trying new things

in case you haven't noticed, i'm always presenting you with something new i've done or made. rarely do you see a repeat of the technique or item. except maybe the bears. and the stationery.

right now i'm still in the stationery phase of my creative endeavors. i'm looking for low cost, low technique way to put my designs onto paper. as a college student (for one more semester!), it doesn't make sense for me to try to take on bigger things that usually require lots of time, money and equipment - none of which are available in large quantities in my case. but this doesn't mean that i shouldn't try to learn new things and experiment within my means. and the fun part, in all of this, is trying to make something look nice, but handmade, when your resources are few.

i'm up for the challenge!

earlier in the spring i started with just scanning an image and printing it with my home printer or using a copy place. which is always easy and handy to do. but it didn't provide me with the texture that i so crave in stationery.

this past weekend i decided to carve out my own rubber stamps (being inspired by lotta jansdotter's new book and all). i discovered soon after that it is hard to hand carve a design with fine lines. that did not deter me. please, shirley is much courageous than to simply give up. i managed a sketchy pussy willow design that i'll put up soon. it came out alright for a first try.

two nights ago i decided to carve out my logo (the bunny with bird on its back). i changed it slightly to make it more carve-able and i must say it came our rather lovely. i'll definitely have to put up pictures of that.

and yesterday i bought some clear embossing powder and heat tool to use those stamps to create embossed stationery. i still need a bit of practice with the heat tool but i love it! i've created texture! and definitely hand made, well, hand carved, at least. and i finally bought myself a paper trimmer (though i had really wanted a paper guillotine trimmer), so i can buy paper in large sheets and in bulk (much more cost effective) and cut it to the desired dimensions.

i'm enjoying the process and while i would love to shoot straight into professional hand made mode, i can only stick to what i can do and what i do have and make it work. so, sometimes my end product looks slightly crooked, just slightly, and sometimes my design looks too hand drawn (which i love actually), but hey, with anything in life, there's a little push and shove, a little give and take. and i'm taking it with me.

meanwhile, with all this learning and trying new things, i'm excited for the arrival of my own screen print kit by speedball (the same company who made the rubber stamp kit i used). i cannot wait! at least with screen printing i have higher hopes of printing with my fine line drawings. carving rubber stamps is fun and all, but i dont think it's so great for fine lines. i nearly ruined my stamp carving when i carved really near the outline. yikes!

i'm currently on campus (i had a morning class) doing some research for a paper and catching up on missed reading assignments (oops... wonder why i "forgot" to do the reading...), so photos will have to come at another day.

so what new things have you tried lately?

oh, and btw, any suggestions for other low cost ways to print stationery (aside from the mentioned rubber stamp and screen printing)? i'll take what i've given. :D