So last Friday was like... well, Christmas. I finally received a big package from the US filled with a variety of new (to me, anyway) carving materials thanks to
Stampeaz. As you can see, I ordered the new Firmcut, Speedy Carve, a wee linoblock and a block of Mastercarve.
I was super busy last Friday night and over the weekend, but was just itching to carve something with some of the new materials... I now have a number of projects underway.
So far, the only material I have used is the Firmcut which I actually quite like. I had seen some comments elsewhere that folks felt that it was not picking up ink due to its shine and that it was difficult to carve. So, I tried it out so that I could see for myself. I carved a stamp that has a lot of ink space and it worked marvelously. [If you want to see the results, all you have to do is find
But They're Starving!]
The material upholds its namesake: it sure is firm, but I quite like it. You do have to intentionally end a cut with it, but I think sometimes I mess up the ends of carving strokes by letting the pieces break off at the end. So, I consider this a plus. I would definitely use this material again... I have lots left, so I anticipate many new boxes of this to come.
I plan to use the other materials and let you know what I think, but I'm not quite there yet. But I will leave you with an open letter to the Staedtler company:
Dear Staedtler;
I am given to understand from your international website that you are an over 100 year-old German company specializing in arts and stationary products. I thank you for your contributions to the arts community and efforts to improve the products that bring such joy.
However, I must insist that you cease and desist with your inaccurate descriptions of the sizes of your artist carving blocks. As a German company, from a nation that operates under the metric system, I would have expected that if an error in measurement occurred, it would have been to the imperial measurements, not the metric ones.
It is a shocking to suggest that 2.5 inches is equivalent to 6.4 millimetres or that 0.75 inches equals 1.9 millimetres. Both of these measurements are inaccurate by an order of magnitude. Now, likely, you have mis-labeled your products with millimetres when it should accurately read centimetres. However, this is a grave mathematical error the effects of which have far reaching implications!
For example, would you ever consider a fox to be the same size as a bird? No, it's ten times larger! Or a cat the same size as a mouse? No, it's at least ten times larger! What if a mouse thought, "Why should I be scared of that old cat? Staedtler says we're the same size! I think that we should be friends!" I think we both know what would happen to that poor mouse, Staedtler, I think we both know.
And so, I implore you to recheck all of your size measurements. The dramatic impact of your wanton misuse of the metric system can have impacts that no one could even anticipate.
And please, think of the mouse.
Sincerely,
Bumble
I am given to understand from your international website that you are an over 100 year-old German company specializing in arts and stationary products. I thank you for your contributions to the arts community and efforts to improve the products that bring such joy.
And so, I implore you to recheck all of your size measurements. The dramatic impact of your wanton misuse of the metric system can have impacts that no one could even anticipate. 
Probably like 99.99% of Ontarians, until July 20th of this year, I had no idea what letterboxing was. And if I hadn't been reading the paper at lunch that day, I still wouldn't. But as I already have a love for carving, I'm very lucky to have seen the article. Within 48 hours, I had carved my first signature stamp and had found my first letterbox. It's only been a few months, but I'm already pretty addicted.
