There is nothing more beautiful than the coming together of innovation, talent and a simple idea. Deliver it in gold package and, well, I am head-over-heels in heaven.

A few weeks back, when I went to interview Christine Leech, aside from my trusty reporters cap and pen, I also took a piece of balsa wood, some Sugru and a challenge: design a stamp.

As we were there to talk all things printing (including her new book Fresh Prints), I figured I could ask her to use the Sugru – my new favourite craft compound – to make a one-of-a-kind original stamp.

For those who don’t remember Sugru, it’s the amazing self-setting rubber that I talked about here. It’s a hackers dream and I figured it was versatile enough for Christine to add yet another item to her list of easy printing tools.

So off we set, starting with a design. I secretly knew what I wanted so despite playing along with a brainstorm, I just kept saying “a feather?.. what about a feather?.. howsa’bout feather?..” until she gave in.

Christine was an amazing sport, and she drew a kick-ass feather that she quickly started to replicate in Sugru straight on to the balsa wood.

It was brilliant to watch her work at it, especially as Sugru has around a 30-minute window before it begins to set, so she was like lightening, shaping, cutting and poking…

until she ended up with this. WooHOO!

Over to me and back at home with some white cotton fabric and a pot of metallic gold textile paint…

The idea is to eventually cover a white shirt in gold feathers, but a test is always a worthwhile endeavour.
So with high hopes and a little cheating (via the use of a sponge and cotton buds and repeated tries), I managed a test that worked.

And now I plan to just add shirt.