Cork people.

It started like this: last summer I was involved with an arts and crafts group focused on creating things to be placed in public spaces outlined by the book: The Guerrilla Art Kit by genius Keri Smith. This book includes many extraordinary ideas for invigorating the third eye of passersby. One of the projects we partook was cork painting.
Painting these little corks, we gathered around a table spread with supplies; craftsers of all ages, kids to middle aged adults in Clare's living room listening to someone bang on the piano.
This summer I needed a unique advertisement for my zine event that took place on August 14th. Who better to represent this event then a little piece of bark-wood?
The event showcased my zine collection; all the works of independently published materials I had collected from book stores, festivals, trades, etc since I was 17. The corks were represented with a favorite quote I had collected from a zine or independently published work. On the back of the quote was the name of the writer and their zine, and an invitation to the event that read, "This and more at Dudley's Cafe and Bookshop. August 14th, 3:00."
TA-DA! Anyone reading this will certainly be motivated to come! How cute! How crafty! This Rachel is a genius! I want to have all her zines and give her a screen printing set for Christmas! Gosh!
Okay. So.
Materials:

• Several corks (I get mine from Lou, white haired yogi dishwasher who saves them from the restaurant he works at - I bet you can talk to a local wino and get some from him/her)
• Sturdy nails about 2.5 inches long. 2 for every cork.
• HOT GLUE GUN
• Bits of material for clothing.
• Permanent marker for facial details.
• Something for hair. I used that moss stuff. You can use yarn or any stingy material.
• White-out (optional)
• Bits of embellishment. (optional). 
• Cardboard or some durable material for writing quotes.

Another idea I would have liked to try if I had had the supplies were fake flowers. How nice they would have looked on a cork-persons head! I asked Kevin if he wanted to go to the cemetery to get some off graves when I was working on my project. He acted all offended, like stealing from the dead is so uncool. Pft. Bitches better be bringing real flowers when I die.
Cork assembly is simple:

1. Stick in nails at the "bottom" of the cork. These are legs!
2. Draw face on upper half of cork with permanent marker (I think this is best, embellishments can be made with type of clothing or hair) or paint.
3. Prep a supply of little clothes. I used little squares of fabric for aprons. The Guerrilla Art Kit has cute examples as well.
4. Glue on the clothes. Glue on the hair. 
5. Write some quotes out. You can have the corks "saying" them in speech bubbles, holding a sign or whatever. Your corks can be silent. Please, for the love of Holden Caulfield, don't have them being offensive. Kids are the ones who always find these. They pay attention and deserve no less than to have their world filled completely with love and knowledge. 
6. Embellish with such and such. Give them arms, sparkles, wands, crutches.

After I got all the corks assembled (they looked so cute) I loaded them into an old typewriter case and headed downtown.
The usual distribution for these projects is NIGHT TIME. In my project this was not an option. I walked the two strips of Wall and Bond (busy areas) stopping abruptly when I found a good place. Taking out a cork, I would place it carefully, take a picture, and move on like nothing happened.
When you walk away from art like this you can only smile and imagine what people may think...