Stampede

Ted makes a stamp.

This Present&Correct blog post on Japanese trademark seals and labels blew some oxygen on the ever-smoldering coals in my chest cavity that love old school printed objects: labels, letterhead, stamps. Colorful ephemera that suggest a process behind it, the results of which have faded with time and life, life and time.

I’ve never really tried to collect these things “irl.” I live vicariously through many fine stationery type people and those collector-types who post images of their collections. Amassblog is one of my all-time favorites, and Letterheady delights.

Yet when I saw these beautiful labels, I wanted to create something that spoke that language. To do something that approximated the effect. “Stamps,” I thought. I’d make a stamp. I’ve tried to simulate analog stuff on the computer before, for example in my much-lauded memo series. But it’s easy enough to mess around in Photoshop to make it seem like you’ve stamped something. I was going to stamp something onto something for real!

I googled having a stamp made and was quickly nauseated by the readymade options, to choose from one of six fonts, move it around, pick some clip art. That passive voice stuff just wasn’t for me. I got it in my head that I would make my own stamp.

I happened to be voting yesterday, and on the way to the voting station was the wonderful Texas Art Supply. I grabbed rudimentary stamp-making supplies: some rubbery stuff, a carving tool. That’s it, really. (Well, not really; from the pen section I picked up a Pilot V Razor Point Extra Fine in blue, a wonderful update of the old razor points which still look great but perform only okay; a couple of Gelly’s and a Koh-i-Noor pencil extender.)

Once home, I printed a copy of the Take Note wordmark, wrote over it in pencil, laid it down on the rubbery stuff, and transferred. Taking up the blade, I commenced to butcher that neat, handsome typeface. If you think the hand of the artist in a work is a good thing, you’re gonna love what I came up with. As the Astros lost the first game of the World Series in the background, I transformed straight lines into raggedness. What was a clean edge became a mangled slash.

There’s some humility in trying to replicate machined lettering by hand, even if it’s a modest sort. Humility is good.

I completed a first run with the smaller of my two designs. The stamp-maker can hardly tell what he’s got before he stamps. With some suspense, I tried it out. My first attempt was terrible! I’d rather not see a letter “T” again for a year or two. We’re on bad terms, me and that letter. A “T” will really let you know that you have no idea what you’re doing. Fix the “T”? You must be joking.

I tried the larger version. It was okay. You can see the results. Good news is that the mere act of stamping a rectangle down on paper or fabric is great. So the text is even a little secondary. But hey, I was manipulating molecules!

Will I make another stamp? Let’s just say there’s a semi-colon idea bouncing around my noggin that will probably get me to take up the tools of ignorance at least once more before it’s all said and done.

Update: I made a semi-colon stamp since I drafted this. I included my 9yo daughter in the process this time. She traced the design and did some of the cutting.

Side notes:

• There were some Speedball screenprinting inks on the shelf. Too intense for my needs, but I noticed there were artist-specific versions available. One was Bird Machine Black by Field Notes collaborator and generally cool illustrator Jay Ryan.

• I used good old stamp ink from my kids’ art supplies.

• Watching the Hoof GP really carve up cow’s hooves really did prepare me for the linocutter’s life.