Don't need to mail things but would love the decor

January 5, 2010 5:04 PM

What crafty things can I do with old foreign stamps?

When I was home over Christmas break, I picked up a huge album of pre-1963 stamps (probably around 300 or so) from countries around the world. It was fun if only for the entertainment of seeing stamps from countries that no longer exist or have been un-colonized.

So, cool! But I'd like to have some craft project ideas that ideally wouldn't damage or destroy them. There are several with protective plastic covers but most are just loosely glued into the book and would come off with gentle pressure. I was thinking that just a frame with four or more of the stamps as the 'picture' would be neat, but there must be cooler things than that.

Any advice? The stamps are mainly the average US stamp size, but there are a few that are irregular shapes (such as a triangle).

posted by amicamentis to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (8 answers total)

A couple of the women in my office have pendant necklaces that have real stamps as the pendants. I don't know if they're encased in resin or if there's a frame around the stamps, but they look really cool.
posted by xingcat at 5:10 PM on January 5, 2010

I find one that are sometimes thematically related to friends' interests and put them in a small frame with a nice matte job and make little gifts out of them, as you seem to be considering. Or you can always add them as supplementary postage to an envelope. This is, of course, destructive. They can make good colorful additions to something like a sheer window curtain [sewn into little pockets] or a table top [pressed under glass]. When I'm looking for good ideas for little projects like this I often cruise Etsy.
posted by jessamyn at 5:14 PM on January 5, 2010

Personally I am kind of horrified at the thought of cutting up someone's old stamp collection.

You could put a stamp on a wristwatch face, provided you can pry off the lens.
posted by Think_Long at 5:15 PM on January 5, 2010

Take your favorites to your local copy shop, make enlarged color photocopies and frame them individually to make a wall of art. No harm to the originals.

(Alternatively, scan them and print out enlargements yourself, or upload them to a photo printing service.)
posted by The Deej at 5:24 PM on January 5, 2010

I'm fairly anti-collecting, so my suggestions are going to lean toward making something useful where the stamps would be seen and enjoyed rather than preserving them in a book. That said, I looked around and found some fun ways to use them.

You could make bookmarks, necklaces (as xingcat suggested), or furniture (if you don't want to decoupage, you could layout the stamps the way you want them and then place a glass top over them).
posted by shesbookish at 5:40 PM on January 5, 2010

Response by poster: Great ideas, please keep them coming! I especially like the "arrange and put them under glass" craft.

I found the album at a local thrift store, so I don't think the original owner would mind if I put the stamps to a new, fun use.
posted by amicamentis at 6:07 PM on January 5, 2010

Decoupage a pair of women's shoes. Pretty sure I saw that one in Craft.
posted by jdfan at 6:37 PM on January 5, 2010

have you already checked to make sure that none of the stamps are valuable in any way? :)
posted by curiositykilledthelemur at 7:06 PM on January 5, 2010