Crafting with botanical stamps {Stamp Garden}

This year is all about experimenting with new crafts as well as ploughing through my craft stash. I was delighted to be sent a new creation by designer, illustrator and author Coralie Bickford-Smith. Bickford-Smith attracted worldwide attention with her award-winning cloth-bound series of Penguin Classics and her children’s book The Fox and the Star. Now she has teamed up with  Princeton Architectural Press to create Stamp Garden.

Stamp Garden from Coralie Bickford-Smith

Coralie has always been inspired by the work of William Morris, and his obsession with engaging with crafts and creating pattern is a big part of her professional life designing and illustrating books. This came into play when creating Stamp Garden, a set of high quality, botanically inspired rubber stamps and two-coloured (green and pink) ink pads.

She said “I love playing with shape, form, colour and texture and like Morris, I too am heavily influenced by the natural world. Stamp Garden is a lovely way to bring craft and printmaking to everyone so they can play with pattern shape and form to create pieces of work.”

My children love to make and use stamps but it’s not something I’ve ever tried myself. The sturdy matchbox-style box features twenty-five wood-backed stamps in an assortment of shapes and textures, from leaves and stems to buds and petals—even a cute little bee! using the two ink pads you can then create all kinds of gardens, bouquets or patterns by combining the stamps.

It’s a lovely set which I really enjoyed playing with. The 25 stamps all compliment each other and the botanical theme is always on trend. I can imagine creating all kinds of fun designs using it and maybe even trying them on air drying clay. It’s a great way to make personalised notecards or gift cards, especially now that Spring finally seems to be here.

Stamp Garden by Coralie Bickford-Smith was published by Princeton Architectural Press and costs £19.99. It’s available from Abrams & Chronicle books.