BASKET WEAVE See "Carving 101"

This is a "practice piece" from Raven's Carving 101, a class she presented for Dueling Modems. A Carving Consortium member and an excellent carver, she has put together an exciting tutorial, introducing a beginner to the joys of eraser carving. (Of particular interest to an absolute beginner, The Practice Blocks)

This URL/link will take you to the BEST carving tutorial you are apt to find on the web. Thank you Raven for posting it for all of us to use!
http://tornedges.bravepages.com/Carvelesson/carvindex.html

10/12/04--Please note, the above url has been "hacked" so Raven found it necessary to remove the site. She will replace it when she gets a new server and we will bring the new URL at that time.

Sorry to disappoint you and very sorry that Raven had to remove the site.

Even though it is not recommended, because "do-it-yourself" is so easy and very satisfying, the block shown above is available. Using Raven's 90 degree pivoting and the 3" square block which is already "woven together" you can cover large areas very quickly. Try dark brown stamped on the inside of recycled grocery bags--instant bookcover material. Much more interesting than the than the "plain brown wrapper" variety.

Most gg designs stamps are intended to fit a variety of card sizes. Some customers do elaborate and wonderful collage and layering techniques, using embossing and lovely papers. However if you are new to stamping or just need a card in a hurry there are some (virtually) one step / one technique approaches that can be used.

See the example below.....

This simple Dreidel image may be enough alone, but with an added background, fills the front of the card more completely, with very little additional effort.

Here the new VersaMark watermark stamp pad was used to "ink" a 3 x 4" woodgrain textured background. Because the image was so subtle, there was no need to even mask the Dreidel.

<<<<In these samples>>>>>

the Dreidel image was stamped first, then masked and the woodgrain stamp overprinted. In the left, the same color was used. On the right, the same technique takes on a different look by using contrasting colors.

If you do not like masking, you could just stamp the image, cut it out and paste it over the background.

The "Wood Grain" block is a product available inexpensively from Nasco.

Not only would this give you a versatile and easy to use background, you can carve on the reverse side of the block without damaging the wood grain surface.

The only "excuse" for buying the block (which will be provided by gg designs if you insist) is that the vulcanized rubber version is perhaps more durable and more familiar. You may prefer the "feel" of working with the rubber vs. the more fragile and thicker carving block.

It is extremely simple to make these yourself but if for some reason you are do not want to venture into even the simplest carving, these "tools" are available. Write to gg designs for additional information.