Stamps salvaged from waste foam

Enjoying stamp making are (from left) Tegan Howard, South Dunedin Community Library programmes co-ordinator Lee Nicolson, Shilpa Sharma and her children Nandhika, 4, and Vanya Sharma, 8. PHOTO: SAM HENDERSON

A lucky find in an industrial bin is enabling a community art project that is both cutting-edge and crafty.

Visitors to Te Whata o Kaituna South Dunedin Community Library can transform their own drawings into custom ink stamps.

The project was devised by community programmes co-ordinator Lee Nicolson.

While out picking up some shelving in an industrial area, he spotted a discarded roll of adhesive-backed ethylene-vinyl acetate foam in a bin.

After asking the owner’s permission, Mr Nicolson was able to liberate the material from the refuse.

"I knew it was EVA foam … it is a pretty common foam that is used all over the place, from grippy feet to insulation," Mr Nicolson said.

He used part of the salvaged EVA to create covers for tables at Te Wāhi Auaha, the creative makerspace room at the library.

That "barely made a dent" in the roll of foam so he searched for another idea, striking upon a thought to craft stamps with a laser etcher located in the space.

Visitors draw simple pictures that are scanned into a computer before a blue laser diode cuts the designs into the foam.

The material is then stuck to recycled plastic milk bottle caps to create the stamps, which can be coloured using ink or Crayola markers.

"It is a very quick way to demonstrate what the machine does and people get something to take away really quickly."

Even when people take their physical stamps home, digital copies of their drawings can be saved, creating an expanding library archive of the creative contributions.

The project uses a combination of recycled material, digital laser etching and low-tech bottle tops to make fun personalised stamps. PHOTO: SUPPLIED

"Long term, you know, if you get to the point where there are cats and trees and sky and clouds and all these things, people can actually just make pictures out of stamps."

The name of the person who made the stamp is able to be recorded and the digital archive could eventually become a free resource for kindergarten teachers and educators.

"A kindergarten teacher could come in and say, ‘oh, I want this one, this one, this one’, and you could cut them out a selection." Mr Nicolson said.

Cargill Enterprises employee Tegan Howard is one of many who have enjoyed contributing designs to the project using the machine.

"I made a flower one, a sun and a cat," Ms Howard said.

Anyone can participate in the weekly stamp-making sessions that take place on Fridays from 3pm to 4.30pm at the library.