X box in the works

The ever generous X Marks The Spot asked me over a year ago to participate in a letterbox collaboration with him. Of course....I was delighted and honored.

Well... back in January he brought me the incredible wooden creation. The workmanship is incredible. The slate however....was clean. The wooden "box" was sanded perfectly smooth and clean of any finish or stain. It was ready for whatever I wanted to embellish it with.

I had many ideas....but finally I decided to go back to my first idea with some added elements. Here I want to share with you the progress i have made so far in decorating my very own box created by X.
The box is in the shape of a diamond. Inside is a locked compartment and cryptex. Figure out the hidden message of the cryptex to gain access to the locked compartment and the stamp.

My first step was the layout of the most important part of my design.
I drew on my trees with a soft pencil and then used these awesome art pens I had bought for my son to outline the trees.


At this point I was bombarded with ideas. I couldn't do them all so I had to make decisions.
One decision I made was to not paint everything like I had originally planned. Now I wanted to do the art work but I want to leave the wood grain and then later do some staining.



So then I added some more drawn elements inside and out and began using some color. Those of you into history may recognize some images or significance of some symbols.



I will be staining the wood so I realized that colors will get muted down, darkened and even possibly lost when I do the staining. If I get close to the look I want... I will be thrilled.

This thing has been totally fun so far!
Now to add my last drawn element and to stain the wood.

Newest Listings

The newest listings in my shop include the new Bind-It-All and of course carving materials. New listings are now shown in a RSS feed that you can see here in the right column of links on my blogs.

I am totally excited about the Bind-It-All machines and supplies.

I'm liking Smooth-Cut.

I'm liking Smooth-Cut. The cheap cost & how the thinness allows me to ship several sheets in flat rate envelopes = Value!

Moo Carve!

I received yet another carving material sample in the mail!

This sample comes from the first people I spoke with about potentially creating a product like we all desire to carve our stamps from. Ironically, I called them asking for firmer materials than "Pink Stuff" and they had just recently formulated a material on request that was soft and super easy to carve. The people felt softer is the best way to go for the best carving bock.

Believe it or not... the stuff is called Moo Carve! ;)
This material has it's bad points but it has a good one too that I have not found yet in other stiffer materials.

After only a moment of carving I knew the material was way too soft for many carvers. The closest thing to Moo Carve is Mastercarve. Instead of the white color of Mastercarve this material is a light grey. It is extremely smooth and so easy to carve it is almost unreal.

While this material has some characteristics that I think some people might love (like the ability to leave the best, brightest, unsplotchy impressions I have ever seen) I think for the most part it is too fragile and soft for the masses...especially "detail" carvers.

However...I am in love with the beauty of the impressions that EASILY come from stamps carved in this material. They are nearly flawless. The rubber is soft enough to hold ink without it ever beading or splotching. Just a fraction of the amount of dabbing of my ink pads as it takes to ink PZ Kut gives Moo Carve all it needs for pristine impressions.

So... it just breaks my heart that this material is so soft it easily breaks or tears :(
If you were using it for stamps that were not ever going to be handled roughly and requires a lot of positive space (solid inked areas), and you can carve with a light touch... then I would recommend it 100%. Otherwise...No! Or at least not for Letterboxes in the wild etc.

Testing Complete

I am happy that we have more choices for carving stamps :)
I have tested all 4 of these carving materials and I have definitely found my personal favorite among them.

They all have very different and distinct characteristics. All are usable for the purposes of carving our own stamps and for block printing.

As Letterboxers, we mostly seem to be familiar with Mastercarve, Nasco Safety Cut, Speedy Carve ("Pink Stuff") and PZ Kut. For the purpose of comparisons, I will compare these new materials to those. Especially to the Pink Stuff and PZ. When I speak of PZ Kut it will be in reference to the WHITE version. Afterall, I never really carved on the orange. Oh....and we wont even consider that horrid crumbly stuff called Speedy Cut. I carve with Speedball Lino Tools and trim the edges with eXacto knives.

I am not the detail carver that some of you are and my eyes are not what they were. I actually have a hard time with blurred vision sometimes so I am not able to do the fine lines so much. Some of you are familiar with my woodcut look or rustic style of carving. So i would love to see what kind of detail so of you incredible carvers can get out of these materials.

The 4 materials I tested:

All transfered well using the transparency method.
All inked well with no beading of ink.

Flexible Printing Plate - super thin at only 2-3mm thick. Off white colored. It has an adhesive backing. I was surprised that this stuff was not harder to carve than it is. Of the 4 this one is probably the least likely to be a favorite for most carvers because of it's thinness. However, it makes it perfect for mounting the material to something like a roller. Extremely flexible. Space saving. Mounts to foam well. Carving feel is probably between Nasco Safety Cut and Pink Stuff but slightly denser.

"Eco" Carve - 10mm or 3/8" thick. Brown colored. Completely 100% recycled materials makes up this carving block. No mounting needed. Denser than Pink Stuff but also a bit more rubbery. With sharp tools this material should hold detail but was too rubbery for me to get my corners right. Over time it may wear down with use of marker like Mastercarve does but again it is a touch denser than Pink Stuff so that might not be an issue. Stamps very well with no splotchiness.

Karve Majik - 6mm or 1/4" thick. Bright white carving surface layered over a black dense rubbery base. The purpose of the layers is for the black to be revealed as you carve as to help you visualize your carving. Smooth material. At first I was really struggling with this product. That surprised me. I expected it to be my favorite. I was not getting smooth cuts but then I changed blades and WahLa! Sharp blades are important! ;) Denseness is probably between Pink Stuff and PZ Kut and closer to PZ Kut than any of them as far as the density and color.

Smooth-Cut - 5mm or 1/8" thick. Off white or cream color. VERY flexible. Slightly stiffer than Pink Stuff probably not as stiff as PZ but that may be mostly due to the thin material. Does take fine line and detail. This is my favorite of the four. The Smooth-Cut is the closest to PZ for me because of it's color and it density. I could control my blade the best in Smooth-Cut.

All four products have their own feel and characteristics. None of them feel just like Pink Stuff or just like PZ etc. So the best advice I can give to someone wanting something besides "Pink Stuff" is to give these an honest try. I think I will definitely be using the Smooth-Cut. :)


Keep in mind... I am in contact with this manufacturer about trying to produce yet another material. Maybe someday soon we will have the perfect material...or maybe you will find one that suits you in these that are available now. I have an order in with the manufacturer... so you may order sample packs through My ArtFire and Etsy shops. Those links are always on my blogs and at dixiearts.com. If I can be of help please contact me :)

Good Luck and Happy Carving!

Samples to Test

After talking to both contacts again...
one of them agreed to sending me samples of the carving materials that he already produces.

I don't know how he did it but I got my samples so fast it made my head spin around. Usually I feel like we have to jump through hoops to get things done. Not this time :)

A couple of these materials look very promising.
I think I will be having a carving session to test all 4 materials
Stay Tuned...

Possibilities!

In a nut shell...
I actually have found 2 different people that might be able to help us get a carving material we want and need. Both sound optimistic and interested. One is an owner of a company already making carving blocks. I'm excited!

The Search Is On!

There is a definite need for more options for soft block carving mediums. We in the letterboxing hobby have been accustomed to using one of probably three common materials and the one that many of us came to love...PZ Kut is in short supply.

Even though I am a dealer of Speedball products and sell Speedy Carve or better known as "Pink Stuff"... I too am missing PZ because it is easier for me to see my lines. It seems these eyes are getting old :(

So...
I do still have and use Pink Stufff and I continue to sell it.
Afterall...the "Pink Stuff" is always Grade A material.
It is consistent and of the highest quality... but I am now searching for more options. I see a great need for choices in our art & letterboxing communities for something denser and stiffer than just the pink stuff.

The search is on!