Click for the gallery of 1992 stamps

Copy machines and grid paper to double passes and colored ink

I stumbled on  Artistamps and Mail Art at the same time that I stumbled upon Dominique. We began a correspondence and he sent me the most wonderful things. These magical gifts inspired me to renew my passion for collage and artistic things in general.

He introduced me to all things philatelic not by teaching and  explaining, but by doing and showing. He took me to several stamp conventions  where collectors bought and seller sold, real stamps from the United States and other places far, far away. We always looked for old stamps being sold at face value, so that we could use them instead of the boring going rate stamps. We  also talked to people about Cinderella’s (an official Philatelic name for stamps not used for postage.) I quickly became fascinated and began my own versions of  these miniature works of art.

 The Ecstasy Issue was the first one I made. I started with a drawing about 8 by 10 inches on a thin tracing paper. I  added text using a stencil and a background pattern based on a distorted  repetition of hearts and stars. All was created inside a simple ruler drawn box.  I then took this to Kinko’s and reduced it numerous times on the copy machines until I got a size I liked. Then with grid like graph paper I lined up several mini versions of the stamp on another piece of thin tracing paper. This was then  copied onto full sheet sticker paper. I actually managed to pinhole perforate some of these early sheets, although I don’t remember if it was Greg Byrd or Carl Chew’s machine that I used to do this. Or if even, someone did it for me.

A/NTPEX was the first art show I entered as an adult and as an Artistamp Artist. This gathering of other stamp collector and creators was small, yet filled with tables of fascinating people creating amazing little faux  postage. The piece I hung at that first show, sold even before the opening party. I was so thrilled that I haven’t stopped since

Due to their limited production, these stamps are very rare!