. i love that you attached them to wooden spools! great idea!!

    ReplyDelete
  14. so sweet! i love this idea. I want to have kids now.

    ReplyDelete
  15. what sort of wood is your 'stamp block' ? Is it Balsa wood?

    ReplyDelete
  16. I was planning the same thing tonight with my daughter. Now I can't wait to start. Thanks so much for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  17. what a wonderfully creative household you have! your kids will always remember the fun they had with you helping them to carve their own stamps! :)

    ReplyDelete
  18. These are so cute! I love the thumbs-up one!

    ReplyDelete
  19. A great idea for children. I am a Girl Guide leader and going to try it with my unit. I've also a plan to blog about it on my site. Is it OK to use one of your pics?

    ReplyDelete
  20. What kind of supplies do you use for carving? Did you buy them at Blick?

    ReplyDelete
  21. The stamps look wonderful. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  22. Thanks for such wonderful feedback! Dim Sum, Bagels and Crawfish- haven't done letterboxing...yet!I'm filing away the recommendation for Mastercarver block.
    Fuji Mama- these are the EZ cut blocks from Blick and are extremely crumbly, too! I just got the Speedy-Carve pink squares from Speedball that several of you had clued me in on. I purchased them at A.C. Moore. I use Speedball Linocutter tools in various sizes from Blick.
    Claire- no wood, just rubber (?)
    Katiecrackernuts- please feel free to link and use a picture.
    Thanks again everyone!

    ReplyDelete
  23. This is absolutely wonderful. I am loving the sign of approval!

    ReplyDelete
  24. Maya, this post was so touching and filled with joy! While my husband and I don't have children yet, I can understand, as a woman, the magic of bringing your children's art to life. I LOVE the thumbs up of approval :)

    ReplyDelete
  25. Maya, I bought some ink today !
    I will share once I get started with experimenting. Thank you for your continuous flow of inspirations :)

    ReplyDelete
  26. So, so cute. I love printmaking and can't wait to teach my girls.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Very well done! It's so rewarding to work with children...

    Best wishes,
    K.
    PilliPilli Handmade

    ReplyDelete
  28. gorgeous... the stamps, but most importantly the sweet collaboration.

    ReplyDelete
  29. wow, the spool is a super idea! and the "stamp of approval" just keeps making me giggle! Thanks for this!

    ReplyDelete
  30. Maya,
    I have also done a class for kids at a local art center and we made printing plates from the foam meat trays (I recycle everything). This works great for kids because they don't have to use sharp stuff to make the plates. Cut the lips off of the tray and on the smooth side you can draw the design with a ballpoint pen to make the incisions on the plate. They are fun! Diane

    ReplyDelete
  31. These are so special! Is the carving part very difficult? Would love to give it a go some day....

    ReplyDelete
  32. that's great! Artistic talent runs on your family!

    ReplyDelete
  33. very interesting !I've used an eraser to carve on ,it's very soft .(some japanese motifs).Y.S

    ReplyDelete
  34. Nice job!! So cute XD

    Regards from Madrid
    http://babydeco.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  35. This is super precious-- I think mine are still too young, but I'm filing it away!

    ReplyDelete