Canon PowerShot S3 IS

Anyone who knows me well enough to have traded email has been witness to my trademark signature – the lower-case 'r' with an exclamation mark: r! I've been using it since my digital life began too many years ago. I've been a printmaker in between my pixel-pushing and noticed that many printmakers use a red stamp with Japanese characters to 'sign' their work. I've always wanted one of these cool stamps, but didn't investigate deep enough until recently about what they are and where they might be purchased.

I came across a nifty block print on flickr by an artist named Kylie Budge that had one of these mysterious red stamps on it – I asked about it and she explained that it was called 'hanko' and that it was a name stamp. I did a little wiki-cliki to get the whole story.

I'd found a person online that hand carves hankos (?) and they sent me a rough sketch via email of Japanese characters depicting the words 'grey beard.'

Then it dawned on me to use my digital signature instead. I drew it up in Illustrator and found a place online that makes custom rubber stamps. A simple upload, a little money, and a few days later my hanko arrived. Pretty darned cool. In case you're wondering, it's 11/16' or 17mm square. I'm working on an inverted version next.


When I Touch You - Spirit (The Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus)

_TriStáN_