Thursday, April 05, 2007

Artistamp

Artistamp refers to a postage stamp-like artform. It is like to a Cinderella stamp, in that it is not valid for postage, but it differs from a forgery or a bogus stamp in that (typically) no intention is made to fool any post office or collector of stamps. The artistamp is intended to be a miniature artform which can depict or commemorate any subject its creator chooses.
Techniques for the creation of artistamps may or may not comprise perforating the boundaries of the piece to more resemble a (water-activated) stamp, as well as applying gum to the reverse side of the paper. (Self-adhesive artistamps have also been made, however, and indeed artistamps have been issued in practically every format in which postage stamps have been—including souvenir sheets, and perhaps more.) Whole sheets of such stamps are often made at one time. The artwork can be hand-drawn or painted, lithographed or offset-printed, photographed, xeroxed, rubber stamped, or even output by computer-driven printer.

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