Oriental Chops

Oriental Chops

by, Thrifty Stamper

If you follow my tutorials or columns you may have noticed that I often use the word "Chop". There was a comment on one of my blog posts this month questioning the use of the word.
A chop is a seal used in the orient. The first chops were created out of bone or wood. An artist would carve his/her name into the bone or wood to create a square that was then used an official "signature" instrument. The wood/bone was dipped in red cinnabar paste and pressed onto paper. The chops were used in the financial world as a signature. Today many chops are made out of plastic or metal.
Most traditional oriental art carries an artist's chop. The new stamp set called "Be Virtuous" has 4 chops.

I requested this set be made because I was drawing chops with a marker on my oriental cards. If you look closely you can see that these chops have oriental symbols instead of a name. They are left to right: Grace, Loyalty, Peace, Virtue. I think they are perfect for anyone who stamps oriental paper art!
Here is a card I made for this article. You can see that I featured the large Chop and then "signed" the card in the lower right corner with a small chop.

I made a full tutorial of this card. You can find it here:
http://mfpspeedytv.ning.com/page/tiger-chop-card

Tiger Chop Card - 07/19/13

Tiger Chop Card

For this card you will need:
Stamp sets- Be Virtuous, Big Cats
Cardstock:
base- 4 1/4" x 11"
Printed paper or your own background paper
3" x 4"
2" x 1 1/2"
Black cardstock for mat layers
3 1/4" x 4 1/4"
2 1/4" x 1 3/4"
Ink- black, red, green
Scissors
markers
charm
hole punch for charm
brad
yarn

Stamp silhouette image from Be Virtuous in green several times across the bottom portion of the larger piece of printed paper.


Stamp the open image from Be Virtuous in black on top of the solid images.

Stamp tiger in black ink and color with markers. Cut out.

Stamp large chop in red on to small piece of printed paper.
Stamp sentiment under the chop in black.

Layer printed paper and corresponding black cardstock.
Punch small hole under the sentiment.
Attach the charm with black brad.
This charm had a hole at the bottom. I ran black yarn through the hole.

Adhere the panel to the focal panel. Fasten the yarn to back of the largest panels.

Stamp small solid chop in red in right bottom corner of focal panel.
Adhere the cut out tiger image to the focal panel.
Finished project.

Oriental Ink Washed Papers - 07/20/13

Ink Washed Printed Papers
by Thrifty Stamper
To make today's card you will need:
Stamp sets: Mothers Magnolia, Be Virtuous
Cardstock base 4 1/4" x 11"
Black cardstock:
4 3/4" x 3 1/2"
1 3/4" x 4 3/4"
1 3/4" x 1 3/4"
Printed paper:
4 1/2" x 3 1/4"
1 1/2" x 4 1/2"
1 1/2" x 1 1/2"
Bowl of water
Reinkers in Yellow green and brown
Oval punch
Red ink
black ink
markers
scrap white cardstock
Yarn
charm

Add 2-5 drops of yellow to the water.

Add 2-3 drops of blue to the water

Add 2-3 drops of brown to the water

Slide printed paper into the water.
Do this with all three of the pieces of printed paper.

Let the printed paper sheets dry.
I put a sheet of plain printed paper here so that you can see what the Ink Washed printed papers look like.

Stamp image in black on scrap white cardstock. Color with markers. Cut out.
Stamp chop in red on white cardstock. Cut out.
Stamp sentiment in black and punch with oval punch.
Assemble card.
Finished project

Themes from the Orient 7/12/13 Tigers; the Yin of the Universe

by Thrifty Stamper
Almost everyone has heard of Yin and Yang. These are the two forces that make up the universe. The two symbols are the Tiger and the Dragon. Yin means shady. Yang means bright.
The dragon symbol stands for Yang because it is associated with reigning over the heavens. The tiger is considered the strongest of the wild animals and stands for Yin.

You have heard of the movie "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon." This title describes the way the tiger crouches low to the ground, the sign that lands are the tiger's domain. Wind produced by the tiger's roar bend the trees and grasses of the earth. Tigers have strength and power.

I'll cover the dragon's powers in an upcoming column.
This painting tells of the tiger and her domain.

I found the art here at this website. It's full of exciting oriental art!
http://www.orientaloutpost.com/proddetail.php?prod=t68-sw-1
I made this card from the above inspiration.

You can find a full tutorial on how this card was made here:
http://mfpspeedytv.ning.com/page/tigers-the-yin-of-the-universe-card