carved corks

I have carved most of my corks into stamps. They work quite well & I am pleased with the results. I carved the letters for my name, making a big faux pas with the "R". Oops! I forgot to carve the letter in reverse, so now I have a backwards "R" stamp. Oh well... nobody's perfect! I hope to continue to build my collection until it rivals the collection of Peter Madden. Wanna take a peek at his collection? It is featured in the book Making Journals by Hand: 20 Creative Projects for Keeping Your Thoughts by Jason Thompson.

You can search inside the book for "carved stamps". The photo is shown on page 103.

This book has terrific eye candy! All of the great journal photos are truly inspiring, but if you are looking for general how-to info... it's not the book for you.

corks for carving

Awhile back, I was looking through a book about "altered books". I saw a picture taken in the artist's studio of a box full of stamps carved from wine corks. The photo made quite an impression on me & since then I have started carving stamps from wine corks in an attempt to build my own collection.

Since I don't drink, I am lucky to live in a city where there are quite a few wine drinkers... I found all of these corks while taking my morning walks the past couple of weeks.

OK... there usually aren't this many laying around. Most of these were found on Friday morning after a free movie night (Screen on the Green) in Piedmont Park.

The corks are fairly easy to carve with a plain old X-acto knife. They give a somewhat "rustic" looking stamped impression. I will post pictures of the carved corks when I have several done.

PS. If you happen to have any corks you want to "donate to the cause", let me know. I'll send you some carved corks or a piece of artwork back in trade.