Dead Astronaut Ex Libris, stamp

In my last post I wrote and put pictures about how I sketched for the custom dead astronaut Ex Libris stamp; in this one you'll see how I carved it - with my Pfeil gouges fresh from Switzerland, which are probably the best things I've bought in a while.

I transferred the design to a piece of Speedy Carve; the design measures just under 8 x 6 cm. I had to test the new gouges (the ones with mushroom-like handles) on a small piece of rubber (top left) first to get myself a little familiar with them, but their blade is so long, smooth and round to the touch, and they are very nice to hold. They are all wonderfully sharp and leaves perfectly clean cuts in the rubber. I'm pretty sure I'll abandon my old gouges once I save up some money to buy the Pfeil in more sizes/models.

I also color-coded the two small gouges (a V and a U) with marker pens. Look very nice too I think.

I had a woodcut-like effect in my head so I wanted to use the gouges as much as I could. I ended up only carving the name and the UFO (it's just too small) with the scalpel (white one). 

The stamp took me about 2 hours to carve - almost non-stop. Sketching took longer, which usually is the case with custom designs like this. I've not been happy with my new office chair, but I've just ordered a Mabef desk easel so hopefully it'll give my neck and back an easier time 

Here's the completed stamp! (And the Pfeil knives are just so beautiful, aren't they?)

Here's a bigger image with more details. It's one of my favorite works so far, and the whole communication with Franz, the sketching and carving was just so much fun.

If you'd like to order a custom Ex Libris stamp too, feel free to contact me using the form on the right :) I love commissions like this. 

Greetings from a dead astronaut far away!