Exercise 2: designing and cutting stamps

The goal: to explore the possibilities of stamping as a design tool.

I’ve decided to use an old favourite image of mine, one that naturally lends itself to wide interpretation; the Boteh.

The Boteh is a teardrop stylised design which found its way to Paisley in Scotland and became known as the paisley pattern.

Originally depicted on shawls in Kashmir under its original name, it was mass-produced in Scotland in woven fabrics and garments.

It is also indicative of the English high comma, another sensuous curvy shape, which is also known as an apostrophe.  No, not that horrid basic line we scrawl when writing quickly; I’m talking about the smart carefully crafted circle and tail.

So, my husband and I sat, with small squares of paper and a jar of coloured pens, and drew our interpretations of the Boteh/comma.

The  next step is to prepare bases as stamps.  I’m going with standard strata 3″ x 2″and will fit my chosen designs onto these.

Left to right: Easy-carve, lino, foamex board, woodblock, mountboard, vinyl.