Take an exciting journey into printing with custom-carved stamps! In this complete stamp-carving workshop, Julie Fei-Fan Balzer covers every aspect of creating and using rubber stamps, including carving linear and curved designs, alphabets, complex and repeating geometrical shapes, and image transfers. After carving your own unique stamps, you'll also learn: • How to combine and layer stamps into original designs. • How to design stamps that work together as well as individually. • How to create stamps that combine with or enhance other stamps (hand carved or commercial). • And how to create complex, layered effects that resemble screen printing. This book also includes simple projects that explore various applications for stamping, including printing on different surfaces such as fabric, leather, paper, and canvas. Find your "authentic" design voice and get carving today!

This is a book for low budgets and high ambition. Read it and you will learn how to put images of things onto other things. You will start by rolling up your sleeves. Your shirt will be stained anyways. At some point, you will harness the power of the sun. Go ahead, look inside. You will see that you do not need a fancy studio to print a T-shirt or a picnic blanket. There is no specialized machine required to print anything you want in any room you want. A mural, a dartboard, a deck of cards, these are all possible. In a week or a month, you will wake up to find you know words like acetate and substrate. You will be comfortable talking about ink and shopping at military supply stores. Perhaps most important of all, you will be printing images of things onto other things.

This beautiful book provides a complete guide to printing with rubber stamps. Beginning with a foreword by the artist Rob Ryan and a short history of rubber stamping, it then explains the technical basics: how to cut your stamp, mask prints, make your own printing pads, clean your stamps (making more artwork as you do so!) and what equipment to use. At the heart of the book are forty inventive projects that will inspire readers to create their own rubber stamp art. These include making typefaces and repeat patterns, mail art, creating stickers and labels, printing on t-shirts, making portraits, and translucent and 3D prints. Also covered are other printing approaches such as roller printing, and printing with clay and plaster. This highly accessible book will appeal to creatives and crafters of all ages.

Covers the basics of creating hand-carved stamps, painting and inking, collage, and more. Features twenty projects--including a tote, journal, pillows, and gift tags--and includes fifty of the author's signature motifs, providing instruction for stamping on paper, fabric, terracotta, and other surfaces.

Bring out your child’s creativity and imagination with more than 60 artful activities in this completely revised and updated edition Art making is a wonderful way for young children to tap into their imagination, deepen their creativity, and explore new materials, all while strengthening their fine motor skills and developing self-confidence. The Artful Parent has all the tools and information you need to encourage creative activities for ages one to eight. From setting up a studio space in your home to finding the best art materials for children, this book gives you all the information you need to get started. You’ll learn how to: * Pick the best materials for your child’s age and learn to make your very own * Prepare art activities to ease children through transitions, engage the most energetic of kids, entertain small groups, and more * Encourage artful living through everyday activities * Foster a love of creativity in your family

Fan-carving is the process of slicing wood into thin blades (feathers) and then twisting and interlocking them to create a 3-dimensional design from one piece of wood. Fans and birds are the most popular items made. Legends and customs associated with the fan bird are of a religious and spiritual nature. With the help of European museums, the Nyes have traced the history and migration of this Old World folk art from the ancient Russian region, through Europe, to North America. Preserving this folk art is the purpose of this book. It contains easy to follow step-by-step instructions on how to make fans and birds. Full color photos accompany each step. Also included are six full-scale templates: a fan, plus five birds. This book contains a comprehensive chart of twelve species of wood, each evaluated for its performance. Fan-carving is an entry level project to woodcarving. Within three hours a novice can create a very respectable bird. The story about fan-carving is as interesting as making a bird.

With just a few simple steps, blogger Sally J Shim shows readers how to turn an ordinary package into a customized present as special as the gift within. From a stitched garland topper and watercolor wrapping paper to a confetti gift tag, each of the 45 creative and achievable projects offers a unique twist on gift wrapping. Plus, each project has multiple variations, leading to endless possibilities for prettying up packages. Including techniques for wrapping oddly shaped packages, ideas for creating reusable packaging (a bonus gift for the recipient!), and projects that require only basic materials, Pretty Packages will inspire gift givers as well as Etsy shop owners to make every element of their package special.