Moving on ...: Soap Stamps

Soap stamps (usually acrylic) are used to make impressions in your handmade soaps in order to personalize them. Most acrylic stamps are available in online stores but I had wanted to create my own design. You could always hand in your design to have a customized acrylic stamp specially made for you but they cost about an arm and a leg.

So I thought some. There had to be a better way to do this without costing so much.

Wood Carvings! Now that's a thought. I had taken up wood carving (not that I had a choice) when I was a wee little kid in school. After submitting failed projects with cuts and bruises in my hands to show for it, the Art teacher (bless her soul) suggested that I gave up Art and Craft and took up Designing instead. Surprise, surprise! I discovered I had an aptitude for Designing. Not much were taught us back then (We did not have a proper Design teacher). We were asked to acquire an osmoroid pen and practice with it.

When the big day came (that's the major examination, the mother of all examination) my art papers came with a single line of instruction. Design the word ART in the shape of a leaf. Could you even imagine how astounded I was? Gosh! That isn't even a task. I read the instruction again and as sure as the morning sun rise, there it was, the same instruction without a word out of context. Almost in a daze, I finished what was required with a lot of passion and gusto. While the rest were still struggling with the sketches in their water color paintings, I was already good and done. For this paper, I got an A1, by the way. Puzzling and intriguing for someone who had been consistently getting Ds for water color paintings and F for wood carving, paper mache and God knows what other craft there were.

So wood carving, it is. I acquired little wooden cubes and a set of carving tools. My husband showed me how it's done and after numerous failed attempts I finally produce a piece of craft. It is crude and not the best but who cares? This is one I personally carved with my arthritic fingers! And that's got to count for something.