Eraser stamps engraved with designs of your choice provide the enjoyment of creating handmade items using materials within arm's reach. If you hone your skills, you can pursue an artistic quality that resonates with profound charm.
"Faded ink and lines that are misaligned can bring about distinctive characteristics of a work of art," eraser stamp artist eric said. "They [eraser stamps] have a different sort of charm than that of drawings, and give you a nice feeling."
If you take a good look at the imprint of an eraser stamp, the outline is slightly blurry. Artist eric said that she engraves lines in a wavy manner intentionally to give her work a softer touch.
She then showed me how to make an eraser stamp. First, she drew a rough sketch on a piece of paper. Next, she placed a piece of tracing paper over the sketch and carefully traced the lines with both a mechanical and regular pencil.
The artist then turned over the tracing paper and placed it over an eraser. She uses specialized erasers to make carving easy. Such erasers are available in places such as art supply shops and stationery stores.
The sketch was then transferred onto the eraser by rubbing the tracing paper with a spatula or a similar tool. Carving out a white space around the design on the eraser with a box cutter also makes the design easier to carve.
Carving is usually done with precision knives, as such tools are suitable for more detailed work and are also used in art involving the cutting of paper.
"If you try to carve the whole thing at one go and mess up, you can't go back [and fix it]. Especially when carving more detailed parts, so it's a good idea to proceed little by little," eric said, adding that while the practice of carving requires perseverance, she can achieve mushin -- a detached mental state -- through the work.
In terms of drawing meticulous patterns or letters, the key is to carve them shallowly -- no more than 1 millimeter deep. The margins of the eraser should be about 5 millimeters deep to prevent ink from smudging. Being able to change the depth for each part of the eraser is the real mark of an artisan.
Quick-drying ink is recommended. The artist's favorite color is navy, which she likes because it mellows out the overtly cute nature of eraser stamps. If eraser stamps are applied to smooth paper, their imprints will come out clearly.
eric said she often selects nostalgic items, such as a radio-cassette player or a black telephone, as subjects for her work, in addition to her favorite stationery items.
"It would be great if people could enjoy using stamps that they created themselves," she said.
With this in mind, eric gives lectures on stamp making both at home and abroad. It seems that more people are likely to discover the charm of eraser stamps.
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