{"id":29274,"date":"2013-04-10T04:06:27","date_gmt":"2013-04-10T08:06:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/?p=29274"},"modified":"2013-08-20T18:11:13","modified_gmt":"2013-08-20T22:11:13","slug":"make-a-mark-with-whatever-is-at-hand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/2013\/04\/10\/make-a-mark-with-whatever-is-at-hand\/","title":{"rendered":"‘make a mark!’ with whatever is at hand"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Susan<\/a>
Susan Dworski<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Last Fall, designer Susan Dworski<\/a>, a reader and frequent commenter, happened to mention carving rubber stamps out of Staedler Mars\u00a0erasers<\/a> to make artworks. “How did you get into that? we asked. Her answer was stunning:<\/p>\n

\n
Been carving them since 1980 when our house burned down, and only my studio\u00a0was saved. All four of us all lived in that one room for a while, and the only art I\u00a0could make was something small, low tech, and cleanuppable: ink, paper, and stamps.\u00a0After buying some commercial ones, carving erasers was a\u00a0natural move, and \u00a0proved effective therapy for the kids, who spent many hours stabbing away at erasers,\u00a0and swabbing with colored markers, retelling their\u00a0stories of the fire illustrated with the stamps.\u00a0The neighborhood kids all got into\u00a0the act, too. It was a lively time!<\/em><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\u00a0<\/em><\/div>\n

When your house burns down, make art!!!! An amazing point of view.<\/p>\n

\"Susan<\/a>
Susan Dworski<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Since then, we’ve discovered that Susan cannot NOT make things or see things in an expanded view. She’s sent us many wonderful contributions for posts. And here, a post inside a post, about carving rubber stamps to capture and memorialize a moment:<\/p>\n

For me it’s not enough to just visit this world. I feel compelled \u00a0to take its measure. Make a mark. Signify.<\/strong> Even with a humble rubber stamp.<\/em><\/p>\n

So when\u00a0Spring’s tenacity <\/a>morphed into a bounty of sugar snap peas,\u00a0before watching that crisp green bodaciousness disappear into a stir fry,\u00a0I got out three \u00a0Staedtler Mars Erasers<\/a>\"\", a 2B pencil\u00a0and a linoleum cutter<\/a>\"\", and carved.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n

Watercolor markers, paper, and a little hand pressure memorialized the pod\u2013\u2013and the harvest.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Susan<\/a>
Susan Dworski<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n
\n
Carving the pea pod recalled some lines from ‘When Death Comes’,\u00a0<\/em>a poem in Mary Oliver’s book, New and Selected Poems<\/a>\"\". Oliver received the Pulitzer Prize for\u00a0Poetry in 1984 for\u00a0American Primitive<\/a>.\"\" Her poetry is rooted\u00a0in the natural world,\u00a0and with nature always\u00a0in focus she explores fundamental questions about\u00a0life and death, and the ways in\u00a0which we inhabit our days…<\/strong><\/em><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/em><\/div>\n
“When it’s over, I want to say: all my life<\/strong><\/div>\n
I was a bride married to amazement<\/strong>.<\/div>\n
I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.<\/div>\n
When it’s over, I don’t want to wonder<\/div>\n
if I have made of my life something particular, and real.<\/div>\n
I don’t want to find myself sighing and frightened,<\/div>\n
or full of argument.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
I don’t want to end up simply having visited this world.”<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
…<\/div>\n
…<\/div>\n
…<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

If you’d like to try your hand at carving a moment into an eraser to stamp yourself some art, there’s a full how-to here<\/a>: plus here’s some additional notes from Susan.<\/p>\n

\n
Watercolor marking pens are used to ink the erasers. Unlike ordinary\u00a0opaque stamp pad inks, the colors are transparent, and it’s easy to blend them\u00a0right on the carved eraser, creating more subtle – and to me much more beautiful – effects.\u00a0They wash off easily with a little warm water, so you can recolor the stamp each\u00a0time you use it. I have some eraser stamps that are over 30 years old, and they’re\u00a0as good as the day they were carved. Commercially made rubber stamps use a\u00a0different kind of petroleum-based rubber that disintegrates over time and you end\u00a0up having to toss them.\u00a0<\/em><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/div>\n

Related posts: portable rubber stamp for instant business cards + signs<\/a>
\nreader\u2019s improv: rubber-stamps from carved erasers
\n<\/a>the tenacity of spring (and us)
\n<\/a>diy stamped gift wrap (from erasers + potatoes)<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last Fall, designer Susan Dworski, a reader and frequent commenter, happened to mention carving rubber stamps out of Staedler Mars\u00a0erasers to make artworks. “How did you get into that? we asked. Her answer was stunning: Been carving them since 1980 when our house burned down, and only my studio\u00a0was saved. All four of us all…<\/p>\nRead More<\/a>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":29327,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_FSMCFIC_featured_image_caption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_nocaption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_hide":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[458,6554,206,127,31,67,6549,59,89,780,8362],"tags":[6065,5604,1556,6064,5473],"yoast_head":"\n'make a mark!' with whatever is at hand<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Last Fall, designer Susan Dworski, a reader and frequent commenter, happened to mention carving rubber stamps out of Staedler Mars\u00a0erasers to make\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/2013\/04\/10\/make-a-mark-with-whatever-is-at-hand\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" 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