Rubber Stamping in Japan

Over the past few years when I have ventured to the LA area I have tried to stop by a super Japanese bookstore in Costa Mesa (Kinokuniya Bookstores of America). There are several of these located on the West coast. They have a website but it is pretty much in Japanese. Anyway, this one is located at 3030 Harbor Blvd, Suite G3, Costa Mesa, CA 92626.

Now the books they have there are mostly in Japanese and since I don't know how to read it I just end up looking at the pictures! They have several craft sections, one of which is rubber stamping. The books you will find there are rubber stamping are just about 100% on eraser carving! I have posted some photos of several of the books I have purchased from there over the past few years. One of the books however is on carving chops, not erasers. It is a fun book anyway!






In addition to showing pictures of them carving the stamps they also have many ideas on ways to use the stamps. There are several examples of stamping on a variety of surfaces. If you live in an area that has some Japanese bookstores around you might want to just go take a look.

I really don't know how to order any of these books online but I am sure there is a way. If anyone would like the ISBN numbers of the books I would be more than happy to give them to you!

A rose by any other name....

Okay...I just have to get this out of the way. Most people call this artform "Eraser Carving" and I use that same term just because that is what most people call it. I guess it does not matter what you call it. Erasercuts would be more accurate if you think of them in terms of Linocuts or Woodcuts. Both of these are terms used for relief printing. Somewhere along the way carving came into play. Way back there in history I believe. The photos above are true eraser carvings!

I wish there was a more precise term for this printing method. Most of us no longer even use erasers to cut and print with. We use a soft polymer material. Some people have used the term soft block carving. Somehow soft block cutting just does not quite sound right. So...I think we are just going to keep that name intact over most of time. Even though it really isn't eraser carving I think that is what most of us are going to call it.

That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet...

Carve on!

My first carving...

After going to the Rubber Stamp Gallery and purchasing my first copy of Rubberstampmadness I just had to try this. I went home and looked around on my desk and found an eraser. I grabbed an x-acto knife and a pen. I drew out an image and went to work.

I did it all wrong. Some of you may have never tried cutting stamps with a knife blade. I think the vast majority of eraser carvers use linoleum cutters and the like. I like using both. In the future I will talk more about tools but today I just want to say don't cut your stamps this way. The material under your stamp should slope away from the printing surface...not under it! This is called undercutting and it will weaken your stamp and make for a bad impression. My poor face lost its upper lip soon after it was cut. But it still stamps after 18 years!

How it all began...

A good friend of mine in Austin, TX, (Barry Miller) had recently turned me on to rubber stamping. He paid me a visit in 1990 and we set out to find a rubber stamp store in Dallas. We found The Rubber Stamp Gallery, a very fun store located at Snider Plaza close to SMU. When we were looking around I found a notebook with prints from someone who had recently been there, Henning Mittendorf. These were so amazing...and they had been hand carved! I had to know more. As luck would have it the current issue of Rubberstampmadness (RSM) was out and it included two articles featuring hand carved stamps! I purchased the issue and went home to try this new artform. Art Nahpro (Paul Jackson) had a profound impact on my life that day. He still does. You can find a lot of his prints on Flickr so check out the link I am providing to take you there. More about my experience of carving my first stamp to follow!