Carve December: Week 1

It was only last December when I took my first Block Printing class. That jump down the rabbit hole coincided with Julie Fei Fan Balzer's #CarveDecember. As a beginner, I was fascinated by the range of block print designs and started to follow many of the participants picking up design inspiration along with lots of tips and tricks. I've been remiss in not carving as much since my 100 Days of Hand Carved Stamps, so I was eager to get back to daily carving with this year's #CarveDecember. There's still time to join the fun for those curious about block printing!

I won't be rolling any dice as Julie has provided daily prompts for inspiration. The prompts are totally optional but I like having a few rules to stretch my creative horizons. My plan is to pair each carve with corresponding printed patterns and quotes. 

Read on to see how these prompts inspired my first week's worth of block prints!

12/1: Gentle

"A gentle heart is tied with an easy thread."
-George Herbert, British Poet

This quote reminded me of one of my favorite free-motion quilting filler designs to stitch: loop de loop hearts. 

And just like the filler design, this stamp is super versatile and led to lots of lovely prints! 

After I had finished printing, I was editing photos when I wondered if I could wrap the motif around in a circle. Despite having already cleaned up, I raced back into the studio and experimented. These wreath-like motifs were definitely worth a second clean up session!

12/2: Metal

"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing."
-George Bernard Shaw, Irish - Playwright

Today's Metal prompt inspired me to celebrate childhood play with this jacks game inspired block print! A precut circle was used for the ball.

When was the last time you played jacks?!?

12/3: Dotty

Lots of inspiration to be discovered at the library today! As I was scoping out books, I was delighted to find dotting inspiration at my feet!

“There are always flowers for those who want to see them.”
– Henri Matisse, French Artist

I also left with a stack of doodling/drawing books that may inspire future block print designs!

12/4: Little

"may my heart always be open to little
birds who are the secrets of living
whatever they sing is better than to know"
-e.e. cummings, American Poet

These little birdies were so much fun to customize using a combination of stamps to add beaks, tails, wings, body positions, and doodle embellishments. So tweet!

12/5: Plain

"O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!"
--America the Beautiful, Words by Katharine Lee Bates with melody by by Samuel Ward

Today's Plain prompt reminded me of the movie Pollyanna (one of my favorite childhood movies), where Pollyanna, as played by Hayley Mills, is singing America the Beautiful while wearing a portion of the American flag.

This carved and stamped print was a fun technical challenge as each half is layered with a plain background shape overlaid with a more detailed print. It involved some pretty precise carving/cutting and lots of ink auditions to create the "amber waves of grain" and "purple mountains majesty." 

Once the colors and layers were finalized, I tried it as a repeat block print. This involved a total of 80 prints to create, as ghost prints were also involved! I was sooo afraid I was going to mess it up as I got closer to print number 80, but it was plain luck that I was able to precisely produce a perfect plain-inspired pinwheel print! (Say that 5 times fast)

12/6: Ponder

"Everyone who's ever taken a shower has an idea. It's the person who gets out of the shower, dries off and does something about it who makes a difference."
-Nolan Bushnell, American Businessman wo established Atari, Inc and Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre chain

I do some of my best pondering in the shower, which includes finding inspiration for today's block print! Once I started printing this showerhead-inspired block, new design layouts kept flowing!

I especially enjoyed these prints achieved by layering the prints!

12/7: Long

"Live long and prosper."
-Spock, 'Star Trek', Season 2, episode 1

This trekkie has been patiently waiting for Day 7's Long prompt to celebrate this iconic Spock saying. Fun fact: I even took a Star Trek and Religion college class!

Here's another Spock quote to capture today's printing session:

"I like to believe that there are always possibilities." - Spock

Logically, there were lots of printing possibilities with this block print!

Here are all 15 blocks carved and printed this first week of #CarveDecember!

Stay tuned for more daily carving and printing fun as part of #CarveDecember. I will be posting daily (usually in the evenings) to Instagram and Facebook, with weekly blog posts to follow!