It sounds like the beginning of a bad joke, but it’s actually a good question! Continue reading When is a stamp not a stamp?
When is a stamp not a stamp?
Category: faux postage
Faux Postage Trials, Part 4
The lovely Britta (of JaguarSnail) has found yet another potential faux postage perforation solution for us to try and I, for one, am sold!
While rummaging in a junk/antique shop recently Britta came across a pair of rusty, slightly odd-looking scissors with teeth on one side, where the blade would normally be. When she asked what they were for, she was told they were thinning shears, used in hairdressing. Who knew?! (Not us, but probably many other people in the world…) Anyway, I tried out Britta’s shears and they did indeed make neat-if-square-ish perforations which tore off nicely, so I immediately ordered a cheap pair of (new!) thinning shears to try for myself.
Mine arrived this morning, and when I tested them out, not only did they make a lovely perforated edge to my new artistamps, but they separated them in the same swift movement, without any need for tearing! (I’m assuming Britta’s shears only pierced holes because they had been dulled slightly with with age and use.)
I’ve just made a new series of artistamps, printed on self-adhesive label paper, using my most recent postage stamp collages as background images. Here I’ve done a comparison test, first using a serrated pattern tracing wheel to tear off a stamp, and second using the thinning shears (not shown to scale!).
The auto-separation of the paper after using the shears means that rather than pre-perforating a whole sheet of stamps to tear off as needed, I will be cutting off one stamp at a time, but I like the clean edging so much, I’m pretty sure I can live with that compromise!
I designed the sheet of artistamps from notebook covers collaged in July. This is my first notebook collage of August in a combination of some of my favourite colours: an imaginary landscape which only narrowly missed the window of joining the artistamps above! Check out the TangleStore listing for more details.
For more info about faux postage/artistamps, please see my Faux Postage Q & A page, plus all of these previous posts!
Stampy stampy goodness!
Although all has been quiet on the TangleBlog-front of late, anyone who has been watching the TangleStore will have seen a flurry of activity throughout January. I’ve been going stamp-notebook crazy with more of the Machin patchworks as seen in my December post (every colour of the rainbow now available! 😉 ) and then expanding my repertoire to include older vintage stamps from around the world, and a slightly different style of collage. I’ve also added some frameable postcards to the range:
Venturing out into a different corner of the postage stamp world definitely has inspired me. The colours, styles & production values and all my (ongoing) postage stamp projects culminated in the design of a brand new TangleStamp – and anyone who is familiar with my previous TangleStamp designs will see that this has been a big change of direction for me!
This journey is documented in the equally brand new issue of MailCraft #3, which follows through these projects and thought processes. It also includes mini-tutorials for very simple postage stamp collage, if you want to give it a try yourself. MailCraft #3 is currently available as a standard 24 page edition with plain kraft cover and self-adhesive TangleStamp insert 
OR (while stocks last!) a numbered, limited edition of 10 copies which has a bonus outer cover which can be transformed into a postcard with your own collage, plus a gummed (lick & stick), hand-perforated TangleStamp insert.
(The special editions will be listed one by one, as they are sold, so don’t despair if you don’t see one in the TangleStore when you look: the next numbered issue will be re-listed within 24 hours of a sale.)
Faux postage trials, Part 3
Oh, the trials & tribulations of faux postage perforation! Well, today I bring you a potential solution, as discovered by Laura Werger of Demon Kitty Designs.
She says, “A while ago I was searching for the best, most realistic possible way to make faux postage stamps. I tried a lot of different methods, trying to get the best perforations – die cuts, spiky wheels, fancy scissors, but finally found the answer staring me in the face: margin selvage! The blank edge bits from sheets of old postage stamps. It looks exactly like real stamps’ perforations because it is real stamp perforations! I got a vintage stamp dealer to save it for me and now I have tons.”
As you can see, the results are pretty impressive, combining upcycled backgrounds with Laura’s unique illustrations and just-like-real perforated edges. I was a little bit confused, though, as I have been using vintage stamps on my outgoing mail lately, and have acquired quite a lot of margin selvedge myself (recently donated to Britta aka JaguarSnail – looking forward to seeing what she does with it!) – but it is all very narrow, mostly no more than 1cm wide. That would surely only make the teensiest tiny stamps! But apparently there is an art to it:
” I often have to piece together bits and pieces from a few sheets to make one stamp, if I want the perforation on all four sides, though you can often find pieces that already have it on three sides. And it takes a minute to line up the perforations, but it looks much better if you take the time to do so.”
Thanks to Laura for sharing this great tip & solution! You can see more examples of her work in the Demon Kitty Etsy Store, and also on her Facebook page.
Thinking on from this idea, it occurs to me that if you don’t have easy access to stamp paper selvedge, it would actually be possible to use real postage stamps (either used or foreign) as a base for your faux postage: simply print your designs separately, trim to size, and glue over the top of the original image! I have heard that you can even remove the original image by rubbing with a cotton bud soaked in nail polish remover – this would presumably also remove any stray bits of postmark visible around the edges of your design(?). I haven’t tested this out myself (have you?) – but using a real stamp as a base is surely a fool-proof way of avoiding the ongoing DIY perforation issue… Still, the trials continue… 😉
Click here for my original Faux Postage Q & A from 2010...
Fairy tales & faux postage for the festive season
My little sidetrack regarding perfection & fir trees the other day came about while I was browsing for Christmas card ideas. But for once, I have actually managed to make some Christmas cards before December (even better, before Christmas Eve!).
Inspiration finally came in the form of a sheet of ‘real’ faux postage, which I was recently able to add to my fairy tale/postage stamp collection. Since 1904, Denmark has issued an annual sheet of Christmas ‘seals’ which look just like postage stamps (but without any marked value) and are sold in aid of charity. Similar to artistamps except commercially produced, they’re just used to dress up letters and cards sent during the festive season, and in 1994, an amazing set was released featuring scenes and tableaux from Hans Andersen’s fairy tales:
Amongst others, you can pick out the Ugly Duckling, the Six Swans, Thumbelina, the Little Matchgirl, and the Snow Queen, but the story that wanted me to work with it this time around was the Little Fir Tree (top row). I don’t know how well you know the story – if you re-read it, you might be surprised by how sad it is – but at the same time, it celebrates the beauty of nature (in its natural habitat!) and evokes some wonderful festive imagery to balance out the poignancy. I was so happy when my sheet of seals arrived, and have picked out just a few of the images and combined them with short extracts from Andersen’s original tales to make a lovely seasonal collection of cards:
They really emphasise for me the magical (,perhaps a little old-fashioned) but natural aspect of Christmas that can be overlooked amidst the swathes of red & green & gold & glitter of commercial festivities. In fact, only one of the quotations includes a specific mention of Christmas, so if you prefer to celebrate a non-denominational or pagan or ‘other’ seasonal solstice festival, they are suitable for almost all occasions.
I was so taken with the illustrations that I also ‘re-jacketed’ last years ‘Seasonal Celebration of Trees’ to match (the inside of this combination zine & card is still the same). It’s now called ‘The Fir Tree: a Celebration‘ which suits the contents just as well. 🙂
Click here for the original Andersen Little Fir Tree fairy tale.
Click here for a gallery of & further information about Denmark’s tradition of Christmas Seals – this site is fascinating & well worth a visit!
Little Red Hoods & Big Bad Wolves
Once upon a time, Little Red Riding Hood set off through the forest to visit her Grandma. On the way, she met up with a Big Bad Wolf who struck upon the clever plan of taking a shortcut to granny’s house so that he could gobble her up then have little Red for dessert. Ms Red didn’t fall for it, though, and a heroic woodcutter saved the day by chopping the wolf’s belly open with an axe & retrieving Grandma (thankfully still undigested). End of wolf, end of story. So the Grimm Bros would have us believe, anyway…
But what if Little Red Riding Hood is not necessarily the innocent heroine of times gone by? What if she is a little older, a little cannier, a little altogether sneakier? In our new Enchanted Times report, a warrant has been issued for the arrest of itinerant seamstress Ms Scarlet Hudd, after a Mr. B. B. Wolf claims to have been stitched up in every sense of the word… Who do you believe? Read the brand new issue of Enchanted Times Mini & make up your own mind!
A complementary Little Red Stamp Booklet has also been issued by the Fast-As-You-Can Courier Company (staffed entirely by rehabilitated Gingerbread Men), featuring genuine FAYC (lick & stick) stamps and further variations on the Red Riding theme.
Hop on over to the Enchanted Times blog for an exclusive online interview with the aforementioned Mr. B. B. Wolf, who offers his own views on the subject as well as additional points regarding lupine discrimination.
Faux postage trials, Part 2
Since discovering the imperfect perforations of the real stamp from Ghana, I have felt far less of a compulsion to achieve perfect perforations on my faux postage stamps. Nonetheless, perforations are still an integral part of the artistamp process, so my experiments have continued.
Last time I compared 3 different perforation types: paper trimmer perf blade, serrated pattern wheel, and pin-type pattern wheel. My favoured results at the time were achieved with the serrated pattern wheel. The test runs first time around were all worked on plain, non-adhesive paper. The new experiments compare the serrated pattern wheel perforations from last time with a new, finer perforation from a pounce wheel, tried out on three different paper types. (Click on the images below for close-up views.)
- #1: Kraft paper with peel & stick backing
Due to the self-adhesive backing on this kraft paper, the perforating blades have 3 layers (paper, adhesive, peel-off backing) to penetrate rather than the standard single thickness of other papers. It therefore took extra pressure for the pounce wheel to pierce through the paper. The pattern wheel perforated with far greater ease and created a far more convincing visual effect before the mini sheet of stamps was separated. The backing paper accentuates the ‘fluff’ around the edges when separated but both methods of perforation were successful. I did prefer the appearance of the stamps with the larger, pattern wheel perforations, in both sheet & individual form.
- #2: Plain gummed paper
This gummed paper is very thin compared with Paper #1 and is therefore far easier to perforate by any method. The paper isn’t quite as thick/shiny as the coloured gummed paper I remember from school, but prints & perforates well which more than compensates! I found I actually preferred the finer, pounce wheel perforations on this paper. The pattern wheeled mini sheet was pierced deeper than Paper #1 making the holes appear more ‘obvious’ but not as round or clean, whereas the pounce wheeled sheet separated very cleanly due to the closer perforations. The edges are still clearly serrated, although the appearance is definitely not the same as a real perforated stamp.
- #3: Plain, non-adhesive kraft paper
Thicker than Paper #2 but obviously not as thick as Paper #1, Paper #3 perforated cleanly with both wheels, but I preferred the appearance of the serrated pattern wheel, this time. Both perforation types resulted in ‘fluffy’ edges, but this was due to the fibrous nature of the kraft paper rather than perforation type or spacing. I wasn’t really keen on either of the separated stamps.
CONCLUSION: I will have to do individual trials for each paper type I consider using, because there are clearly differences within the papers which affect the success and appearance of the perforations. I also clearly have entirely arbitrary, personal preferences, not necessarily based on those factors alone. (For example, I just love the stamplike lick-&-stickiness of the gummed paper, even though most real stamps these days are self-adhesive, and even though the recipient would never know which kind of sticky had been used for their artistamp, anyway…)
Of the latest experiments, my preference falls firmly with the gummed paper combined with fine pounce wheel perforations, even though this possibly has the less stamp-like appearance. Of course, my opinion is quite possibly influenced by the fact that I find it far easier to control & run a straight line with the pounce wheel than the pattern wheel… 😉
In conclusion, if you are making your own faux postage, I advise trying out different combinations of whatever perforation methods and papers you have available, and find the one that works best for you. I don’t think there is one magic solution that will suit us all, I’m afraid. Have fun! 🙂
(Ironically, my latest faux postage design has faux perforations…)
Faux postage Wonderland
I recently acquired a lovely collection of used stamps which were designed in 1979 to celebrate the Year of the Child. They feature classic illustrations from classic British children’s literature: Peter Rabbit, the Wind in the Willows, Winnie the Pooh, and Alice in Wonderland. Unsurprisingly, I could not resist upcycling them into badges (click on pic above right to view full range).
While I was browsing around this subject, I discovered something quite wonderful: real (well, ‘official’, at least) Alice in Wonderland faux postage stamps which were issued on special edition first day covers when the Alice stamp from the series mentioned above was released (the pic below is an amalgam of 4 different envelopes). There are 4 different Wonderland stamps: the March Hare, the Mad Hatter, the White Rabbit, and Tweedledum & Tweedledee. Better than that, each is postmarked from a different ‘region’ of Wonderland, including Hattersville, and the Pool of Tears (I might have expected this one to have been somewhat blurrier…), and each has its own little quirky detail in the design to tie it further into Wonderland. I love it! Just wanted to share…
Handwoven faux postage #3
Over the last couple of days, I have been weaving yet more postcards. Why? I hear you wondering… Well, partly to try out some different yarns, partly to try out some alternative woven postage ideas, and partly for…another reason. Where are the postcards going? What are they for? Well, this time I’m not sending them to myself, but I won’t say more than that for now – look out for updates!
My postcard from a couple of weeks ago (right) was woven with an aran weight knitting yarn. The ‘stamp’ was a very basic surface needle-weave which hid the background weaving nicely. The more recent postcards, however, were woven with a less bulky (dk) yarn – largely because I simply could not find the blues I was looking for in a heavier weight. (I always find it surprising that despite the vast array of yarns out there, sometimes it’s impossible to find one that matches the colour in my mind’s eye…)
I soon discovered that the same simple needleweaving came nowhere close to covering the background. I got around this by weaving diagonally (both directions) across the grid that was formed, and this did the trick.
For the sake of experimentation, I also tried weaving the ‘stamp’ as part of the main body of the postcard weaving, rather than as an embroidered addition on top. I instantly liked the way the splicing together of the envelope & stamp colours gave the appearance of a serrated edge (well, at top & bottom, at least) and will most probably use this method again.
I still also want to experiment further with the matchbox loom, though, and applique a tiny weaving onto the postcard, instead. Another day, though…!
Handwoven faux postage #2
In a recent post, I claimed that the stamp woven in the corner of this ‘letter’ was my first handwoven faux postage. Who knew? Turns out I was wrong…! I just re-discovered an old post of mine from 2010 in which I wove a postage stamp on a tiny matchbox loom!
I had completely forgotten about this, but really need to try it again – it would totally be possible to embroider a little detail onto the surface of this tiny weaving…
Ironically, this miniature weaving probably took as long to complete as the handwoven postcards I have talked about recently, due to the fine embroidery threads used instead of bulkier knitting wools. It would be possible to weave a quicker stamp using a bulkier yarn or thread, though – it would just afford less opportunity for adding finer detail.
See the original post for further details.
tanglecrafts.wordpress.com 