Customer Reviews

The Chinese Chop Pack

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This is an interesting set of 4 double-ended chops, once you get over the fact that they are rubber stamps, not "carved" as both the box and the product description claim. The rectangular handles may be lacquered wood, but the ends are mass-produced squares of rubber. They were all designed by the one artist featured in the accompanying book, which shows several more chops that are not included in this set, tells what they mean, and explains how the designs were put together.

The little book is OK, not a bad introduction to the history and art of the Chinese chop. (Not that I know anything about it.) The book gives confusing, ambiguous written directions for using the chops -- my husband and I disagreed about what the instructions meant, and NEITHER of us was right -- but if you look up the description of each image, you can figure out the orientation to use when you stamp it.

Rubber stampers, altered book artists, and mail artists will get a lot of use out of this set, and eraser carvers should find inspiration here as well. I've been stamping a chop onto the otherwise unadorned envelopes I send out (like bills), and it adds an aura of mystery and exotic places with minimal effort.

This set is overpriced, but I expect to get my money's worth out of it over time.