Carving is so much fun! But definitely get some cut resistant gloves, especially when learning!

my first trials with carving were with those stamp making kits that have rubber circles u can stick on a handle to stamp them with (i just use the circle as is pressed with my hand) i either used the circle's shape or carved it out completely to only leave the symbol i wanted i think they r about 4-5cm wide in diameter so not too small but also not very big, so it can be challenging for those who have a hard time with small surfaces the kit came with a small box of 5 blades that arent the best of the best quality, but can be used quite finely for small areas once u get used to controlling the pressure dont hesitate to put strength into ur movements when u wanna carve out a whole area!! going deeper helps u dig the blade into the material in a way that carves out more surface, and helps u save time its all about control, so for ur first stamps id recommend easy geometrical shapes ive tried moons and stars, as well as a little spiky dinosaur, which helped me figure out how i carve straight lines and easy curves my more challenging stamp was with a motif inspired by ancient greco-roman death motifs, with a small simplified bull skull with a ribbon going from the top of the circle + two small, narrow vases the circle was too small for me to carve out precisely, as well as the gum being too soft to do so, but i still like it i moved on to small linoleum rectangles that i would cut in half and make tiny cards i want to make greeting cards and i've already made one!! it came out nice since im a perfectionist and tend to spend a lot of time on small details (obviously u dont have to do that) that greeting card is the size of half an a4 paper sheet tho, and i spent a lot of time defining the small shapes, and on these bigger surfaces u have to carve out rly deeply in small nooks and crannies if u want them to be crisp on the edges same goes for surfaces that r carved out completely, which sometimes r cut out completely!! my card has a window in the middle that we just roughly cut out the inside with, otherwise when pressed, the board inside that space could be pressed with the motif and leave a mark of course u can also play with that!! another friend of mine left out some of them on purpose and decided not to define her shapes as precisely as i did bc it gave a more traditional look to them, like a drawing using a thick pen a friend of mine told me i could heat up the linoleum with a hairdryer because it tends to harden and can crack if u carve out small sections and the thinness of the board makes it so u can bend it (some parts of my greeting card r like this but it ended up not affecting the shape since its such a small area) i would recommend first starting with soft materials to carve as linoleum can be quite tiring on the wrists!! even with small boards ive had sore wrists/arms and also doing exercises and taking breaks helps i also recommend getting a good roller and u can roll out ur ink on a smooth surface like a plastic board (my friend uses those transparent plastic sheets for files that she tapes onto somewhere) and u need ink also!! i managed to find a cheap one (12€ if i remember correctly) and since im a beginner im fine with that for now i also got clips to tie my prints to a string for when they dry i also use transparent paper (i dont know the name in english) to draw and trace the image i want to carve out also dont hesitate to carve on elevated surfaces like she did, it can help u not be slouched down and not be tensed on ur muscles i used a board under my lineoleum since i dont have boards attached to them like she does, but i think u can use a cutting mat (u know the ones that r green with a grid on them) im not sure if that helps but these r things that r helpful to me and i hope it can be for u too!! have fun with carving 💫💫 ps: im also from europe, as im sure u have guessed, so u might find materials i found too

@@melowlw8638 Well, I'm still figuring out how I want my bullet journal to look like, so carving stamps already is too soon. To be honest, I found this a little too much info... Not sure where to start with that... It mainly sounds like "you can buy this and this and that..." to me. Personally I prefer to use what I already have, if possible. I found that being creative with the tools I already have, requires more creativity, but also trains the creativity better. I admit that buying new tools to try out new things is more fun. But I tend to just use a kit in the way it was intended and not change around all that much. Maybe you have more success with new tools. I'm just saying it doesn't seem to be the right approach for me. Part of it is, to be honest, also a very tight budget right now, so there is that. Have fun carving too.

Freaking mood…just got some ash wood from a downed tree…It’s beautiful but so hard! My hands hurt after!

If you use markers often doesn’t make much difference; if storing keep horizontal, when you’re about to begin drawing you can stand them for convenience

The wood you carve with is typically going to be a very soft wood like Balsa that wouldn’t really give you splinters because it isn’t typically rigid enough to go through the skin. It would bend or break before that happened, especially with thin slivers. The real danger is slicing your hand open with the knives (which has happened to her if the bandaid is anything to go by). That would hurt way worse than any splinter would lol

I have been carving for two years now and I’ve never gotten a splinter. But if you’re worried about that, carve with fresh, green wood, not dry/seasoned wood like is shown in the video.