First Attempt at Block Printing

I recently have become enamored with block printing.  I have an idea for it in one of my paintings that is still in process (still in stage one - idea in my head) and wanted to try some small stamps first just for fun.  I discovered two things: (1) This is way harder than I thought, especially to get an even thin line; and (2) I really need better lighting in my apartment because my eyes hurt after staring so closely as I carved these up.

So my first attempt was a full bodied pug, but I had issues with getting the thin line just right and lost a lot of details in the face.  I should've started bigger, because it was really hard getting in some of those narrow crevices.  My second attempt was just the head of a bow tie pug.  That one was much easier to do.

Here are the stamps.  I got lazy at the end since it's getting late and used a stamp pad to ink it instead of using the block printing ink that came with the kit.  Although now I kinda regret it since the ink stained the stamps a bit.

Practice makes perfect of course so I'll continue to play around with these.  It is fun to do but it was just harder and took longer than I anticipated.