More Carving

My Dick Blick order arrived and I've finished two more blocks. Here's their battleship grey linoleum in action:

It's hard, slick, and crumbly. The hardness stresses my already overused right arm and shoulder, though it does hold a nice, fine line. The tool slippage I experienced felt a little out of control. I don't have one of those nifty carving benches that let one brace the block in place while carving. Might have to work on that. And the small dots I'd envisioned carving flaked right off. Maybe my tools aren't sharp enough. At least it was cheap.

Behold Wonder Cut:

I like this stuff, though haven't tried to carve anything too detailed. It cut more easily (not as easy as soft-kut or erasers). It's less crumbly. Plus I like the bigger size of the pieces I bought. My dh mounted this on plywood with wood glue. It seemed to hold up to printing and washing.



I didn't care to work with the grey stamp. It's smaller and my throbbing shoulder was mad at it. Plus, my last carving rendered similar images. The Warrior-Elf was delighted. She made this:

I like it. She had fun. It's all good.

My first shot, not so much. Whenever I see sponge painting done like this, it makes me cringe:


Here, the block is repeated differently and printed more closely together, even overlapped in places:

I dig this. The bigger block covers more turf. It gives an all-over feel without the hassle of registration marks and even looks almost random. I think this stamp might deserve a run on fabric. What do you think?