WIP

I'm a bit lazy to use my camera lately,
so I just use my handphone, because it's quicker.

Good enough. The handphone's camera can take photos this close up.

In the mood to share my current work progress. Aahhh...my handmade stamps...

Handcarved Stamps

Peacock ATC

Working on an ATC request,
using two of my earliest stamps.

The peacock design is derived from Javanese batik motifs.
It was a good practice.

Always Challengingly Cute

Carving stamps with letters squeezed into a small area
is very challenging.
You can't make mistake with letters.
Everything must be done right at the first place
because if you cut wrongly, it is beyond repair
and you have to start all over again.

Commissioned stamp. The person who ordered this took the photo from the internet so I'm charging for my carving service only minus the design charges. It's unethical to just simply copy any artwork you found on the net you know. If you don't know the designer, it doesn't mean it's free and doesn't belong to anyone.

Usually when a customer give me a design taken from the internet,
I will try my best to design something new,
using the provided design as reference
(that's why I took longer time to come up with a design to propose,
those who worked with me before would know).

An order from a mom who wanted to make handmade invitation cards for her son's birthday. I forgot to inform her that I was working on the stamps so she already finished the cards when the stamp was done.

I was happy actually when she said, "Oh no...I already finished doing the cards",
Hehe an addition to my personal collection YEAH!!!
:)

I'm not saying carving above stamps are easy,
but at least, easier.
We have less to worry about cutting the tail of a "p", or
unintentionally make an "a" looks like an "o"
or simply cut away the dot above "i" and "j",
etcetra.

The Bride, or the Groom?

Another commissioned wedding stamp.

Who do you think ordered the stamp?

:)

Handcarved Stamps

My recently completed tasks,
:) as penoreh getah.
Haha.

Below is the artwork produced by Jujue's cousin for her wedding.
I use it as reference to make their wedding stamp.
The illustration is a brilliant idea!

My husband was sitting infront of me
and he thought I was carving... Australia?
:)

A Trophy, A Treasure

It is an album,
that I've been working on since
last year.

Finally,
it's finished!

I use the type of paper used to make hardbound book for the cover,
and black sheets of self-adhesive pages in the inside.
The title is handwritten and
the decorations around the frame is stamped with VersaMagic White Chalk Ink pad.
The gold ink is Brilliance Ink Pad; Galaxy Gold.

I'm still in the process of searching and gathering all my stamps images
to be placed inside the album,
but here's some of them so far,
:)

Wedding Stamps

I am trying my best to cope up
with everyone and everything,
but I am just human,
not machine.

Hey,
I'm catching up I guess!
:)

But I want to apologize to those,
who still haven't receive my reply,
and especially to those who made order
but I failed to complete their stamps on time.

Handcarved Stamps

Though it burnt a big hole in my pocket, I am so glad that my Canon S3is is finally here. It is impossible to clean the fungus so they had to replace the whole optical unit, that explains why it is costly.

Okay, my latest stamps.

Handmade stamps, waiting for their handmade mountings.

Both are FOC

1. RendaCraft stamp - This free-hand design is made especially for Mango's Game winner. A promise that I made since October last year. It had been quite some time, I have totally forgotten that I suppose to make a "sewing machine" stamp for the winner (sorry Nurain). The winner will also get a set of my mini mini mini handcarved stamps.

2. Miyyah - I made stamp for Miyyah as a token of appreciation for helping me translate this article. Just like RendaCraft's stamp, this one is designed by hand only. I really hope the butterfly will resemble Miyyah's stunning work of quilling :)

3. The topmost stamp in the above photo is for Kitty Zeera & Mom by Verbena Vista Trading. Just finished carving it last night.

4. The last three stamps are Shana's. A very supportive customer who really made me feel in debt. I failed to finish her stamps on time (too many fail attempts) but Shana is so kind she keep encouraging me in Facebook. Thank you very much Shana! I really don't know how I can repay you.

Stamp Bunga Sakura

Rakan-rakan Facebook saya mungkin ada yang masih ingat, suatu ketika saya pernah tulis status macam ni, "sedang mendesign stamp bunga sakura".

Pelanggan saya yang bernama Chooi Lin kata, tema wedding dia adalah cherry blossom. Rasa macam simple kan? Tapi saya mengambil masa beberapa hari juga untuk mencari idea yang terbaik bagaimana untuk membuat stamp yang menarik, dan sekaligus versatile.

Nah, inilah hasilnya!

Saya sendiri jatuh cinta.

:)

Chooi Lin, stamp kamu ini adalah antara projek yang paling manis buat saya!

Surat kepada N0reh4n

Assalamualaikum D4y4ng N0reh4n, kalau-kalau kamu terjumpa page ini.

Jangan marah. Jangan kecil hati. Biar saya ceritakan hal sebenarnya. Orang yang hadiahkan stamp ini kepada kamu, SMS begini kepada saya.

O<--< : Saudari, saya mahu order stamp, dengan nama Dg. N0reh4n, dan ada tulisan "Singapore" di bawahnya. Saya ke Singapore baru-baru ini tapi tidak sempat belikan dia oleh-oleh. Saya benar-benar mahu hadiahkan sesuatu yang istimewa pada dia.

Ada dua benda dalam fikiran saya, Vanda Miss Joaquim dan juga Merlion. Idea stamp dengan tulisan Singapore itu, tidak menarik bagi saya. Lainlah kalau Dg. N0reh4n orang Singapura.

Saya pilih Vanda, Cik N0reh4n. Vanda itu, bunga kebangsaan negara Singapura. Nama kamu pasti cantik dihias bunga itu.

Kepada yang tak tahu, mungkin cuma fikir,
itu orkid.

Simple kan? Saya harap kamu suka.

Cik Noreh4n, stamp-stamp yang saya design, adalah di bawah jenama Mangosteenskin (cewah!) tapi kerana kamu begitu istimewa, stamp itu datang tanpa sebarang label atau petanda (atas permintaan orang yang menghadiahkannya kepada kamu). Dari mana stamp itu datang? Siapa pembuatnya? Boleh jadi saja dari mana-mana kaki lima atau kedai cenderahati di pulau selatan Tanah Melayu itu. Tapi percayalah, jika kamu ke Singapura, kamu tidak akan bertemu pemilik tangan yang mengukir stamp ini. Saya di sini Cik Noreh4n. Saya di sini!

Cintailah stamp ini Cik Noreh4n, itu permintaan saya.

p/s: Lelaki itu? Itu pandai-pandai kamulah. :)

Yang benar,

Mangosteenskin.

Berkacang-kacang dahulu...

Bersusah-susah kemudian.

During my closed-for-commission period, I actually manage to catch up with office work but not my stamp projects. My plan has failed :( Mengikut rancangan, masa itu sepatutnya digunakan untuk mengerjakan projek stamp habis-habisan. Tahu tak, saya rasa macam tercekik tongkol jagung setiap kali teringat ada customer yang sudah berbulan menunggu order mereka siap.

I tried as much as possible, juggling tasks between stamp and office works, and not to forget, membuat kerja-kerja kebajikan di rumah. April also seemed to be a month di mana saya telah makan dengan sangat baaaaaaaanyak sehingga perut saya buncit dan baju-baju saya sendat (eh terkeluar tajuk pulak).

Ada sebijik stamp ni, sudah 3 biji pemadam besar saya korbankan, sudah banyak "tarikan nafas" yang saya skipped kerana terlalu berhati-hati, sampai mungkin ada sel-sel dalam badan saya ni yang mogok kekurangan oksigen... tapi stamp itu tetap gagal mencapai piawaian saya sendiri. Saya rasa stamp itu adalah stamp jahat, kerana ia telah membunuh keghairahan saya dalam arena ukiran stamp dan selepas 3 kali "turned off", keyakinan saya tercalar. Sedikit-sebanyak, itulah juga punca disaster yang menyebabkan saya gagal mencapai target. Hilang motivasi maa...

Sementara mengumpul kekuatan untuk bertarung semula dengan stamp jahat itu, saya mengalihkan tumpuan kepada stamp-stamp yang lebih kacang. Jangan risau, saya bukannya sedih-sedih. Saya sedang gembira sakan nih.

Tuan2 dan Puan2 sekalian... mempersembahkan, dua design stamp terkini... siri Koleksi Raja Sehari Kulitmanggis!!! *drum roll ~ Tush!!*

Kek ini tiada dijual di mana-mana, kerana bahan-bahannya adalah daripada jus perahan otak saya sendiri.

Marzukie. Asal sebut Marzukie saja mesti teringat bekas Cegu Bahasa Inggeris saya dulu, made in Machang Kelate. Bila sebut manggis, adakah anda teringat saya? Ini soalan umum bukan khusus buat Cegu Marzukie sa-orang hahahahahahahaha.

P/S: Janganlah nafsu anda tercalar pulak untuk terus bertandang dek kerana entri saya yang tiba-tiba sewel. Sebelum blog ini jadi blog arts & crafts, blog ini lebih kurang beginilah. Sebagaimana telah saya beritakan kepada kawan rapat saya, saya rasa mungkin saya sudah tua. Jadi saya malas mahu berfikir banyak, buat sajalah ikut rasa.

Safe View (U)

Aching heels and fatigue. I hate my bulging tummy. >:( Hahahaha...opening yang tiada kena mengena dengan tajuk.

It's a busy and quite stressful week for me and I haven't been sleeping for a couple of nights already. Been wanting to show you my working space, but I afraid the view might cost you a faint :D So just enjoy the photos of my handcarved stamps ya. Pretty harmless to naked eyes.

Thank you very much for visiting!

Stamp dan Sedikit Omelan

I manage to complete 3 more stamps. Complete means; siap diukir, nicely-mounted dan telah selamat sampai ke tangan pemiliknya.

Look at Mamat's face. It's only about the size of my thumb. Hahahahaha... Aku boleh picit ko Mamat hanya dengan satu jari.

Save-the-date stamp for one of my ex-collegemate. Gambar kucing berkasih-kasihan tu dia cedok dari internet. Not my drawing.

Carving the curly "Sylvester & Grace" was challenging. I know it was going to be tricky and time consuming for a that type of font especially when it is small, tapi bila Grace request ~ I agree jugak!

When it come to wordings, I always think it is the hardest part. Sometimes the font can be as small as size 10 or 8, depending on the design. And the most painful fact is that I'm carving on erasers! I mean, how big erasers can be? Sometimes I question myself, why do I have to force myself with this torturing thing? The wordings are the most excruciating of all.

But of course, only God knows how self-satisfying it is when everythings turn out well. It make me feel like.... Aaahhhhhhh..... I can't explain it.

Sudah banyak kali, hubby ask me, "Benda yang saya suruh buat tu U dah setelkan dah?". Apalagi yang boleh saya jawap? Belum. Baru menguruskan anak dan chores dan sedikit design stamp, hari sudah petang.

Hubby cuma geleng2, I know he's dissapointed. But I am dissapointed too.

Frankly, stamp-carving gave me satisfaction but overall, kepala saya tidak tentu arah sekarang.

Tak mengapa, saya kuat. Saya akan hadapinya!

Hiyyyaah!

From Tri-color to Monotonous

If somebody ask you to carve a stamp for a logo like this, how would you do it? This logo might look simple and easy, but how to create a single stamp that will give an impression of three different colours? For this kind of logo, the colors are important elements.

Another challenge is, the customer require the stamp to be in a specific measurement. My problem is, the size of the text is already small, so reducing the logo to the required size will proportionally reduce the text to something much much smaller. Again, for a logo like this, I think it is important to produce a crisp and neat carving rather than rustic or wavy cuts.

I almost say "No, it is impossible to do it handcarved", to the customer, but at the same time I still want to give it a try. It would be a new experience.

So I carried out my first attempt. I spend hours trying my best on it but as soon as I finished, I'm certain that using the cross-line (as to distinguish two different colored background) is a huge mistake. The text is also unsatisfactory.

I come up with a second solution, and this time the customer agree coz it resembles their logo better than the first one.

As usual, carving the wordings is the most challenging part. I took the longest time on it but I still can't get it perfect. Argh.. Sampai terpeleot jari masa carve "B" untuk "Bersatu" tu.

Miniature Artwork

Remember how matchbox labels look like?

Wahahahahahahahahaha....I feel so inspired!! Ting! Ting! Ting! Ting! Ting!!! From artwork, to stamp, and back to artwork again!

I experiment with one of my earliest handmade stamp. And, tadaa!!!... Mangosteenskin's original miniature artwork! It is done 100% using my handcarved eraser stamp.

My husband said I was talking in my sleep last night but he couldn't understand what I was mumbling about. It must be because of THIS, because I almost can't sleep due to over-excitedness!

Some WIP

Trying hard to do commision jobs whenever I can. These are a couple of stamps am working on but I couldn't finish them as I've run out of raw materials for the mounting.
Small fonts still make me nervous. Before I start carving these kind of stamps, I usually take time to get physically, and mentally prepared.

And, another butterfly came...

to make friends with the blue one. Maybe they need more friends, don't you think? Lebih seronok main enjet-enjet semut.

Enjoy this page of my test-chop-prints ya.

When you finish carving a stamp, you need to see whether your work turns out well or not.

Editing photos using photoscapes is so quick and easy.

Ahh~ I just love round corners. Most of photos in the late 70's and early 80's are rounded-corners.

Round corners is nostalgic and it bring back happy childhood feelings. :)