Stamp collecting is a hobby enjoyed by many throughout the world. But did you know that creating stamps is also a well-loved hobby, and in fact an art form, practiced as long as stamps have been used as legal postage? Artistamps have been known through out the years as Seals, Decals, Poster Stamps, Cinderellas, Faux Postage, Postoids and have even been passed off as real postage.  But at the post office, they are only known as illegal forgeries. Wikipedia (an online encyclopedia) defines the Artistamp as "a postage stamp-like artform. It is similar 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."

These art stamps have grown more and more common, first with the Dada Movement in the 1920's and 30's and then with the popular explosion of Mail Art in the 1980's. In 1991, Nick Bantock brought the world of artistamps to the more popular reading public with his rich and wonderfully imaginative series, Griffin and Sabine.

As recently as 2004, a political uprising has even occurred over artistamps. The book "Axis of Evil: Perforated Praeter Naturam" is an incredible collection of artistamps made by some of the more well-known artists. This art/philosophy book is provocative exploration of the historical and artistic interpretation of the concept of evil designed in the form of stamps. Though not strictly a Mail Art project, "Axis of Evil", assembled by the extraordinary postal forger Michael Hernandez de Luna, is one of the most well designed and professionally presented collection of "artistamps" ever published, a true pleasure to read and flip through for the Mail Art connoisseur as well as for the casual reader. The gallery exhibitions of this book have been plagued by the Secret Service and censored by the government.

Similar to the standard postage of the past, Artistamps will often be perforated, gummed and display a country and monetary value. They are often created uniquely or in limited editions. Artistamp creators will often include their work on actual mail, alongside valid postage stamps, in order to decorate the envelope with their art, similar to a Commemorative First Day Cover, which also a collectable.

Techniques for the creation of artistamps may or may not include perforating the boundaries of the piece to more resemble a traditional stamp, as well as applying gum to the reverse side of the paper. In fact, artistamps have been issued in practically every format in which postage stamps have been—including souvenir sheets, and perhaps more. The artwork can be hand-drawn or painted, lithographed or offset-printed, photographed, xeroxed, rubber stamped, or printed with a computer printer.

Frequently the creators of such stamps will create an entire world, society or political system in which to distribute their mock postage. Others will comment on our own society or commemorate life and world events. Still others have made a business of creating for you a personalized stamp. Even now stamp.com is offering the creation of legal US postage with your own images and artwork.

So what of collecting these so called stamps? Do they have value? Philately (stamp collecting) is not an artistic activity - mostly it is a kind of investment: collecting monetary values. But Artistamps can not be used as legal tender in our current postal system. So they would have more of an artistic value, based on personal aesthetics combined with the popularity and value of the particular artist's work.

If, then, you purchase Artistamps what should you do with them? Collecting them and saving them in archival stamp books or plastic protected binders is one option. Using them to decorate your own mail is another. Even framing them and hanging them as a work of art is not uncommon. But whatever you do with them, once you begin you will find it easy to become addicted to this wonderful form of mini-sized art.

About the Author: Cynthia is an artist and an educator living in the Seattle WA area. She shares her home and garden with two cats, a huge dog and a couple fellow artists. She has been making, trading, selling and collecting Artistamps since 1991. All of the images in this guide are Artistamps created by the author. Copyright of these images belong soley to the artist and may not be reproduced without permission. See the Sheba Kitty Productions Store for more Artistamps.