Carving Material Review: Hankeshi-Kun

Okay, so if you live in the San Antonio area, beware that this stamp image is a big ol' spoiler (to be planted and listed soon!).  So if you want to avoid such things, you have a major decision to make: read this post or go stamp hunting.  Choices, choices.

Hankeshi-Kun Stamp Carving Dedicated Eraser

Today's carving material is made by Hinodewashi and is called Hankeshi-Kun, noted very specifically in English as a "Top Quality Stamp-Carving Dedicated Eraser". While both this and the SEED carving material are from Japan, this one is actually also made in Japan (SEED is noted as being made in Vietnam).

Like the SEED material, this slab was reasonably priced until you factor in the shipping - then it tops the charts in cost.  So you either really want to try this out or are in other ways motivated to buy this. 

My first thought was that it looked remarkably like the SEED brand material... Is it the same? Are they on equal in the eyes of my knife? Let's find out!

Carving Material Review: Unnamed Chinese Layered Carving Material - "Sandwich"

Welcome back for another round of: what's that carving slab? Heh.  I mean, what actually is this material? I don't know.  I'm not sure who makes it or what they call it, but it's sort of all over the place online.  It comes in a whole rainbow of colours, and is sandwiched so you're getting two different colours at a time.  So, pretty much from this point forward, I will be referring to this stuff as the sandwich material.

(I note here that this is *not* the same material referred to on the AQ forums as "SLQ" which is not layered at all...)

Ultimately the cost was fairly low - these 4x6" slabs were each under $5 (Canadian) including shipping {update: not anymore... quite expensive now due to shipping :( }.  Keep in mind that they also took two solid months to arrive after being shipped from China.

My first thought was not exactly favourable.  The material - though pretty - was really uneven and had a weird wet feeling to hold...

Want to see how this carves? Check it out after the jump!

Carving Material Review: Clear Carve

So, I was intrigued when I saw this online and figured that I should give it a try given how inexpensive it was.  The material for review today: Jack Richeson's Clear Carve.

Jack Richeson - Clear Carve stamp carving material

I'd like to be clear (get it?): although this looks like it would be problematic, this stuff specifically advertises itself as "great for block prints, etching and stamp making".  But it's clear - how the heck do you carve this stuff?

Read on!

Carving Material Review: Soft-Kut

Soft Kut carving block

So this was one of many different carving materials that I bought from Dick Blick.  The cost for the block was very reasonable, so I added it to my list.

My first thoughts about this material are: ew, gross.  It's floppy and feels like compressed marshmallow.  Very floppy and yet its texture made me think of Speedy Cut and so I had very low hopes.  While it's not my favourite carving medium, it's certainly decent and workable... Read on for more!