Lino Carving Your Own Stamps: my crow

I've always wanted a crow stamp, but somehow have never found one that feels 'crowish' enough to me. I really love crows and ravens. So, I decided to resurrect my old elementary school pastime: lino carving (Lino carving is traditionally used for print making, so it's a natural adaptation to use it for stamping.) It was taught to me by Mrs. Diane Neal my favourite teacher of all time, then and still.)

These are the tools you need if you want to carve lino block: first, you need lino block :0) (I got a piece approximately 5 x 1o inches for just under 20 bucks.) You also need a "lino cutter assortment (handle and various blades). These are found in any arts supply store, and are rather reasonably priced. (Mine was $14.95 two years ago--sticker's still on the box--my memory is not that good!) You'll also want a pencil and paper (to design and transfer your image) and ink (to check your progress by stamping when you think you've removed all of the material you need to.)

This is a close up of the lino block in progress. The fine lines use a No.1 V-shaped cutter. The deeper lines are made with a No.5 U-shaped large gouge cutter. :0)

Thanks for checkin' this out,
Mel