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"You're really cute, but I can't understand a WORD YOU'RE SAYING!"

Sorry! :-/ I didn't mean to be - well - whatever it was that I was... I had to type in a hurry because I had to go to a meeting.

So, here's a more complete Photoshop walk-through. With pictures... :) First, I open a photo I want to work with and duplicate my original layer (I'm a sucker for extra copies and backups of everything....).

http://stampeaz.com/images/rochester1.jpg

Then I select the new layer copy and select Image -> Adjust -> Desaturate. That will take all the color out of the layer and leave you with a grayscale image.

http://stampeaz.com/images/rochester2.jpg

Next, I make another layer (see above about backups...). Then I select Image -> Adjust -> Brightness/Contrast and play with the sliders until I have made the image more distinct in terms of light and shadow.

http://stampeaz.com/images/rochester3.jpg

Make another layer (yes, I am this crazy) and then, I select Images -> Adjust -> Posterize and play with the number of colors. In this case I think there were 4.

http://stampeaz.com/images/rochester4.jpg

Then, I use the magic wand tool and split the image apart by selecting the lightest gray first (click on the color and then go to Select -> Similar. Copy the selection and paste it either onto a new layer or into a new file).

http://stampeaz.com/images/rochester5.gif

Do the same with the other two colors (dark gray and black).

http://stampeaz.com/images/rochester6.gif

and

http://stampeaz.com/images/rochester7.gif

I then transfer each one of these to my PZ block and start carving away. :)

I hope that helps a little bit -- don't hesitate to ask if I was still a little too 'cute'.

Webfoot (who is sleepy and may not have been as clear as she meant to be...)

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I then transfer each one of these to my PZ block and start carving away. :)

Okay, you had me up until here. You transfer all them onto the PZ block and carve away, or do you transfer one of them, carve it out, transfer a second one, carve it out, until all are transfered?

Why not just merge them all and carve?

I guess I don't understand why you separate each of the layers just to merge them all back together again. What purpose does that serve?

-- Ryan

Wow, what a wonderful tutorial. You had me hooked, checking each link - but then came the big let down - where was the finished stamp and image? :-(

Just teasing, thanks for the step by step instructions.

YT

Webfoot,

maybe you can explain this...

I just copied your post and emailed it to myself from my yahoo account. I'm on the laptop and want to be able to open it (and not forget the post number) at the printer (and the computer with photoshop on it)

I sent it to my yahoo account FROM my yahoo account... it wound up in my spam folder! Guess it's not enough to get 100 spams a day from strangers, now I'm spamming myself!! Maybe secretly I love spam.

=)
made me laugh.
Amy

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I guess I don't understand why you separate each of the layers just to merge them all back together again. What purpose does that serve?

I separate them and transfer them all at once to the block. The way I use them, once they are carved, is that I ink the one that looks lightest gray with my lightest color and print it. Then, I ink the medium gray with my medium tone color and print it over the first light colored printing. Finally, I print the third block over the other two using the darkest color in the series. So, I don't merge the colors back together at all -- it becomes a set of stamps to make a single image, with depth and shadow.

I hope that helps a little. If not, I can try to scan an example later today, after I get orders into the mail. :)

Webfoot

LOL! Actually, I just grabbed that picture off the Web as an example to show the technique. After I got it finished and posted, I sort of laughed to myself and wondered to myself what I might be carving next... ;-) So, you may yet see that set carved!!

Webfoot

I know there is a lot of fancy software out there, but I only have Microsoft Word (came with the computer), and I have been using it. When you have imported a photo from your files, or copied an image from the web onto your page, just select your image, open the picture toolbar, and select "Effects". One of the effects is called "stamp". Viola! A black and white image of the photo.

It doesn't work for all photos, mind you -- but then again, not all photos lend themselves well to stamping. You do need one that has contrasts and shadows in it, or you can play with the contrast and brightness controls before you do anything else.

Just wanted to let folks know that you can use other software that may be available to you, if you don't have any photo editiing software.

- Sitzmak

No, I can't explain that, but I can join you in a chorus of "Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam...." ;-)

Webfoot (is it too early for Monty Python?)

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So, I don't merge the colors back together at all -- it becomes a set of stamps to make a single image, with depth and shadow.

I hope that helps a little. If not, I can try to scan an example later today, after I get orders into the mail. :)

I'd love to see all three stamps and the finished combination as well. Let us know if you can scan them.
Thanks!

The Merry Pranksters

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I separate them and transfer them all at once to the block. The way I use them, once they are carved, is that I ink the one that looks lightest gray with my lightest color and print it.

So each layer is transfered and carved as an individual stamp. Seems like a lot of work to end up with just one final image. ;o)

-- Ryan, who's really lazy at heart =)

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So each layer is transfered and carved as an individual stamp. Seems like a lot of work to end up with just one final image. ;o)

-- Ryan, who's really lazy at heart =)

Well, it turns out that it is easier for me to carve three stamps and print them with different inks (and it's fun to overlap the inks and get 5 or 6 colors out of 3 sometimes), than it is for me to do the marker thing, especially if I want to do a number of prints for cards and invoices and such before planting. Besides, think of the great possibilities for a series of boxes where you end up with a multicolor image at the end of the series... :) Find box 1, print and get the clues for box 2, find #2 and print.... The mind boggles (of course, that's not unusual around here! LOL!)

Webfoot (who is also lazy -- just in a different way...)

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As far as transfering the image with a burnishing tool, a guitar pick works real well.

I use a flattened nickel. Ryan does these for me on the railroad tracks near his mother's house. I love a flat penny or nickel for transfering my images!

-Amanda from Seattle

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I use a flattened nickel. Ryan does these for me on the railroad tracks near his mother's house. I love a flat penny or nickel for transfering my images!

This might belong on "stupid questions" but why does the penny/nickel need to be flattened?

MHR

Umm.. isn't that technically defacing american currency? lol ( as I place pennies in the souvenir machine to flattened into dinosaur coins)

I use my bone folder for ALL parts of the process of making a box: burnishing the image, making sure glue sticks evenly when affixing paper to covers, folding logbook pages (say for my mini accordian-style ones). I just can't work without one and easier to handle than something as small as a coin (flattened or otherwise) or guitar pick.

If you don't know what I mean, here's a picture:

http://www.misterart.com/g1692/Lineco-Bone-Folders.htm

pre
<Who loves having the tools that feel "right" to her....>

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I use my bone folder for ALL parts of the process of making a box

Hmmm that reminds me... I have a bone folder in my scrap booking supply drawers. **scrambling for the bedroom to get the wonderful miracle tool**

Tee (who loves using her supplies for something as cool as this)

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Hmmm that reminds me... I have a bone folder in my scrap booking supply drawers. **scrambling for the bedroom to get the wonderful miracle tool**

Tee (who loves using her supplies for something as cool as this)

see i thought this tool was pretty when i found it a few years ago and bought it to keep my hair up with...who thought it could ever have a useful purpose :)

kwm

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see i thought this tool was pretty when i found it a few years ago and bought it to keep my hair up with...who thought it could ever have a useful purpose :)

LOL

Ever the frugal one though, for anyone who wants a bone folder and can't get one yet, think headband, the wide plastic kind that many of us kept in our drawer for years. They are back in style now so you can get them at Dollar Tree, if you weren't thinking ahead 35 years ago. Break off the end, file smooth with that nail file that you forgot you had. No, the metal one, in the manicure kit that's at the back of the drawer in your bathroom. Yeah, that one.

Certainly not as comfortable as the one that pre is talking about, but nearly instant bone folder. OH, and do the same with the other side and you have one to give to a friend as a gift. oooh or you could do two handed bone folding if you are really ambitious. **nodding**

Tee

Ok, now I have an image of kwm that looks something like this:

http://h1.ripway.com/goldentreasures/ColorBooks/cb0569-63-5-flintstone.jpg

snort ™
pre

actually thats nearly accurate :)
...well minus the red hair (eaisly fixed)....i get bored in class and thus wah-la! new hair style!...

kwm *pondering re-dying to match bam-bam....cause how it is the "in" thing*

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for anyone who wants a bone folder and can't get one yet, think headband, the wide plastic kind that many of us kept in our drawer for years.

wow! such a clever clever idea!!love it.
thank you!!

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why does the penny/nickel need to be flattened?

Flattening the coin makes it a larger surface area, so easier to hold onto, and more surface for the burnishing. It also makes the edge thinner, sharper, more "knife-like" which I like for rubbing. The flattened coin is also useful for getting the price stickers off of books and stuff. I used it alot during the holiday season for this purpose.

-amanda from seattle

I use a burnishing tool from Tandy Leather. I looks like a tiny spoon with a longer handle.

Shiloh

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pre
<Who loves having the tools that feel "right" to her....>

Having the pre-cise tool is really important, I agree!
ss

Oh! Oh! Oh! Where are you getting dinosaur coins??!! My five year old daughter wants to be a palentologist and LOVES all things dinosaurs...
MFF

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Oh! Oh! Oh! Where are you getting dinosaur coins??!! My five year old daughter wants to be a palentologist and LOVES all things dinosaurs...

I think the reference was to elongated coins (or the less fussy name: squished pennies)-- the souvenirs that you can make out of pennies with those machines in just about any touristy place? Dinosaur ones could probably be found at any sort of museum with a dinosaur display or anything like that. Or you can skip the trip and buy them here for a lot more than the 50 cents apiece they'd cost you to get in person:

http://www.pressedpenny.com/dinosaurs.php

Tdyans (who dreams of someday visiting the Squished Penny Museum in DC)

(quote> (who dreams of someday visiting the Squished Penny Museum in DC)<quote/)

wow!
i was kind of kidding, haven't made a squished penny in (oops) years, hope i'm not showing my age!!!

oops messed up the quote UGH!

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Oh! Oh! Oh! Where are you getting dinosaur coins??!! My five year old daughter wants to be a palentologist and LOVES all things dinosaurs...

You could come on down to Raleigh,NC. My daughter made a dinosaur penny at the natural science museum there. You could choose between several different dinosaurs.