Spilt Milk

I wish you all a peaceful new year!

Ce matin les garçons ont fait la grasse mat', et moi je me suis levée pour trouver tout un petit monde bien éveillé devant ma fenêtre: 

Les Roselins du Mexique ont gagné haut la main le seul usage de la mangeoire, mais les moineaux en profitent dans les buisson. Ce voleur de Grumpy, le seul écureuil du coin qui est bien trop grognon pour être timide, et fait tout ce qu'il peut pour accéder aux graines. Il a fait un foin pas possible, mais a fini par comprendre, qu'il saute ou danse, la mangeoire est inaccessible. Ben oui mon gars, c'est une mangeoire à oiseaux, pas à rongeurs, surtout que depuis que mon andouille de voisin a transformé son jardin en désert, il n'y a plus ni mouffette ni racoon pour chasser les rats, ils sont à la fête. Les animaux sont les bienvenus dans mon jardin...sauf les rats et les corbeaux que je chasse sans aucune pitié , na!  

Le petit paysage à droite est ce que je vois de mon bureau. Je me rends très bien compte de la chance que j’ai d’avoir sous le nez un petit parc très vert, et j’en profite bien. D’autres dans mon village ont vue sur la mer, mer je préfère, du moins pour la vue, le vert au bleu!

I've been doing my own stamps for a few weeks. It's a very soothing activity but it can be a bit frustrating!  

Here's few tricks I learned the hard way, so I thought I should share, in case you would like to try it, too.  

  1. Buy the right tools. You will need a good ink that will render the details easily. Smearing and feathering can make a nice stamp print look clumsy.

Good , thin tools for wood carving are a plus. I find the classic speedball tools very frustrating and bought #1 and #2 gouges and v tools on Japanese shops in Amazon and Rakuten, and even found some pretty cool ones at Daiso for $1.5,  for larger surface work. 

Get some nice carving blocks, too. I tried erasers but if you think about it, after a few stamps it becomes expensive very fast! I'm pretty happy of the Speedball carving blocks but some tend to be pretty crumbly sometimes. Carving blocks made by the Japanese brand Seed are very difficult to find but super satisfying. 

I also bought some pretty cool cream colored sticker paper. It was a bit expensive because I choose partly recycled acid-free paper. But I'm going for a professional look and I'm quite sure I will use the whole box in a very short time. ​

One thing I learned the hard way is that you have to glue the larger, floppy stamps to a bit of wood (I bought mines at Michael's and Blicks)  . Otherwise the stamps are smeared or incomplete. Don't forget to print the stamp on the back before gluing it. I forgot...

Do glue the tiny little stamps on bits of dowels and wood, too. Do it now! I made some for tiny patterns. They get lost very easily. An added bonus is that you won't deep your fingers in ink anymore while stamping. And track ink all over the house like I did. Lucky me it was water soluble ink, but I just bought some pretty strong waterproof ink so here we are, dowels!  

Another I think I learned the hard way: you can't print on masking tape with normal ink. It won't dry. It won't dry, ever, except when it transfers on your fingers.  You'll need some pretty strong, fast drying, waterproof ink like Tsukineko StazOn.  But I 'm pretty excited I found out how to do it! It makes for pretty chic modern chine-collé.

A happy beginning :

A few months ago, I was contacted by a delightful art director. They publish cards for Trader Joe's and kindly asked to make a card out of one of my designs. This it's the designs they chose:

You can buy prints of this painting on Society6. I like it so much I actually had it printed for my studio.  You can find it here : Delphine's Flying Bunnies

They made me a nice, fair contract, actually one of the most respectful and kind I got in my long career. I was SO delighted that I actually painted a more cheerful version of my Flying Bunnies just for them. They didn't ask for it, but I'm always happy to go the extra mile for nice people. Here it is:

You can still find it in your Trader Joe's, please go and buy it, I'm paid when you do it!  I'm really delighted to have a chance to work with Trader Joe's. They really are nice.

I actually enjoyed myself so much for that project that I decided to go back to that series of animals in this specific style. 

Sooo I was drawing this yesterday:

Cute right? I had a lot of fun drawing it. My son chose the pattern for the jacket, and he was super happy I matched the colors to his stuffed bunny, which is the inspiration for that series. I actually bought a toy umbrella so I could draw the light and structure more accurately. I record my steps in my journal, so I can analyse the process better. And remember the fun I have, too. Good memories are inspiring to me. I was like, "ho, let's get some new stamps for my journal !" (a journal is prettier in colors) and I went online and found this:

CL5170 Birthday Bunnies clear stamp set

Someone took my flying bunnies , and especially the one in a yellow jacket on top of this post, traced it ( badly) and sold it as a stamp. LIKE THAT. And it's not derivative work, no it's not! It's the same attitude , the same style that took me years to develop, the style I developed for you my readers,for my son, and yes, for myself.