The Un-Instructible

I've started and stopped several times.  I get started and the same morass of too much assumed knowledge that I don't possess (which specific materials, what programs, what computer graphics terms mean), combined with too much unnecessary information helpfully offered by amateur youtube videographers always results in false starts.

I get nowhere.  And I just punked myself into yet another couple hours foray into the swamp again, thinking "This can't be that difficult.  We're not talking rocket science."  I was wrong.  Again.  It's not rocket science.  It's harder.

Last year I came into possession of a Silhouette Cameo cutter (no, I didn't buy it).  My goal was to shortcut the making of stamps for clay -- both patterns and name stamps for personalizing pieces.  It seems rather obvious at this point that the Silhouette isn't up to the task.  Looks like perhaps the Zing is the tool.

But other folks are using the cool photographic rubber stamp making process.  WAY beyond my attention span to learn via the internet.  I'd need hands-on instruction for that one.  Talk aboutcher lack of specific information about the materials involved.  I think you'd have to already know how to make these in order to learn how to make these.

So, back to foam cutting.

Did you know there are about a zillion kinds of foam?  Density, thickness, hardness.  Without being able to lay my hands on the actual stuff to guess which would actually leave an impression in clay, I have no idea on earth which foam to start to order.  So, I guess I could order some sort of samples.  But from whom?

Naive me.  I thought it might be as easy as being able to type out a name in a program like, say, photoshop, turn the name into a jpg or similar file, and shoot that over to a cutter that could zing out the name in perfect foam letters that I could stamp into soft clay.

Nope.

Life is hard, but it's even harder when you're stupid.

Rubberstamps.net, here I come.