Wednesday Wellspring: Jackbear Stamps

The well is overflowing with creativity this week with Jackbear Stamps. John, the master carver behind Jackbear Stamps, started carving to serve his geocaching and letterboxing habits. He, like many others, wanted a "signature" stamp to use in the hobby. When he couldn’t find just the right one, he made one for himself! After years of working on his craft and improving through practice and advice from other carvers, someone saw his work, offered to pay him to create a custom stamp, and a light bulb went off in John’s head: there is a market out there for custom, hand-carved stamps! Jackbear Stamps was born and found a home on Etsy.

John’s stamps are carved in rubber and mounted on thick foam for better handling and stamping. This artisan enjoys the challenge of creating custom stamps. He is ready and waiting to create the stamp of your dreams, so hurry up and contact him through Etsy!

Though custom stamp creation is a great love for him, his current favorite stamp is Evolve. As an environmental science major in college, this stamp was inspired by his favorite school t-shirt which pronounced “Evolve or Die.” My favorite item, on the other hand, is his Snail Mail stamp because I love sending and receiving letters (hmmm, I wonder what I could trade him for that one?).

I asked this successful Etsy seller for a piece of advice to pass on to you. He suggests that sellers post new items frequently. We often don't do this enough, but need to constantly remind ourselves to keep our shops fresh. Also, nothing sells your item better than your photo, so make sure your photography is sharp!
Everything about John’s shop is worth seeing, so make sure to check it out today. To sweeten the deal, JackBear Stamps is having a free postage week! From now until next Wednesday, he'll ship your stamp first class for free if you live anywhere in the US! Just leave him a "message to the seller" that you read this post on the RNEST blog, and he'll refund your shipping fee.

Learn more about John by visiting his blog and Jackbear Stamps’ Facebook fan page and make sure to check out his shop to see his amazing hand-carved creations.