Spilt Milk

I wish you all a peaceful new year!

Ce matin les garçons ont fait la grasse mat’, et moi je me suis levée pour trouver tout un petit monde bien éveillé devant ma fenêtre: 

Les Roselins du Mexique ont gagné haut la main le seul usage de la mangeoire, mais les moineaux en profitent dans les buisson. Ce voleur de Grumpy, le seul écureuil du coin qui est bien trop grognon pour être timide, et fait tout ce qu'il peut pour accéder aux graines. Il a fait un foin pas possible, mais a fini par comprendre, qu'il saute ou danse, la mangeoire est inaccessible. Ben oui mon gars, c'est une mangeoire à oiseaux, pas à rongeurs, surtout que depuis que mon andouille de voisin a transformé son jardin en désert, il n'y a plus ni mouffette ni racoon pour chasser les rats, ils sont à la fête. Les animaux sont les bienvenus dans mon jardin…sauf les rats et les corbeaux que je chasse sans aucune pitié , na!
 

Le petit paysage à droite est ce que je vois de mon bureau. Je me rends très bien compte de la chance que j’ai d’avoir sous le nez un petit parc très vert, et j’en profite bien. D’autres dans mon village ont vue sur la mer, mer je préfère, du moins pour la vue, le vert au bleu!

Je vous souhaite une année 2017 douce et calme !

I’ve been doing my own stamps for a few weeks. It’s a very soothing activity but it can be a bit frustrating!  

Here’s few tricks I learned the hard way, so I thought I should share, in case you would like to try it, too.  

1. Buy the right tools. You will need a good ink that will render the details easily. Smearing and feathering can make a nice stamp print look clumsy.

Good , thin tools for wood carving are a plus. I find the classic speedball tools very frustrating and bought #1 and #2 gouges and v tools on Japanese shops in Amazon and Rakuten, and even found some pretty cool ones at Daiso for $1.5,  for larger surface work. 

Get some nice carving blocks, too. I tried erasers but if you think about it, after a few stamps it becomes expensive very fast! I’m pretty happy of the Speedball carving blocks but some tend to be pretty crumbly sometimes. Carving blocks made by the Japanese brand Seed are very difficult to find but super satisfying. 

I also bought some pretty cool cream colored sticker paper. It was a bit expensive because I choose partly recycled acid-free paper. But I’m going for a professional look and I’m quite sure I will use the whole box in a very short time. ​

One thing I learned the hard way is that you have to glue the larger, floppy stamps to a bit of wood (I bought mines at Michael’s and Blicks)  . Otherwise the stamps are smeared or incomplete. Don’t forget to print the stamp on the back before gluing it. I forgot…

Do glue the tiny little stamps on bits of dowels and wood, too. Do it now! I made some for tiny patterns. They get lost very easily. An added bonus is that you won’t deep your fingers in ink anymore while stamping. And track ink all over the house like I did. Lucky me it was water soluble ink, but I just bought some pretty strong waterproof ink so here we are, dowels!  

Another I think I learned the hard way: you can’t print on masking tape with normal ink. It won’t dry. It won’t dry, ever, except when it transfers on your fingers.  You’ll need some pretty strong, fast drying, waterproof ink like Tsukineko StazOn.  But I ’m pretty excited I found out how to do it! It makes for pretty chic modern chine-collé.

I’m now looking at my stamps to select the ones I found fun and easy to make. How about I make a sheet of templates for you to carve?