artistamps

Set of old cancelled stamps
I found this set of stamps in a dark antique shop, full of jumbled collectibles from byegone days nobody wanted. I took a fancy to this crumpled damp page of stamps, with their unusual designs. The woman in the corner said she didnt think they were worth much,
she didnt recognise the country and had never seen anything like them before. I said they maybe very rare and worth a fortune, but she let me have them for 50p
Not. I was'nt sure whether to put these first attempts at artistamps on this page, with all these professionally finished super stamps, but you've gotta start somwhere. I had a blissful afternoon away from the computer, creating my impressions of old stamps. Using what I had available, which was'nt much, some yellowing thin newsprint, stamps that I thought I'd seen too much of and would not use again, deckle edge scissors, had meant to buy the stamp perforated edge ones, and a clear plastic stamp template postmarked "paradise" which I'd bought after a rather clever demonstration at a stamp show.
So for the benifit of those that have'nt attempted artistamps yet, this might not be the best way- still to me its all about experimenting and having fun.
I stamped the template, cut out the square, inked up part of the chosen stamp, put cut out over stamp and stamped on paper. (Some I previously coloured the paper with ink pad lighly sponged). Then with the template stamp inked in black (I soon started wiping off the large 1st class bit)I lined it up (seeing through it was useful) and defined the edges.
I then trimmed the stamp with the deckle edge, then stamped with black cancellation stamps
I luckily had, to give that old used appearance.
I love the old monotone engraved stamps, although these are not as fine, and the subjects
are not the usual, it made me look closely at the designs on my stamps, and experiment with
colour ways and masking tehniques. A simple workshop that gets you creating with your old stamps
Gillian Allen