#CarveDecember: Days 24-31

December is over (in fact, January is almost over), which means #CarveDecember is long gone.  I wanted to make sure to share the last few December stamps with you.

I'm still impressed with myself that I carved 31 rotating repeat stamps in 31 days with a newborn.  All of the stamps are about one inch in size and took me less than 30 minutes to design, carve, and print.  Here are days 24-31:

On December 25, I printed the same stamp in black and white and color and the difference is amazing!

I share how to create custom colored prints like this in my book Carve Stamp Play and my online class "Stamp Carving: Designing Patterns."

I got very detailed in some of these late December carves:

To me, challenges like these are more than just making it to the end.  You have to learn something along the way.  In my opinion, it's better to do 3 days of carving and learn something than to do all 31 and learn nothing.  So what did I learn?

• I *can* make art with a baby.  It's not the same as before baby.  I have to make some adjustments and compromises, but it is possible.
• Limiting the scope of a project pushes your creativity.  I mean, how many ways can you carve a 1" square of rubber to rotate and repeat?  A lot, as it turns out. I often talk about pushing past the point of frustration in your work.  We all reach a point where we want to stop and go in a different direction, but I think there are sweet rewards on the other side if you slog through. Your brain has to go past the obvious and find new ideas!
• Varied line weight is vital to good composition.   This is one of those "I knew that, but I needed to see it" lessons.  The finished prints I like the most are the ones where I varied the line weight and used a good mix of busy and calm space.
• I do like these Flex Cut tools.  I simply had to learn how to use them.  You may recall that I tried these Flex Cut carving tools once and did not like them.  So, I put them in a drawer for years.  During Carve December I decided to give them another go.  It was awkward at first, but then I got the feel for them and it has been great!  It's a reminder to push past that initial discomfort!

Thanks for stopping by!