Practical Tips

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!

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...

TangleStamps & TangleCrafts faux postage projects

Faux Postage Trials, Part 1

Faux Postage Trials, Part 2

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…)

Click here for my original Faux Postage Q & A from 2010...

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…!

The Handwoven Postcard Project

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.

Faux postage trials, Part 1

As you can see from my previous post, faux postage has been on my mind, lately. A few days ago, I started work on a set of new text-based artistamps (right, still a work in progress!). Inspired by Beanie Mouse & his tracing wheel I decided to think about alternative methods of perforation. My fallback method is to print rows of dots – faux perforations – onto the sheet of artistamp designs, then either use the perforating blade of my paper trimmer to perforate along the rows, or just cut out by hand with scissors. There’s nothing wrong with this method: at a glance, the stamps do indeed look perforated, and when the paper trimmer is applied, do indeed tear off like perforated stamps; however the optical illusion doesn’t stand up to much scrutiny, and as soon as the stamps are separated, the gig is pretty much up (unless stuck to a dark background, in which case the black of the faux perforation half-holes blends in nicely).

So I did some trial runs to compare visually the results of some different perforation types:

Results, from left to right:

Inarguably, the most successful method of perforation is the paper trimmer. My only problem here is that the edges of the finished artistamp do not look sufficiently stamp-like (for my taste). But it works, there’s no denying that.
Tracing wheel #1 has a pin-style wheel and I thought might produce cleaner, more holey perforations. However, the spacing of the pins meant that the perforations were far too far apart, and when separated looked like the (less sharp) inverse of the paper trimmer’s perforating blade: marginally more stamp-like, but much rougher.
Tracing wheel #2 has a serrated wheel and was far more successful (I believe this is the type of wheel used by Beanie!). The perforations were much closer together & far more stamp-like before tearing off stamps – an aesthetically pleasing start! And although there is still an element of ‘fluffiness’ where the paper is torn apart to separate stamps, it is less obvious than with the pin-type wheel, as there is less paper between each perforation. Definitely my preferred method of the three, although clearly has a more rustic ‘flavour’ than the crisp paper-trimmed edges!

A top tip, whichever method of perforation you use (with the possible exception of the paper trimmer) is to always fold and crease along the row of perforations before tearing, which creates a much neater edge, and minimises the fluffiness. I tried using tracing wheel #2 on a variety of papers (the one in the picture is white kraft paper) in case the fluffiness was accentuated by the fibres of a recycled paper, but it made little difference – this kind of fluffiness you will always get along a paper edge when torn by hand, whether aided by perforations or not.

A similar result can be achieved by perforating paper using an unthreaded needle in a sewing machine – sadly I could not demonstrate this method as I have still not learned to control my tiny sewing machine sufficiently to achieve a straight line… (But the results can be seen around the edges of the artistamp by Sam Farman, shown right.)

I have tried the tracing wheel method of perforation previously, and the only reason I didn’t use it for my original TangleStamps is because I like to add a self-adhesive backing to them, and this added thickness was far harder for the tracing wheel to perforate. I’ve ordered some new papers, though, and will soon be experimenting with different methods of adhesion, so watch this space for Faux Postage Trials, Part 2!

Click here for my original Faux Postage Q & A from 2010...

I’ll let you into a secret…

…do you remember the Friends & Faux mail art project I hosted back in 2010? Well, it’s about to return! I’m currently in the process of building a new blog so that updates can be kept together all in one place. Due to moving house multiple times following the inception of the first run of the project, I did sadly let it slide off the back-burner once the initial wave of postcards was sent out. If you helped me track the project by forwarding a pic of one of the project postcards, though, please rest assured your reward (mini zine documentation) will finally be on the way to you within the next week. And I promise I have learned from my mistakes and will be far more efficient, this time around! Full details of the new project to follow shortly…

While I was working on the new Friends & Faux blog yesterday, I was reminded of one of the contributors to the very first F&F postcard – Beanie Mouse! Beanie is star of the Found Art Blog, c/o Andrea McNeill. Together, they create and then ‘lose’ labelled artwork around the south of England and the rest of the world, while the blog documents all the artwork as it is lost and then found again by happily unsuspecting members of the public. As I was browsing, I soon learned that Beanie is a somewhat prolific mail artist and artistamp creator. Above, you can see Beanie with Postcard #1 after adding his stamp, but this barely scratches the surface of his vast catalogue (album?) of work:

The adventure began with the delivery of a tracing wheel

to perforate and tear off stamps from a sheet.

Beanie began to price his stamps in the most valuable currency: beans!

Glue sticks are a little large for Beanie Mouse…

…but his stamp album is the envy of mail artists everywhere!

Photos used with kind permission of Andrea McNeill. Please visit Found-Art for further adventures of Beanie Mouse!

Diversion – organising my ideas

A couple of years ago, I realised that it would be necessary to keep a notebook about my person at all times, in order to jot down ideas when they come to me. Being me, of course it is always on the days I have failed to throw a notebook in my bag that I need to make notes. But that’s okay, because there are always scraps of paper to hand, and often whole sheets (which I can then fold down to mini-zine format). Excellent.

I’ve never been a sketchbook person, because I don’t consider myself an artist, but of late, I’ve realised that sketching quick diagrams to accompany words is actually quite handy; and it really doesn’t matter if the sketches are not those of a talented fine artist. If they convey the point I’m trying to put across, that’s good enough. So now the multitudinous notebooks of my life have been joined by a smaller host of pocket sketchbooks (okay, notebooks with blank pages).

As I work at my laptop every morning, I always have my to-do list notebook by my side – which in addition to my long lists frequently finds itself home to numerous scribbled asides and diagrams because it is handier than either notebook, or sketchbook (which I could obviously go and fetch but simply don’t).

You can see from this haphazard summary that I am less than organised when it comes to organising my ideas. When it comes to getting a particular idea off the ground, I can always visualise in which notebook or on which scrap of paper I made my notes, but then I have to waste time remembering where I have currently stowed those particular pieces of paper, waste further time digging it/them out, then work surrounded by open notebook/s and/or scraps of paper, while I collate my notes for that particular idea.

So it occurred to me that what I need is a larger sketchbook (scrapbook?) in which I can pull together all the scrappy notes into something slightly more coherent. Somewhere that I can literally cut and paste torn out pages from smaller notebooks or loose scraps or pictures I’ve found in a magazine. Then add some extra notes, of course.

Okay, that makes sense: a larger sketchbook. Not something I would carry around with me, I’m clear on that; because I’m lazy, and a pocket notebook is the largest extra weight I’m willing to carry on a regular basis. It would be unwieldy, too, and not very practical to whip out for notes-on-the-go. But how would pasting all my notes into one larger sketchbook work? Because my ideas rarely come in a coherent flow, and are frequently jumbled up with ideas for different projects from day to day (or hour to hour). If I pasted them all into one large sketchbook as the ideas came, it would be equally difficult to collate related thoughts when the time came – flipping backwards and forwards through the pages to find the relevant bits. So, a series of sketchbooks, one for each different idea? This could get complicated. And expensive.

My next thought was a ring binder. Just hole-punch the pages, add in plastic pockets to hold cuttings etc, and easily switch around the pages to re-organise thoughts, and keep notes for individual ideas together. Problem is, I just don’t like ring binders. Those rings always get in the way. And everything looks scrappy very quickly unless you keep everything in those plastic pockets; but then everything is visible but inaccessible. Hmm.

Bingo! Well, maybe. How about an index card system? I’d only ever seen standard 3″ x 5″ index cards before, but I just noticed that my local office supply shop sells 8″ x 5″ index cards (and holder boxes) that would be perfect for organising ideas. Cards are sturdier than paper, so would be less inclined to get scrappy (so quickly) and are easily shuffled back and forth, organised and re-organised according to whatever whim I am currently working on. I’m liking this idea. Hey, I’m liking this idea even better:

a shoebox
plus cut-up cereal box index cards
plus all those blank postcards I have in my stash that I have never found a use for as file cards (write/paste on the blank side, obviously)
equals cool handmade index card system!

Or, I could go the whole hog and just use an actual filing cabinet with a separate file for each idea. Wow. That sounds a bit scarily organised. I think the shoebox is a bit more me…

Of course, realistically (because like I said above, I really am lazy), I would still never get around to actually filing my ideas until the point at which I wanted to turn the idea into something. But I would have spent some happy hours preparing the filing system. And I would have a better way of keeping the ideas organised while I was working on them.

And of course, the only reason I am thinking about this now is because I have forbidden myself from new projects until after the house-move so I am obviously twitchy to be doing something creative rather than practical. Must distract self from distraction…

(Will update on Friends & Faux project soon – please accept my apologies for continued delay, I’ll get there shortly, I promise!)

Handwoven faux postage!

Well, it could be. I’ve been meaning to make a matchbox weaving loom ever since writing my Borrowers zine, and today, I finally got around to it, and I even remembered to scan each step of the way:

Cut down to basics, all you need to do is:

Snip notches at approx. 3mm intervals along the short edges of a 32ct matchbox tray. (My advice: mark it out first! I ended up with 7 notches, but an even number will work better when it comes to ‘finishing’/removing from loom.)
Warp loom. I warped all the way from one end to the other, around the back of the loom and back to starting point. See finishing tips below for how the way you warp will affect your options.
Use matches woven under and over alternate threads to adjust tension, as required. I removed the matchsticks as the weaving grew, so that I could weave all the way to the top of the loom.
Weave! I used a (hand-dyed) variegated perle 5 cotton to get a stripy effect without having to change threads too often. Using a needle will help you when weaving. I used the needle I use for bookbinding, because it happened to be to-hand; but the book-binding needle is a sharp, and a blunt-ended tapestry needle would be far better advised! Visit my weaving freebies page for basic/additional weaving instructions.
Removing your weaving from the loom will depend on how you have warped:

If you have an even number of warps and warped all around the outside of the matchbox tray, snip across the threads in the centre of the matchbox reverse. Tie off warp threads in pairs, and trim to preferred length of fringe.
If you warped your loom back and forth around notches (across front of loom only), carefully nudge loops off notches and thread onto matchsticks for a miniature wall-hanging.

Well, it entertained me, so hope you will enjoy this little (no pun intended 😉 ) project, too. Let me know if you try this out – would love to see pictures!

Notebooks…mmm…

What is it about a new notebook that is just so…I don’t know…enticing? All the unexplored potential it has, perhaps. Or just the invitation to scribble notes for nothing but your own sense of satisfaction. Anyway, for fellow notebook fans, I just wanted to add a couple of links that I found:

Are you a fan of the traditional Moleskine notebook? They’re nice, granted, but do they really justify being at least 3 times as expensive as your average notebook? Well, they do have that handy pocket, and perforated, tear-off pages… Even so, thanks to a couple of very helpful online crafty types, now you can save yourself some money and make your own! Surely not, you ask? But it’s true, I tell you! My favourite is from The Long Thread, and shows you how to make a replica Moleskine Cahier with just a sewing machine and a cereal box (see left). If you prefer the thicker Moleskine Notebooks, try instead this tutorial from Michael Shannon.

But – and yes, it’s possible! – an even cooler notebook project can be found courtesy of Diane Gilleland over at The Crafty Pod. This tutorial shows you how to cover a notebook with a wonderfully retro 70s fabric (it would probably work with other fabrics, too but would it still be as cool? 😉 ). I totally love this tutorial! It’s not just because I adore these retro patterned fabrics (honest!), but because it actually shows me to how to make something useable with the fabrics I love without having to touch a sewing machine. Which in my eyes is nothing short of genius. Sister Diane, I salute you! 😀