Lolailo

When I was working a regular job, the time I could devote to crafting was minimal. I kept buying craft books and stashing supplies, hoping that one day I could actually use them. Then I became unemployed, and although that part was not fun, it gave me the chance of start a crafting business. We all need to have a creative outlet, somehow, somewhere. I relax when I have the possibility of expressing myself.

Corks are a very irrelevant thing. Not all that many people drink wine on a regular basis. When you do, you open the bottle, drink it up, and the cork goes into the trash. I bring the cork into center stage for all those who never figured it could have a second, and useful, life.

My love for corks came through my job. I was fascinated by the typography and design that each producer used. I was dismayed that these very interesting and diverse corks ended up in the garbage after a tasting, so I started gathering them. I investigated what to do, and of all the many crafts you can use corks for, the bulletin board was my favorite. I am a pragmatic person, so I like things that have a function. I go to thrift stores and garage sales and look for frames suited to become cork boards. I get a lot of inspiration from the frames themselves. There is nothing standard about creating something out of a "found object", so when I'm ready to tackle a new project, I just throw some corks into the frame and start playing with them, forming a design, changing it, and eventually I come up with a plan.

I also make jewelry organizers from wood scraps. Fancy wines get packaged in wooden boxes, and I gather scraps whenever I can. I then paint and decorate them, and once again, something irrelevant acquires a practical function, and that makes me feel really good.