Carving a Chinese Chop with a Dremel Tool

When you buy a Japanese/ Chinese calligraphy kit they nearly always come with an uncarved (blank) chop (stamp). That way you get to choose for yourself which symbol you use with which to sign your pieces.
The material the flat chop is made out of is quite soft. It's very easy to carve this into any design you wish. In this video we use a Dremel tool, which is a motorized carving device. You can also easily use any standard carving types of tools.
A Dremel tool is simply a hand-held motorized device with interchangeable heads which lets you drill, carve, sand, buff, etc. things that involve rotation. Here's an example on Amazon -
amzn.to/2PfBTAy
(affiliate link)
The carving was done by my delightful partner of 20+ years, Bob See.
Please ask with any questions, I'm happy to help! If you'd like a video on another aspect of using this kit, just let me know.
Be sure to check out all of my videos on Chinese / Japanese Calligraphy -
• Japanese / Chinese Cal...
For more photos and information about my artwork and calligraphy, visit:
LisaShea.com
Lovely music is "Ripples" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
creativecommons.org/licenses/b...
I have a selection of my origami crane earrings and personalized lotus flowers available at:
www.etsy.com/shop/lisasheadotcom
#calligraphy #calligraphyart #japaneseculture

[@AnnaElizabethWatson]

Very helpful, thanks!

[@lisasheaorigami]

thank you!

[@terepashinogenjitsu]

This is a very useful video, because I got one of these in one of my east asian calligraphy sets (for me, it is preferably used for Japanese calligraphy)

[@lisasheaorigami]

thank you :)

[@dedclownsRfunny]

You could draw a small symbol onto paper with ink and then place the chop over the symbol (which is then reversed) and then carve the chop

[@lisasheaorigami]

The challenge with trying to carve through paper is the paper quickly tears, so you lose the design. It's much safer to draw the design right onto the chop itself. If you draw it first on paper, you can use tracing paper and graphite paper to transfer it onto the chop.

[@marionforge2769]

Very informative. I just want to ask because I don't have chinese name. Is it ok to choose any character to use it for my personal stamp? Tia

[@lisasheaorigami]

Yes, absolutely, your symbol represents you. Even with my friends who are Chinese or Japanese, often they will choose a character that represents a concept or animal that is special to them, like a dragon or wind or strength or so on.

[@luckywithpaint7773]

What is the symbol you are supose to carve into it. Is it supose to be your name or a logo or a signiture and does it have to be a mandarin, korean or japanese sign?
I was lucky enough to get gifted a set.
Can you do traditional art with this set?
What paper do you suggest i use for art? I live in South Africa.
Is there any substitutes for sumi inks

[@lisasheaorigami]

You are an artist - the way in which you want to be represented is wholly and entirely up to you. Some people want a character in Japanese or Chinese which they feel represents them. Some people want a symbol like a bee or a heart. Some people want a letter in the English alphabet. It is wholly up to you how you want to "sign" your artwork.