Eco Karve Printing and Stamp 4" X 6" Making Plates

This stuff is nearly as responsive as the Speedy Carve (Speedball) "pink stuff", with the advantages of being recycled and thick enough to carve on both sides. For me, the advantage of being recycled (and still affordable) weighs heavily in favor of this material.For very fine details, I found this (Eco Karve) to be a bit more wiggly and a bit more shaggy than Speedy Carve. (In each of my first two stamps, my gouge got "backed up" by squishiness in a tight curve and then slipped, making a light cut across what I intended to be uncarved surface. Perhaps I just need to adjust my habits and be more consistently careful to use fresh sharp blades.)Note for transferring laser or copier-printed designs: while Speedy Carve accepts toner transfers equally well with both xylene and acetone, the Eco Karve material seems to react with the xylene (it must have a bit of the relevant plastic in the recycled mix), so stick to acetone. (I haven't tried the wintergreen oil on this yet.) Also, this material is darker, so the contrast suffers a bit for a toner-transfer design. Still, I expect to order more of this material.

These are not only relatively easy to carve, but they print well. Comparing them to the pink Speedball product, which carves easier but does not take the ink as well, I choose EcoCarve. I also like that they are so thick that you can carve both sides, and that they are made from recycled materials. For someone like me with hand/arm weakness from nerve damage these are great.

These printing plates are amazing. They cut so easily and you can even use both sides! It's like you get 2 plates in one. Also they are easy to cut and make stamps out of. Great fun for my students.