Graceful exits demand strategizing. The included templates are all the props needed to construct one last blowout, from flowers to headstones. The individual pieces make a lovely tabletop diorama or lightly veiled threat, should you decide to mail your ill will to “friends.”
And since this is your funeral, why not go out in style? Could there be any cooler ride than the ’61 Jaguar E-type that Bud Cort modifies into a hearse in the movie Harold and Maude? Go ahead, put on some Cat Stevens mood music, and while you’re carving away, let your mind drift to the finer points of the afternoon, such as whom to leave out of the will and whether you’ll have the punch spiked.
SUPPLIES
Heavyweight tracing paper
Soft linoleum for stamp carving
Linoleum-carving set
Black ink stamp pad
Scrap paper
Card stock
HOW TO
1. Use a pencil to trace the image from the template onto heavyweight tracing paper. If your pencil lines are light, darken them a few times with the pencil for a legible transfer.
2. Place the tracing paper, image side down, onto the linoleum. Rub the edge of a pencil horizontally across the back of the paper until the back of the drawing is covered completely with pencil and the image is transferred onto the linoleum.
3. Using the blade edge of the carving set, cut the outline of the drawing through about half the depth of the linoleum.
4. With the gouge edge of the carving set, remove the excess stamp material from outside the outline first, then carve out the white highlights of the stamp’s interior spaces.
5. Apply ink to the stamp and test-drive the design on scrap paper. Add more highlights, if desired, and check one final time.
6. Stamp the images onto the front image area of the card stock (which is twice as high as the stamped design so you can fold it over).
7. Fold the card in half and plot out your plot.
