At our June Japanese Tenkoku stamp making workshop we had a lively group of enthusiastic carvers and busy stampers! This was a full afternoon session creating unique seals from scratch – forgive the Tenkoku pun! Everyone was able to cover the essential techniques of this age old East Asian craft, complete their seal and feel the excitement when making their own inei 印影 impression on Japanese calligraphy paper.
Blair talked about the history of Tenkoku 篆刻, showing physical examples of stamps used by his teachers in Japan and detailing the traditional tools and materials. He then helped guide each participant with their individual design, choosing kanji to match their names or fascinating visual or literary ideas and interests, and advising in how to work in the inten or tensho stamp making styles.
We could tell it was an energetic and experimental session by the amount of activity and materials on the work tables! Thanks to the participants for making the group a fabulous afternoon and we hope you will delight in stamping with your own seal, and come up with more ideas for future stamp designs.
Well done to engage so deeply in the Tenkoku tradition, completing such a variety of excellent designs, from names related to boats and water to heavenly gardens and imagery of flowers and people. Thanks to participants for sharing some of their images from the afternoon.
Thanks to participant Elaine (https://www.instagram.com/scottishpolishlass/) for kindly providing fantastic photos!
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