The Mayor's Love for Postage Ephemera

The Mayor's Love for Letters and Stamps: A Project Gallery

My husband collected stamps while I collected vintage postcards, as well as family letters and autograph books. Since all items were of some value - monetary or nostalgic - I created my own collages first from some of these items and then scanned them for projects.

I still have that French love for decoupage (and that 1970s love affair with it), so most of my projects are "decoupages" from those scanned collages that I print on card stock from my computer. Remember that United States postage stamps are in the public domain if issued before December 31, 1978. You can also use original ephemera or scrapbook paper; however, the weight of these items may not survive the decoupage process well.

Here are a few of my projects with postage stamps.

Paper Mache Houses with Vintage Photos, Stamps, Postcards, and Pharmacy Labels




Vintage Stamps Made into a Collage for a Handbag

Antique Hawaiian Postcards with Stamps

Town Construction: Stamp Houses

Imagine a Little Town residential construction site. The builder for this dream is Heather Donohue at heatherdonohue.wordpress.com

heatherdonohue.wordpress.com: Search under the stamp category.

Before: styrofoam, pins, glue, and vintage stamps

Here are little stamp houses/bird houses that you can make and wear as a pendants.They require a little more work than the ones above; however, Heather Alexander gives you easy to follow steps to construct them from stamps and other materials.

Chirpy Birdhouse Pendant by Heather Alexander

Heather suggests making your own little birdhouse pendant by decoupaging a tiny handmade house with your own paper memorabilia.

Materials:

• 3/4" thick piece of wood (maple)
• 1 silver 1/2" eye screw
• 1 vintage postage stamp
• assorted paper ephemera, 1" square or larger or stamps
• rubber stamp(s) and ink
• decoupage medium
• spray sealer
• black permanent marker or paint
• glue
• table saw or jigsaw
• awl
• drill with 1/16" and 1/4" drill bits
• 1/4" round hole punch
• scissors
• 100-grit sandpaper or sanding block
• pliers
• paint brush

Heather's EASY Tip: Try making these birdhouses using dice as the body of the house. Drill the door hole on the number one (1) side.  She says that no awl is necessary as there is already a perfectly centered guide.

Step-by-step instructions, along with here photo images, are at Jewelry Making Daily.

You can also purchase Heather's work at Art by Heather.

Purchasing Stamps for Projects?

bornatthewrongtime.etsy.com

Unless you are investing in creating a work of art or a commemorative piece, I would use cancelled stamps that you have collected over the years. Is that not possible? Here are examples of sources for purchasing cancelled stamps online:

Try Western New York Book Arts Collaborative at wnybac.etsy.com

For large amounts of stamps try stampsandmore.etsy.com. This site offers a large variety of quality vintage postage stamps, available in mixed lots or selected themes.

stampsandmore.etsy.com

See how you can create a monochromatic look as in this mini art print in blues by Packandpost via society6.com? You could design personal stationery from a jpeg of your scanned creation.

If you wish to sell your work, then check about a country’s public domain for stamps at Stamps and the Public Domain.

 

society6.com

In the next post I’ll share these tiny stamp houses being created.

Pinned from twokitties.typepad.com

Tiny Stamp Houses, from heatherdonohue.wordpress.com