Makers Mark Stamp

In this project, we were assigned to make a stamp that we would use as a signature of sorts in our future work in the class. We had to make the body of the stamp and then come up with a design that in some way represented us. Once we came up with our final idea we were to then carve it into the end of our stamps, keeping in mind how the design would show up on our work once pressed into wet clay.

Before I could even start on the body of the stamp I needed to figure out what design I would be carving into it. Once I decided on the design I moved on to the body of the stamp, this was made from a slab of clay that we manipulated into the shape you can see above. Both ends of the body were then flattened by highly taping it against the table. Ready to carve, I then redrew my design on a piece of transfer paper. I did this not only so I didn't have to freehand it but also because the design had to be carved backward into the clay because once dry and ready to stamp into my work, the design would show up mirrored.

One of the biggest struggles I faced during this project was coming up with a design I was committed to using as my stamp. As you can tell from the first picture, I came up with many ideas of what I could carve into the stamp. So I consulted my dad and showed him a few of my ideas, hoping he would be able to help me narrow down my options on what to use. He ended up getting inspiration from one of my designs and manipulated it a bit and came up with the final design I ended up using. One thing I would do to make my final product stronger would be to maybe make the letters a little bit thicker and a little more even. Despite this, I really like my end product.