Gonna mail myself a letter -- making custom postage stamps from old books

making custom postage stamps from old books
The more I dabble in mail art, the more fun I have. Some of my ideas come from the book Good Mail Day, which is a good guide to the long history of this art.

Until I read the book, I hadn't realized that some mail artists make their own postage stamps. A few create back stories (and entire fictional countries) to go with their stamps. I'm not that ambitious (yet), but this week I did make a few of my own stamps.

I wasn't planning to, of course. It all started when I was leafing through an old high school yearbook. The grids of class photos reminded me of a sheet of stamps.
yearbook photo grid
I consulted Good Mail Day, which includes a how-to chapter on making your own stamps. To start with, I drew a grid on heavy white paper. Then I made my own perforations with my sewing machine (sans thread).
perforated grid for stamps
I cut out a few photos and pasted them onto the grid with matte medium. For realism, I added text (as though the stamps were honoring some great person or event). Finally, I printed the price with a white gel pen.
making custom postage stamps from old books
Can you guess why I chose 3 cents? These fresh-faced students graduated in 1940, when a first-class stamp cost…that's right, 3 cents!

I began noticing stamp-worthy grids everywhere. like this one, in an old guide to cats.
making custom postage stamps from old books
For a little pop art punch, I used colored pencils for the background. I chose 9 cents because…well, I'll let you figure that out.
making custom postage stamps from old books
I affixed one of my stamps to a postcard headed to a mail art pen pal. Don't worry, I added a real stamp before I slipped it into the mailbox. I wonder what the people at the post office will think?
making custom postage stamps from old books
Here's a whole sheet of stamps. It's hard to stop at just 1…or 10…or 20...
making custom postage stamps from old books

Comments

  1. These are fantastic!! I love how you did the old yearbook images!
    There is a wonderful book called The World of Donald Evans that shows all his faux postage... do a Google image search and you will see a lot of them! Also if you are not familiar with the books of Nick Bantock find them!! You will be overjoyed! And if you really get into this, there are places online that sell perforated gummed paper to make your own faux postage too!

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    1. Good info, Rhonda. I'll definitely investigate these mail artists! Thanks for the encouragement.

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  2. What a fantastic idea Claudia, I loved the old yearbook ones a lot, that something you can't see in such a quality by aged stamps, the cats are also gorgeous!

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  3. Replies
    1. Glad you like them! One may be coming to a mailbox near you ; >

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  4. These are wonderful! It would be such a treat to get some snail mail with your stamps on it!

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