secret art club and tesselating stamps

Last week we had the very first meeting of the Secret Art Club, and Stacy Speyer brought her tessellating stamp project to share. It was an experiment in almost every dimension, and we were so curious to see who would come, and how the night would go.

We took over the whole space for the night, and we wanted it to feel inviting, so we brought tea and snacks and put on some music. Then we put some examples up on the wall, and set out the materials, with lots of small, blank, 1” stamps, carving tools, colorful stamp pads, graph paper (the grid is helpful to line up the stamps) and blank paper, too. We also brought larger, 4” stamps and supplies to try scaling up their designs and printing them onto fabric.

We invited a few friends to join us, and we were hoping to entice some new friends to come, too. And they came! It wasn't long before the space was filled with a lovely, diverse group of people of all ages and genders. The age range was probably 10 to 50, and it was so fun to have young people and adults all sitting around the table together. We invited everyone to start by carving one of the small 1” stamps with a simple design, and to try tiling it in different configurations to see what struck their fancy. We brought lots of blank stamps, so people could try making multiple designs if they wanted to (and to take the pressure off, it’s a lot easier to experiment when the materials are plentiful. You don’t feel like you have to make something perfect on your first try). Once everyone took that first step, they were off, trying different designs, talking to new people, learning how to use new tools, and having a lot of fun.

Everyone started with the same 1” stamp, but the designs that emerged were all so different. It was really interesting to walk around the room and see all the experiments happening at the same time. It was social, and intimate, and experimental, and so much fun. It was such a blast, I can’t wait for the next Secret Art Club meeting!