Jenny Doh

Woodburning Tutorial: If You Want To

After seeing the fantastic woodburning work that Gennine and Alisa have been up to, I got inspired to get a woodburning tool myself. Using it brought memories of the woodburning tool I had as a kid ... did you have one too? It came as a kit, actually, with sheets of wood with images/scenes printed on them that you could burn with tool. So much fun.

Anyway, the tool is super simple to use. And I burned some words on popsicle sticks that I had in my stash. Yeah ... you should see my crafting stash. I mean, really.

Here's a photo of the package that the tool came in by Walnut Hollow. I haven't tried the other nibs yet but I will.



And of course I burned my favorite four words of all-time: If You Want To on a larger wooden stick.

Command Statement + If You Want To = Free Will

So yeah, I recommend that you get a woodburning tool and try it out for yourself. If you want to. :)

The Art of Value

M.C. Richards writes eloquently in The Crossing Point:

It is dangerous for poets and painters and sculptors and musicians to think that their image, their composition, is the source of value—instead of the reflection of value, the making conscious of an experience of value otherwhere derived. The paint peels and cracks, the pot breaks, but the realm out of which it comes continues to reveal itself in more works of art and craft.

Nothing bores me more than convos where people waste inordinate amounts of time trying to protect what they think they own and believe as being the source of true value ...

"Hey, the thick down stroke and thin upstroke in lettering ... that's my idea. You can't steal that."
"The crooked lips and curly hair was my invention, you can't do that."
"The use of black, red, and white ... that's my color palette ... I can't believe you're copying me."
"Are you using images of birds and leaves? Don't you know that I did that first?"

And on and on it goes ... without regard of knowing that all of it ... the thick and thin strokes, the crooked lips with curly hair, the black-red-white palette, the birds and leaves ... were all born and interpreted a million times before us and will continue to be interpreted a million times after we are all gone. Forever.

Introducing :: Crafting Katniss Clear Stamps

I'm happy to announce my brand NEW Crafting Katniss Clear Stamps!
Been having a lot of fun playing with them ... the perfect stamps to combine with watercolors, like this Without Love card ...

And here's a second card I made using the same methods of stampibng, adding watercolors, and adding text with ink and a brush: Keep Calm & Shoot Straight

Stamp target image onto a square piece of watercolor paper with a dark inkpad.
Stamp arrow image onto a piece of torn ledger paper with a dark inkpad.

Watercolor the stamped target.

Add lettering with Sumi ink.

Crafting Katniss stamps are available here. Happy stamping! :)

Washi Tape Pencils Tutorial

Q: What's better than a #2 Ticonderoga?

A: A bunch of #2 Ticonderogas with washi tape!

Just slap some on like this and then trim the ends to make a cute little flag.

Make a bunch with lots of different kinds of washi ... like this!

Or adhere a piece of paper from an old book or dictionary on the top of the pencil like this ...



and then slap a piece of washi over the paper like this.
Oh, the washi love. :)

Love Her Madly :: Sprayed Doodled and Lettered Tutorial

Here's another piece I made using spray paints ... this time on a piece of corrugated board—one of my favorite substrates to work with.

I first taped a couple of fern leaves onto the board and sprayed it with white spray paint.

Next, I added some doodling with a pink neon Sharpie ... one of my favorite new markers these days.

Next, I added some accents with a Stabilo pencil and then blended it in with a wet brush.

Then I added lettering with India ink and then some splatters of white paint with a Montana marker. Oh yeah, I also added a strip of neon pink masking tape. I'm sort of diggin' the neon pink these days.

So yeah ... don't just love her. Love her madly.

The Art of Passion :: Sprayed & Stenciled Journal Tutorial

I love my Moleskine journals.
For this one, I decided to embellish it with some spray paints and doodling. 

Here's how ...

I first sprayed the cover then let it dry. Then I pulled some lavender blossoms and taped it onto the cover and sprayed it again, using the blossoms as stencils.

Then I took some markers and added doodles.

Then I did some more spraying and stenciling/masking. Lots of back-and-forth.
The great thing about stencils and spray paints is that if you don't like something, you can spray over what you've done to create a new effect. Very fun.




I kept the back kind of simple.


I added more doodling, and some tape and ... tada! It's done.
If you decide to do this on a Moleskine, you'll want to finish it off by spraying it with sealer to keep the paint in tact.
It is with passion that I want to live. Passion for life, for love, and for art.

Organizing My Paints

I've been organizing my paints and related supplies. Thought I'd share my new system that I'm super excited about.

They are storage units by Ashland that I bought from my local Michaels. When I bought them, all the units were 40% off. Not sure if that sale is still going on but even if it isn't, I really think the units are one of the most ideal I've ever used and worth paying full price for.


They are designed so that two smaller units nest into a larger one. They don't have handles that stick out. Just these large grommets that you can put your fingers through to easily handle them.

You can fit 24 4-ounce bottles of Golden fluid acrylics (standing upright) into one of the smaller units, which is very cool. And the BEST part? They fit PERFECTLY into those rolly rolly carts!


So what I've done is stack two sets of the smaller units that go right into the cart like this:

And then to stack one of the larger units as the third layer right on top. Like this:


I actually have filled a second rolly rolly cart with the exact same configuration, which is plenty for holding all my painting stuff. When I'm in my studio, I just take all the units out and have everything laid out on my work space. But if I need to take my stuff to my other studio or on a play date, I'm ready to go.

Happy organization. :)

Carving Thanks, Not Potato.

감사 means "thanks" in Korean.
Not to be confused with 감자, which means "potato."

So I used a dark graphite pencil to write 감사 on a piece of vellum (any paper will do).

Flipped it over and rubbed the back side so the image could transfer onto the rubber. Then I carved the strokes that make up the word. The effect is that the negative space of the word gets inked rather than the actual strokes that make up the word. Make sense?


Love the sweet little stamp cause it gives you lots of ways to react to it for art-making. I also like that the negative space that gets inked and stamped kind of looks like a potato. :)

Carving Swords and Gloves

Thought I'd show you the fun I've been having as I continue to carve more rubber. I've been interested in sword fighting. Not real fighting but just the moves involved with it. In particular, I'm interested in Japanese sword fighting. Mainly because I've been inspired by a fitness instructor in my life named Lynn who has these amazing sword moves that she teaches. Amazing.

Anyway ... here's my first carved sword. A little bit wonky, right? But as I was explaining to a friend recently, the great thing about carving rubber is that sometimes, it becomes wonky. And that's a good thing. It makes the process and end result unique and memorable. Unique.
On guard.

And here's my wonky pair of boxing gloves.
So imperfectly wonderful, right?
Gloves on.

Rubber Carving and Doodling Tutorial

The thing I love about carving rubber is that even when you carve popular images and shapes, no one will have the exact same stamp as yours, because each piece of handcarved rubber has its own unique characteristics.

Like the single raindrop. I love the shape. And my carved raindrop is something I use all the time.

You can do so much with it ... like rows and rows of red drops all pointed in one direction.
Or three columns of black drops with some pointing up and some pointing down to create a different pattern.

And then clusters of brown drops that look like flowers.

Add some doodling and they are over-the-top fabulous.


Same thing with the popular hexagon shape. Such a popular shape these days, right? So carve yourself one, two, or three in sizes small to large and you can make these shapes your very own.

Experiment with them and see what they can do!
And as always ... add doodling to bring them to life.


The details of carving rubber are explained thoroughly in my new book, Stamp It!, which is availalbe here. Happy carving, stamping, and doodling. :)