Hi Jeroen, I had a template from a friend. He is a very talented karateka.
The seal he needs for certificates of his students.
And yes, it is all hand-pushed. The material is soapstone I have previously cut out and processed.
Looks great and I have seen these before in a documentary on TV. But I thought they used ivory for that. But probably the soap stone is a good alternative.
When Mary and I were in Japan recently I found a few art stores that sold the stone blanks and chisels to engrave them with. The shop owners were great and showed us how it was done. It was all done in sign language and gesturing because we didn't speak the language......... but we got there in the end easily enough.
These stores were absolute treasure troves to explore because they were so different from European ones. All the Japanese writing brushes and inks etc etc were fabulous and works of art all by themselves.