Not on Shelves Mini Meet

So, a much longer ago time than I care to admit, I came up with the idea of a stamp series that would be a bookshelf with book spines of books that don't really exist.  You know, books that exist in fiction that have a fairly recognizable name, but don't actually exist in real life.  Example: Hogwarts: a History (well, it doesn't exist at the moment - I don't put it past JKR to actually write it).

I had even gone as far as creating the design and carving the bookshelf.  I had transferred all of the bookspines onto OZ Kut when OZ was a new carving material - to give some of you a sense of the timing ;) And then they sat.  And sat.  Remaining mostly uncarved.  I've changed jobs, moved homes... and those transferred carves sat waiting.

Finally, at the 2017 Box ON (for which I'm horribly behind in posting about), I decided to get off my butt, finish the series and host a winter mini meet!

Yesterday, the mini meet took place.  It started off with a significant goof on my part: I forgot the event stamp at home and had to run home to get it.  Other than that - the event went well.

Sorta.  Philosophical question for you: when is a letterboxing mini meet not a letterboxing mini meet?  "Mini" means less than, shall we say, a regular Box ON! meet, right?  But how small does it get before you can't call it a mini or even micro meet?

At one point, there were around 20-23 people signed up, but for various and assorted reasons (I'm lookin' at you, mother nature!) that number dwindled down to 3.

Don't get me wrong: any time you get to meet up with boxers is a great day.  I had a blast, but I'm sad I didn't get to catch up with more boxers or that others didn't get to see the series.  (For reasons you can guess, this isn't a series I can leave in the library...)

It's all done though and would be really easy to re-host next year... I've been known to re-read many a book in my time...

Happy trails!

Carving Material Review: PZ Kut White and Orange

Well, by popular request, I've decided to take my sharp implements to these two slabs of PZ Kut to bring you a review of both - but have discarded the usual design theme for that series to create something that can be used for this year's Box ON!  That's right: if you want to see the following post's result in person (and perhaps whack me across the head in so doing) all you need to do is turn up!

I have both a piece of white AND orange PZ Kut.  I'm going to do a single post for both, but if you're new to this blog or letterboxing,  you should know: this carving material is now extinct.  You can no longer get it.  This carving material is no more. It has ceased to be. This is an EX-material! I've only come into possession of scraps due to the generous contribution of Fish Below the Ice.

Oh man.  Before I get started on this review, I gotta say, I had some serious angst doing this test.  The unfortunate result of this carving review series of posts is that I've gotten super picky about what materials I carve and particular what I like.  I had this suspicion that I wasn't going to like these materials because of my current feels about some of the harder-type materials that I had started carving with.

So, because the resulting stamps are for Box ON!, you should be aware that the review contains spoilers.  So,  in case you don't want to see the image and design and spoil it for when you actually see the stamps, I have the rest of this post below - you'll have to come back after the event ;)

Hoarding PZ Kut *or* why I owe Fish Below the Ice and apology...

So it has been a while since my last post about Box ON.  But I have a terrible secret... and guilt.

As a result of a very generous gift from Fish Below the Ice, I am in possession of the following: 

 

 

If you're new to letterboxing or stamp carving (ie. post-2010?) you won't have any idea what is in that photo.  Maybe even if you are a long term boxer, you won't have seen this in a while... that right there is both white and orange PZ Kut.

I don't know all the lore of the PZ Kut, but from what I have gleaned over the years, it was a pretty devastating blow to the stamp carving community when it was discontinued.  I started boxing and carving *just* after the two formulas disappeared...

The reasons for its discontinuance also seem somewhat a mystery to me: I think I understand that there was a component of the formulation (unicorn blood?) that is no longer allowed to be used....

In any event, I've been gifted with this amazing stash that I morally should put this to good use - I should not squander the opportunity.  But I am in complete mental deadlock.  Part of my concern is that I might like it - but then never have it again!  Opposite concern: that I really *won't* like it, and have taken the opportunity to carve it away from someone who does (or face a lynch-mob of people who disagree with me).

Here are the options:

• Carve both the white and orange to contribute to the carving material comparison reviews (I believe Fish implied that's what they're for).
• Regift (I think Fiddleheads would bear me a child for this stuff)
• Carve both as contribution carves for this year's Box ON
• Continue to hoard them until I have better information...

So.  Thoughts?  Advice please!

Carving Material Review: Studioworks Easy-Cut Lino

Above Ground - Easy-Cut Lino

It's time for yet another thin-type of carving material, this time locally sourced at Above Ground Art Suppies in Toronto.  If this is your first time seeing one of my carving material reviews, click on the link to the right for a spreadsheet of all of a summary the materials I've reviewed with links to the full review.

I found this new material at Above Ground when I was wandering the city with my sister.  The cost per sheet of this was fairly low - and because there's no shipping cost because it is locally available, it's quite inexpensive to use.

My first thought was that this stuff was going to be just like the DeSerres dark grey or the Dick Blick blue material, given that it appeared to be the same thickness.  I couldn't feel the material because of its packaging, but it's a vibrant green that was begging to be picked up...

So, how did it fare?

Carving Material Review: Speedy-Cut Easy by Speedball

Speedy-Cut Easy by Speedball

I had been warned.  I knew it would be bad... But I could never have appreciated how bad until I got my hands on this blue stuff. 

The cost was fairly average, again being unbalanced by the shipping costs to bring it up to Canada across the border.  I'm sure some craft or art supply store is carrying this stuff, but I won't be hunting that shop down to buy this stuff.


Speedball: you have such an opportunity and almost a cornered market in North America.  Why oh why would you do this to us? Why?

Carving Material Review: Oz Kut by Stampeaz

Transfer using hot iron on OZ Kut

 I considered not actually doing a review of this material since this blog is essentially an endless series of posts of carving with it.  But, I decided to include it out of fairness and out of my compulsive need to have things be symmetrical.

If somehow you don't know, OZ Kut is the current reincarnation of the long passed PZ Kut, on offer from a fellow letterboxer at the US-based Stampeaz. Not affiliated with her or Stampeaz in any way, but I'm not aware of any other places dedicated to stamp-making like her shop is and she is lovely to order from, with excellent service (given all my quirky asks to try to get the carving material to Canada as cheaply as possible).

The cost for the material is relatively inexpensive - before shipping, of course.  For anyone reading from the US of A - you are very lucky and privileged to have such an inexpensive postal system.  And no risk of customs/duties at the border. Sigh. You are truly living the dream.

Anyway, there is massive benefit in having a fellow letterboxer be involved in the carving material creation process, this stuff is all-around great...

Carving Material Review: LifeMaster Crystal Block

LifeMaster Crystal Block

So, bumbling my way through the internets looking for carving materials (to further update my comparison table), I came across a cool-looking set of carving materials called LifeMaster Crystal Blocks. I tried to find anywhere where someone has tried using this stuff and couldn't find reference to it anywhere.

Cost-wise, even though this had free shipping from where I bought it, it was pretty pricey and probably in the top five in terms of cost. Hopefully I like it!

My first thoughts when they came in the mail were pretty positive.  The set of 10 blocks were all various colours and came in individual packets and felt great...

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!

Carving Material Review: SEED Horunavi

Hello and welcome back for another review, yay! (I would note that since my last post, I now have even more carving materials in my possession to review... this may be the never-ending set of reviews...)

So, I splurged and actually bought some carving material from Japan made by a company called SEED. (If you go to their website, it looks like they make erasers and things like that as well, and I'm charmed that they put as the title for their product category "Curving Erasers".)

SEED Horunavi carving blocks - yellow at the top, two other packages underneath

Carving Material Review: Dick Blick's Printmaking Block

Dick Blick Printmaking Blocks

So this is the first review in a series of posts that I'm doing on all the various kinds of material out there that you can use to make stamps. The first medium was chosen based on its proximity in the pile.  Yep.

The Ultimate Carving Material Guide is coming!!

OMG guise! Guise... GUYS!  You should see my craft desk.  It's amazing.  It's beautiful.  It's covered, just absolutely covered... in carving material.  All amounts, all sizes, all colours of the rainbow (not really, but more colours than usual).

Since I have been going through carving material a lot more than usual, I have put orders in for a whole bunch of different types of carving materials which have slowly been coming in.  My desk is just about covered in carving material (it's beautiful) and I'm a little teary over here.

So here is the plan: although some of these I've carved before, many are completely new to me.  COMPLETELY NEW! I'm so excited, I can barely contain my carving knives.  I need to come up with a design that I am going to carve in each of the mediums, and then report back - all scientific like - and let you know what I think.  The problem with other online reviews is that they are usually about one or two carving mediums and you have no idea if the person has actually compared the carve with other mediums...

Thirteen (13) different carving materials.

See that photo? See it! That's what I have so far.  Starting with the pink stuff I have in the bottom middle, here's what I have going sorta clockwise around the photo:

• Speedy Carve (2013) by Speedball
• Speedy Cut Easy by Speedball
• Soft Kut Print Block by ???
• Clear Carve Lino by Richeson
• very dark grey lino from DeSerres
• Softoleum from Above Ground
• Speedy Carve (2009) by Speedball
• EZ Cut by Dick Blick
• Clear Printmaking Blocks by Blum
• Blue Easy-To-Cut by Dick Blick
• Moo Carve by NCTC Inc.
• OZ Kut by Stampeaz
• OZ Kut - B by Stampeaz

 Aren't they beautiful? Aren't you jealous?

Okay, missing from this stash: Speedball's Speedy Cut (*vomits a little in mouth*), MasterCarve (which I believe has been discontinued), other Stampeaz formulations (are they all gone now? Just OZ?), and the few different types of carving material that I see from asia (some of which the AQ Boards refer to as SLQ). Am I missing anything?

I'm thinking I might actually order any of the remaining types of carving materials out there just so I can round out the set so that I can do an epic, comprehensive and charted review and comparison.  Love it.

Okay, so off the top, here are the things I am going to report back on:

• Price per square inch
• Thickness, in mm
• Floppiness
• Crumbliness 
• Transferability
• Ease of slice - gouge and knife
• How well it holds fine detail
• How well it inks - various inks
• How well it prints large negative areas
• How well it holds up after washing/scrubbing
• Each medium's super power
• Best uses

Am I missing any factors you'd like to have feedback on?  Email me or comment below - I'm happy to add other characteristics to the matrix if anyone has any particular factors they consider.

Happy carving!

Out with the old, in with the new...

I know Fiddleheads would be disappointed with me if I didn't regularly recarve my signature stamp.  So with the move back to the area of my letterboxing roots comes a new stamp!

Old at the left, new at the right.

Hope you're all out on the trail this beautiful weekend!

Happy trails!

Towers of stamps

Stamps to be planted...

The carving continues...

So, it's 9:30 am on the sixth day of my staycation and already today I've carved two stamps. Time to put the tools down.  I've got a lot of outdoor things planned today, but it looks like I won't get a lot of the things that I had previously wanted to do on my list done this week.  Doesn't matter though, I've managed to do a lot as well as catch up on sleep and importantly be flexible in deciding what I want to do each day.

There is something satisfying about finishing a carve.  I tend to choose images though that end up taking a long time to carve - either because of the details, inclusion of text, or size - and I forget how satisfying it is to just churn out a stamp in a few hours.

This is one that I finished today:

Just ignore the poor transfer there...

Fourteen words in total on the image, as well as design parts that aren't text.  Took longer than anticipated (usually does) so I had to set it aside a few times in order to get it done.  But it is done and I carved another today.  Awesome.

Behind on book binding though, hmmm...

Hope everyone is enjoying the crazy April weather!

My first international box: The Hawthorne

Shorty after I discovered letterboxing, my family had decided on going down to Salem, Massachewsetts Massachusetts, for a holiday during October. This is a favourite holiday spot for us - we are serious Hallowe'en folks and Salem is our mecca.

Salem, if you haven't been, is a gorgeous town nestled north of Boston on the coast full of a magical mix of amazing history and almost overwhelming witch-related things to see and do.  Each time we've been down, we stayed at the Hawthorne Hotel, named after Nathanial Hawthorne.  It's a historic hotel and full of a special charm that only exists in the New England states.

So once I knew we were going back down to stay at the Hawthorne, I decided to pick up my gouges and give a try at carving something special to plant.

At that point in my carving history, it would have never occurred to me to carve the hotel itself (and admittedly, that would have been well out of my abilities at the time) but it did seem appropriate to carve the capital that is the logo for the hotel, which you can see to the right here or by looking at their website.

Now, at the time I was using that awful Speedball crumbly stuff to carve with and the transfer technique I was using at the time still makes me laugh.  I do not recommend it.  What I would do is this: find an image, make it the appropriate size on my laptop screen, then put a piece of paper over the screen and trace it with a pencil. I would then thicken the graphite on the paper on a table and then transfer as per usual for a pencil transfer.  Again, I do not recommend this.  Not that it didn't work - it did - but you can destroy a monitor like that.

Anyways, it took a lot of time and all my carving ability, but I did carve something that looks like it.  My intention was to plant it on the Salem Common, but once I was there I realized that there was literally no where to stash the letterbox.  Grr! I spent the whole trip trying to figure out where to plant this uncamoflaged little Lock & Lock.  Keep in mind, this was only my 17th plant, and I didn't have as much experience in urban hides.  (If I could go back, I would take a black pouch or a camo'd L&L - or at least a keyholder for a better hide.)

So where did I end up hiding it? In the hotel.  Gah.  What was I thinking?  Well, I know what I was thinking: that I was leaving the next day and that I didn't want to take this box home with me.  I planted it for Salem.  So I planted it on this old antique on the floor I stayed on and posted the clue. What can you do?

I was completely shocked when, the day after I planted it, I logged onto AQ and discover that someone had already found it. 'Round these parts, it could be months before someone finds one of your plants...

Anyways, over the next month, there were about eight finds on the box and those finders deemed the box fit for a blue diamond.  However, the box shortly thereafter disappeared - likely by hotel cleaning staff.

It was the first box I ever retired and it is one of the few boxes I planted that predates this blog. It was my first "difficult" carve, my first blue diamond, my first out-of-country.  I wanted to give the box with so many firsts for me a little post of its own.  And since it's mine, I can even post the image here.  So without further ado, The Hawthorne:

I was super proud of the little ship in the centre...

A weekend full of carving and sewing

 Okay, so I might be a hermit.  A reclusive hermit.  And I may not have spoken to anyone this weekend.  Other than my assistant.  Jeez.

So no letterboxing, per se, but lots of prep for planting.  I did some fairly extensive scouting, sewed seven logbooks, and carved five stamps.  Phew.

I don't have much to share (surprises and all), but I'll leave you with some fun pictures of what I've been up to.

Toodles!

Big stack of logbooks to add to another big stack.  These are all sized for the smallest rectangular-shaped L&L.

The only thing better than a llama is...

A hipster llama!

The dangers of transferring too soon *or* I have letterboxer's ADD

Despite the warm weather, it is currently snowing like this outside my window. Grr!

The quickest part of putting a letterbox together for me is transferring the image.  It can take many hours finding or creating the image I want to use, and perhaps twice as long still to carve, but transferring the image is actually just seconds - print, xylene, done.

But to efficient, I often print one page with many images on it so that I have them available and so I'm not wasting paper.  And in the past I've often transferred the images as well.  This is a problem. Because I have letterboxing ADD.

I have a small stack of transferred images that I've now resigned myself will never be carved.  Unless I can scrub the images off (mixed success), the rubber has gone to waste.  When I first printed and transferred the image, I really wanted to create whatever that image was.  The problem is that over time, for whatever reason, I grow bored of whatever that idea was and it goes to the wayside.  Sad really.

I look at that small stack and see it as a sort of Island of Lost Toys.  They'll never be loved.

And so my resolution for 2013 was this: do not transfer unless I am immediately starting to carve that image.  I can print them out to my heart's desire, but no transferring until I'm ready to carve. It is a rare stamp that starts getting carved but not finished (I can only actually think of one).

Poor little stamps.

Carving for friends *or* carving up some nekkid Romans

Today, I finished up a second attempt at a present for a long time friend whose birthday is this weekend.

I had decided to give her a stamp to make book plates, and since she has a background specialty in gay roman porn (she may characterize this differently, but essentially true) I go one of her favourite images out of her and carved away.

Now, unfortunately, the image she picked didn't exactly lend itself to a carve - it's this image, from the ruins at Pompeii:

Kinda hard to get lines or whatever out of that one.  But I gave it a good ol' college try, but it didn't really come to anything grand.  Big ol' mess, actually.

So, I took it upon myself to find some other picture that would work a bit better.

 Too funny.  I love the guy on the left with his hand in the air, like "hey, it's my turn!".  Or the guy towards the right punching the other guy in the butt.

Ah, much better design... time to carve this bad boy up (see what I did there?)...

Done and done.  But still not as interesting as a medusa with penis hair...  But SHHHH! Don't tell her, it's a surprise.

Happy carving!

Letterboxing and mini-meets in Guelph

Ah.  What a wonderful Saturday I had.  First, some lovely winter letterboxing in Eden Mills, then a lovely mini meet with old and new letterboxers.  I finally got to go boxing this year, found some great boxes - didn't fall in freezing water this time - and then off to a mini meet which was hosted by the ever gracious Fiddleheads.  Ah, bliss.

I had actually meant to get out earlier in the morning yesterday so that I could go after a few more winter letterboxes, I ended up going out with only enough time to hit some Lone R plants in Eden Mills (on the way to Guelph).

First up: Food for the Undead - planted by the talented Lone R.  I love this gorgeous trail system.  This particular box takes you along the Guelph Radial Trail near Eden Mills.  It's a gorgeous trail, for me particularly in winter where you have some nice crunchy snow in the silence of a fragrant cedar forest.  Very serene.  Loved it. 

Continuing along the trail, a wonderful box planted by Lone R with layered stamp by 3 Blind Mice - I'm a Lumberjack and I'm OK.  I've always lusted after the gorgeous images 3 Blind Mice has created and shown online, and I'm really happy to have one in my logbook today.  Unfortunately, it's not the best of transfers.  I think it was about -10 Celsius yesterday, so I think the ink was actually freezing to the stamps and not transferring well.  I loved the image so much, I may just return in the summer to ink this one up to do it justice.  However, this also has started the gears going in my head to try to find a way to make good impressions on the trail.  Hmm...

Finally, Two Little Zombies Sitting in a Tree. Too cute.  Loved them. Sadly, no more boxes so back to the car and off to the meet!

The very first letterboxing meet up I ever attended was Fiddleheads' Winter Mini-Meet and Carve in 2011. I was completely awed by all the amazing carving I saw going on around me.  I found it really inspiring and I really got carving after that meet.

Two years later, I found this meet equally inspiring and have been plotting some new boxes for Toronto.  It was a smaller gathering - but actually perfect.  I love our little community, so it was great to learn some new things, catch up, and chat about the state of letterboxing in Ontario.  Just like Vivian the Viking, I was most intrigued by the parchment transfer technique which I haven't tried yet.  It seems a little more cumbersome than the xylene pen or hot iron - the two transfer types I rely on now.  The only draw back for me of those is that I have to know that I'm going to carve and what I'm going to carve the business day before I'm actually going to carve since my trusty printer is at work.  I can't be inspired and start carving on the spur of the moment as I have an ink jet printer at home.  So I definitely want to try this one - but I'm lacking in ink, paper, and parchment at the moment, so that's a post for another day.

Anyways, after yesterday, I have a number of transferred images waiting to be carved, so I must be off!

Happy trails!

Spoiler: carve for L&B XV

With all the snow I've got this weekend, I finally got around to start carving the two stamps that I'm donating for the Live & Breathe event this fall.  I transferred them awhile ago, but they were just waiting for me to actually start. 

One is "Carving up a Storm" and the other is for James Perrott.  Carving up a Storm is a pretty simple carve, but I wanted to do something really nice that will make a nice replant once it comes back home.

But there was a mistake on it.  A big one.  Oops.

Did I notice it when I made the collage for the image? Nope.

Did I notice it when I printed it out? Nope.

Did I notice it three days later when I got around to transferring the image? No.

Did I notice in the last week while it's been sitting on the coffee table? No.

Did I notice when I started carving today? No.

Did I notice after carving teensy lettering for 20 minutes?

Yes.

Do you notice it?

So, luckily I transferred this with an iron rather than xylene, because that means I could give it another transfer - just a light ghost of a transfer, really - on the one offending spot, just to give me some guidelines to follow.

 Will it work?

Yes, mostly.  Phew. 

Lots of text on this thing - hope there are no more mistakes!

Cheers!