Michele Made Me

Making Cork Stamps

by

 

If you’re in the habit of collecting things like I am, you likely have a bunch of wine corks taking up residence in the cookie jar just begging to be put to some kinda use. Ya do, don’t ya? Well guess what, I know just the thing. Cork letter stamps. These are useful and cute, they lend gobs of personality to cards, gift wrap, artwork, blogposts… and best of all, with a few simple tools and materials, they are pretty easy to make.

Here’s what you’ll need:

  • many corks
  • craft foam (Note: You’ll be using craft foam to create the letter part of the stamps. Because this project requires only tiny pieces of foam, this is the perfect opportunity to use up any odds and ends you have kicking around.)
  • small, fine-tipped scissors (I found a pair in my Christmas stocking… Thank you Santa!)
  • foam craft glue (I used Aleene’s FunCraft Foam Glue. It’s good stuff. Other glues might work too but I suggest testing them out first. Foam can be tricky where adhesion is concerned.)
  • pencil
  • small handsaw
  • sandpaper

Step 1. Prepare your cork. Start by cutting off the skewered end of the cork with a small handsaw.
Step 2. Then, with a piece of sandpaper, smooth down the freshly cut cork surface and round off the edge. This is to be your glueing surface.

Step 3. (Not shown) Quickly wash your cork in water to remove any dust. Allow cork to dry.

Step 4. Using a pencil, lightly draw your letter onto the foam. Before cutting it out, compare the size of the letter with the cork surface to be sure the letter will fit the cork. Try to make your letter as large as possible. This will prevent the edges of the cork leaving unpretty ink marks all over your precious paper or fabric.
Step 5. Cut around the outline of the letter with a fine-tipped pair of scissors.

Step 6. Dab a thin layer of foam craft glue (I suggest Aleene’s FunCraft Foam Glue) to the FRONT of the letter (You need to glue it on backwards for your stamped letter to have the correct orientation.)

Step 7. Stick the gluey letter onto the freshly cut surface of your cork. Allow everything to dry.And yep, you have letterage!

Now… make the rest of the alphabet, numbers, punctuation (I totally missed the punctuation boat…), symbols, invent whole brand-new fonts if you like man! Jiminy Cricket, the sky’s the limit, eh?

I asked the Boy to write out his alphabet and numbers…

And I made him his very own set of stamps in BoyFont. You may or may not have seen the BoyFont in action on Tuesday over HERE.

Then o’course I had to make my very own font. Stands to reason. Look how different our fonts are. Isn’t that swell?

Oh the fun I’ll be having with these, just you wait. Boisy, I’m going to be playing!

Okay. So the cookie jar is empty… Who around here’s gonna make me some cookies? Anyone?… Hello?…

♥M

Reader Interactions

Comments

  2. JaneBean says

    Well blow me……I just thought these lovely letters were 'of old' and that I'd missed their debut, turn's out they are brand new and…….how exciting, I've got a bag of corks under the stairs. How did you know!!

    xx

  4. nicolette at dutchcomfort says

    Love both your fonts! What a great idea! So now the husband and I need to empty some bottles before I can get started! I’m sure we will have a bliss of a time. Maybe my new font should be called blissed by the booze!

  10. Anne P says

    LOVE BOTH fonts – yours and boys. That is some fine cutting you did, very precise. I don't have corks, but will have to cruise our thrift stores for some. I too, thought they were old.

  13. Terri says

    You've been drinking alot of wine! I saw the title, and thought you were going to cut the corks so there would be a cork letter. So much safer your way… I don't even know if the other would be possible. Thanks for the tut. Love your blog!
    Hugs!

    • Michele Pacey says

      It certainly looks like I've been partaking of the wine, doesn't it Terri? Hee hee… Yeah, I think it would be difficult to carve out letters in the cork itself, unless they were very blocky maybe? Perhaps one day…

  15. Catherine says

    Well I think I need to start drinking some more wine because these are a fabulous idea! Now do you need cookies to fill up the jar or more wine drunk to get more corks to use 🙂

    • Michele Pacey says

      Thanks KJ, I like our fonts too. Now I gotta get my husband to do one so he can have his own as well. Our very own font family… wouldn't that be great?

  18. Vanessa at Rescued Goods says

    awesome! We have made some cork stamps doing the carving mehod, but the combo of my rudimentary carving skills & safety concerns made that a set of a few stamps only. These are so great, and I love that you can customize with your child's font!

    • Michele Pacey says

      thanks Vanessa, I know what you mean about the carving. it requires skill. whereas this method requires less skill. and is therefore more accessible to your everyday crafter. like me, for example!

  19. felicity says

    i so do not need an excuse to save more crap! don't you know i have hoarder tendencies as it is?? darn you and your cute projects! *shakes fist*

  26. KurtzCrafts says

    This goes to show you how complicated I make my life… at first I just saw your inked stamps and went ooooo! I can carve stamps out of cork! And then I realized yours were even easier than that!! lol

  27. tusen says

    Yay, this is so great! I love the idea and I definitely need to make my own font, too. Thank you so much for the tutorial. Now I just need some more corks… (let me think, there might be something in one of my kitchen drawers…)ok, maybe not so many more, I've just found 35 of them 😀

  28. onelmon says

    this is so cool, I have been thinking to make a cork stamp myself by carving it, but I didn't think of doing it this way. Thank you very much for sharing! =D

  35. pam says

    Me me me! I will make you cookies! that is if I am not too late!

    Ok so i love this idea but how about a tutorial on making little shapes! Please!

  36. tute-bot says

    Like one of the other posters I have tried carving stamps from corks before too — and the results were less than inspiring. Your idea is so much better! I can't wait to try this out.