Mailart, Artcards, and Swaps

Q: I want to make some artistamps by hand, not necessarily on the computer. How do I make my art the right size for stamps? Should I be creating the art in stamp size, to start with? A: Most commercial artists work much larger than the finished, printed product will be. For example, a standard

If you’re new to Adobe’s PhotoShop program, it can be overwhelming to figure out all the fabulous bells & whistles it offers. However, it’s a wonderful tool for artistamps! When I wrote this article around 2002, I was using Adobe 5.0. The commands may vary slightly if you’re using a different version, but the concepts

These are a few stamps from my own collection of inexpensive, international postage stamps. They are “real” stamps, used on mail. I like them because they look exotic and/or old, and I gather ideas from them. I’m providing them as inspiration. You can copy* them, tweak them with your own color and design ideas, or…

Adhesive backing for artistamps If you’re sending your artistamps for others to use, you probably want to make them as much like “real” postage as possible. For example, you’ll want the recipient to be able to lick the back of the stamp so the glue becomes moist and will hold the stamp in place. The

Glue recipes vary from great to disastrous. But, they can be a fine alternative to “lickable” adhesive-backed paper and commercially prepared glues, described in my article, Glues and adhesives for artistamps. Climate differences can affect how well a glue recipe works. Likewise, personal taste–sometimes literally–can influence your choices. Artistamp genius Jas kindly sent this recipe

Artistamps can be described as fake postage. Some people call them faux postage, Cinderellas, postoids, or even real postage. But at the post office, they may call them “fake.” In other words, if you use artistamps in place of “real” postage, the post office is likely to return your mail, postage due. Those of us

I’ve been making artistamps since around 1978. My first stamps were handmade, one by one, and sent with my zines of that era. I hand-carved a border that looked like a perforated stamp edge, and stamped it repeatedly to create the ‘frame’ of each stamp. Then, I put art in the middle. At present, I

The theme for the Art Day 2005 mail art call was “Art in the Streets.” These 18 entries were diverse and fabulous. In 2005, Art Day was under different management than in the years that followed. So, this was the only year I was the organizer for that event’s mailart celebration. I received the art