With a few simple tools you can make your own seal for your paintings. In Chinese paintings, your seal is like your signature. Each person's seal is unique. When a seal is used in place of a signature for official documents, it is called a "chop".
Adult supervision is strongly recommended for this project.
Materials needed:
cork from wine bottle (synthetic corks work best)
black Sharpie marker
X-acto knife
ink pad with red ink
paper
1. Use the Sharpie to draw your character on the cork. It will need to be a
mirror image of the actual character you wish to use. I like to draw the character on a thin piece of paper, using the Sharpie, then turn the paper over and use the image that has bled through the paper to draw the character.
2. Use the X-acto knife to cut the lines of the character into the cork.
3. When you are satisfied with your work, press the cork into the red ink and then test it on your paper. If your character is not clear, you may have to go back and cut some of the lines a bit deeper.
Another Option for creating your own seal:
I found this Lino Cutting Baren Kit and the bag of extra Printing Stamps at Hobby Lobby.
http://shop.hobbylobby.com/store/item.aspx?ItemId=156065
Too Much Work?
If all this seems like too much work, the following website has pre-inked Chinese seals available for purchase at a reasonable price.
http://www.char4u.com/index.php?cPath=51
http://www.babblefish.com/freetranslator.php
