- Have you ever had something on your to-do list
that you know would make you so incredibly happy,
but you just keep putting it off?
Yeah, that would be me right now.
So basically, a year-and-a-half to two years ago,
I did a video where I carved my art into stamps.
And back then I was a really broke artist,
so this is what.
I pretty much only bought this little cutter tool here,
and then I got material to carve into the stamps.
However, I did not get like the proper inks
or the proper tools beyond that or whatever.
I just made do with what I had.
So fast forward to today.
We're gonna do this again but a little differently.
So first, let's go on a little adventure to Blick's.
(smooth music)
So I knew I specifically wanted to get the proper paper
and the proper ink for block printing
'cause that's technically what this is called.
So I went to the block printing aisle.
I pretty much stood in the aisle for about 30 minutes
trying to decide what it was that I wanted to get,
did some Googling and everything,
and then I came up with a color scheme and some supplies.
(smooth music continues)
Well, we got everything and some other things
that I didn't really need,
but let's go home, make some stamps.
Ooh, I am so excited.
(bag rustling)
And now we are back with our supplies,
plus some things that we did not need.
Actually, plus some things that we did need
because I've been doing a lot of giant paintings lately,
and I was out of a lot of paint colors
and vine charcoal (laughs lightly).
That's besides the point. Anyway.
So the first thing I got
was this Speedball four-inch Rubber Brayer,
and it basically puts ink onto your block printed stuff.
So I've actually done this in high school,
and I think this is the same brayer
that we used to use in class.
So that's why I grabbed it.
It seemed like the safest bet for me.
The next thing I got,
I don't know how to pronounce this thing.
It says Baren Frotton Tapete,
Baren Frotton Tapete Tapete tap tap (foot tapping).
Baren Frotton Tapete, that's how I'm gonna say it.
It basically spreads your ink evenly
when you like put it on paper.
You'll see it all in action. You'll see it all in action.
Here's the beautiful paper that we got.
Something that I bought is missing.
Let me see if I actually got it.
So now onto the good stuff.
These here are the carving blocks for block printing,
and I decided to get the pink ones this time
just to try something different and have fun.
So we have three different sizes of these carving blocks.
Then here's this weird little plastic spreader.
I don't know if I'll need it, but I got it just to be safe.
Now, my favorite part of all of this
are the colors that I chose.
I wasn't really sure what I wanted to get
as far as colors went, but I know that, most of the time,
I use pinks, yellows, greens and blues,
so I went with that and I think it'll go well.
And then, I got brown and white
just for other decisions, too.
Oh, also, I meant to get a 1.5-inch brayer, as well,
but I must have just like looked at it
and not actually put it in my basket.
We'll make do with what we have. That's what we always do.
(pleasant music)
Anyway, I just wanted to show you everything real quick.
However, we have stamps to carve, so no time to waste.
So the first thing we're gonna need to do
is lay down this massive mat here.
And this is for like X-Acto knives and blades and stuff,
so mah desk doesn't get ruined 'cause we don't want that.
One side of this mat is actually this fake looking wood.
So I think we're gonna roll with that.
So about a month and a half ago, I said that my channel
would be changing directions a little bit.
And basically, what I've been doing lately
is just diving into things that make me happier.
And I am really excited to jump into this for that reason,
so I hope you enjoy this (chuckles).
We're just gonna experiment together.
(sticker tearing)
(smooth music)
So for this part of the process,
you can either draw directly onto this material
or draw on tracing paper and transfer it over.
I prefer drawing on it
just because the feeling is kind of cool.
Next thing, we're gonna trim the edges
so there's less carving involved.
And then, we're gonna do the most satisfying part,
carving out our stamp.
Now I personally love this part
just because seeing all these little shreds
come off of this piece to form a picture is so rewarding.
Not only that, but this whole sensory experience
does end up being extremely therapeutic.
However, you have to be super careful
because you can get cut really badly
if you don't do this correctly.
So, make sure you cut away from yourself
and keep your hands far away from this tool
'cause, if it slips, trust me,
it'll hurt really, really bad (chuckles).
I've done it before.
Now, I also feel like this is the most time consuming part
of the project, and there isn't much to show for it
except for a pile of shreds, but that's okay.
It's enjoyable.
(light jazz music)
Once we get near the end, I switched to a smaller attachment
so that I can do the finer details, like these teeth
and little wrinkles in the skin, stuff like that.
It works out pretty well.
(light jazz music continues)
We just finished it, and this is how it's lookin' right now.
Now we're moving on to the fun stuff, though, because,
swipe this out of the way.
It is time to do the actual block printing part.
We're gonna get our paper at the ready.
Now you can see this paper is 9 by 12. It's pretty big.
And I decided to go with smaller prints
because this is my first time
actually doing the inks and stuff at home.
As I said, I've done this in high school,
but I just wanted to start small.
Do you want to see something really satisfying?
Doesn't this look like bubblegum?
Just don't eat it.
We don't need another bad YouTube challenge.
- Anyway. - Let's continue.
All right, so I'm gonna take a piece of this paper.
Just cut it in half.
(light jazz music continues)
And now for the fun part. Our glass palette.
I doubt we'll need very much ink.
Uh, this one is a weird consistency.
So what we're gonna do is take this brayer here
and roll it into the ink and then make our print.
(light jazz music continues)
So next, we're gonna take this guy here and roll him
with our little brayer.
I like that word, brayer.
I'm trying to avoid the eye
'cause I want to do a different color for the eye.
(light jazz music continues)
Now to do the eye, I'm just gonna take
this really old like makeup brush and hope for the best.
We're doing a hot pink eye.
(peppy music)
So now, I think what I'm supposed to do,
I might be doing this backwards,
but this is how I want to do it.
I don't have a printing press, you know,
so I'm just gonna go like this and use this little,
um, what do you call it?
Hold on. A baren.
Yeah, we're using our buddy, baren, here.
Boom. I bet he packs a punch.
(light jazz music)
The lady at Blick's told me this thing works wonders,
it's like really amazing, 'cause she does printmaking.
So I'm trusting her.
Let's see what happened.
Wait, I feel like I need to do it again for just good luck.
Moment of truth.
(light jazz music continues)
Oh, he's cute. I like it.
I feel like I needed to use more ink, though,
so we're gonna do it again.
(light jazz music continues)
Here's another piece of paper. Ooh, it's gonna be crooked.
I dropped it crooked. Too late, too late, too late.
Let's just go.
(frenetic music)
All right. Ready?
Don't judge how crookedly I did this.
Aw, oh, my goodness. This one is way better.
I like it (chuckles). It is so cute.
Now I'm sure I could drop the stamp onto the paper
and do it that way, but we have another thing to carve.
So I think I'll try the alternative method on the next one.
Also, I kind of just love how this little monster looks
with the pink stamp material.
It's so cool.
(celestial music)
All right, you've already seen one of these in this video,
so you know the drill.
We're gonna draw stuff out, except this time,
it is gonna be way more detailed than the other one.
We're taking it up a notch and seeing what we can do
with a bunch of peonies.
These are one of my favorite flowers in the spring,
so I thought it would be fun to do a floral bouquet.
(celestial music continues)
Now carving this one was a super tedious process
because there were so many leaves and flower petals
and just so many different lines.
And then, halfway through this, I decided the leaves
needed little veins and everything.
So I really went all out with this one.
(celestial music continues)
Honestly, I think my favorite part
is just carving all the negative space away from the edges.
It's just so fun
and you can take off huge chunks (chuckles).
(celestial music continues)
All right, we finished the next one,
and this is how it looks.
It probably looks like chaos right now,
but it's gonna look like a bunch of peonies later,
and I think that's really sweet.
I am definitely in my pajamas now
because I've been carving this all day.
With that being said, I think it is time to stamp this one.
We have more paper.
We'll probably do a couple tries on this.
And I was thinking of doing like multiple colors
for this one, but now I'm kind of thinking
of doing something else.
So stay tuned.
By the way, I am a super huge fan of this baren thing.
Beron? Whatever.
It's just a nice tool.
Poop. I forgot to rinse this off.
All right, the little brayer has been washed.
Now, I want to do somethin' fancy
and kind of like mix a couple colors.
We'll see what happens.
Guess I should dry this off. I just washed it (chuckles).
Let's hope I don't make a big mistake here.
Oh, this is so cool. Yeah.
I can do like a tie-dye thing.
Actually, I'm gonna mix it and do this coral color.
I kind of need to cover the brayer.
It is definitely not fully mixed, but I am digging this.
All right, so I think what we're gonna do
is like put the ink on this
and then flip it this way this time.
We'll compare. We'll see.
No big deal. If it doesn't work, we can try again.
Oh, this is so stinkin' cool.
(celestial music ends)
All right, I'm making it like fade over to yellow.
Oh, this is sweet.
I'm just gonna try to center this like right here.
Our little friend is gonna help us out.
I have a feeling this is not the way to do it.
Yeah, this doesn't glide.
We should have done it the other way.
I think I should flip it over.
This little dude just does not glide on the other side.
Let's see what happens.
Oh, my word. I did not expect it to turn out like this.
That is so stinkin' cool.
Let's do another one.
(energetic music)
All right, here we go.
Oh, my goodness.
I think this one turned out better than the first one.
It's just a little more crisp.
(energetic music continues)
Wow, okay, so this peony one
was definitely my favorite to make.
It was just fun playing with the gradients
and doing something a little bit more detailed.
And I feel like this one pertains to my personality
a lot more than the little monster, even though
I really love cute little monsters like that (chuckles).
But I definitely think this one was more like a warmup
to get ready for this one here.
I really enjoyed doing this.
Honestly, it was just so fun to bring this series back
because it had been such a long time.
And as I said, I'm just doing stuff
that makes me feel happier lately.
Ooh, I shouldn't be waving around prints
that are like drying.
Hold on.
Anyway, as I said, it just feels so good
to be doing the things that make me feel super happy
and creatively fulfilled lately.
And I think just weird stuff like printmaking
and also just going back to my roots
with these giant paintings, it just feels great,
and I'm really enjoying the stuff
that I'm making lately on my channel.
So, I hope you're enjoying it, too (hands clapping).
Thank you so much for watching, and I'll see you next week.
We have something really fun for you
and that I can't wait to show you (hands clapping).
All right. Bye (chuckles).