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The Old Island Stamp Company

Winter 2004

	STAMP DRAW WINNER: We are pleased to announce the latest winner in our stamp draw is Susan Benedict from Marion, Iowa. Congratulations to Susan! The 'new' stamp draw is ready to go. The prize is a very unusual one this time. There are no stamps in this 'Stamp Draw'. We are going to give away a Milwaukee heat tool! I thought it would highlight the fact that we are a Canadian distributor for the model 1400. I also wanted to highlight the fact that given the continued weakness in the US dollar we are going to reduce our price to $40 Canadian or $35(US). Check it out and Good Luck!
	AROUND THE STUDIO: I think the saying goes, "He who laughs last; laughs loudest"? In this case, the last laugh is definitely on me!! We experienced Toronto's first winter storm, and when we left Ottawa after two weeks of snow and cold, it was -29° Celsius (-21° Fahrenheit); -43°C with the wind chill factor (-46°F). "Wind chill" does not even begin to describe it! Forget the gripping cold on your exposed skin, my thinking was more along the lines, "If the actual marrow in your bones freezes, surely you die"! Well, we went from -43°C to +10°C (50°F) in Victoria when we landed. When I got back to the green and the spongy forest floor on Salt Spring, I went on my own flower count. I found five different varieties of flowers still in bloom, and a fresh crop of wild mushrooms along the path coming into the studio. It is always nice to get home, but I must say I felt especially appreciative to be living where I do, and to be honest; pretty darn smug! So, when I got a whole bunch of orders from Ontario, I gave people a pretty hard time about their weather. Then look what happened! We got about a foot of snow! I should explain that we have a very temperate climate along the west coast of the continent. The influence of the Pacific generally keeps us wet and warm. For all the people who visited our booth at the Christmas shows, you may recognize these two shots as the two we used as a backdrop (minus the snow, of course). The usual pattern after we get a good dump of snow, is that within 48 hours the winds switch to the southwest, and we get a heavy rain with warm temperatures that wash it all away. This time the rain did not come for 10 days. So, for all those people I gave a hard time, the last laugh was on me. Update on Kerstin: Kirstin is gone. She made her last visit about four weeks after the last newsletter. Whenever it rained (which was not often this past summer) she would disappear for a day or two. So, when the rains finally came this fall, I was not surprised that she stopped hanging out at the hot tub. I could hear the tree frogs croaking all through the night for about month before we left for the Christmas shows. After about a two week absence, Kirstin paid me a visit one morning. She did not eat any bugs, and it is hard to tell with frogs, but I thought she looked a little melancholy! :) A little projection, perhaps. That was the last time I saw her. I do not know where she has gone to, but I read that tree frogs can live for up to 20 years!!....so, I might just see her again. (PS.- The snow is almost completely melted. It is 13°C, and I heard a tree frog outside my window today!) We are very busy getting started on this year's new stamps. We have got lots of ideas from the shows, and a number of artists working on them. I have decided to do the newsletter quarterly from now on. So, the next issue will be for spring, and we should have lots of new images by then. I have always up-dated the website when I posted the new newsletter. However, because the newsletters will be farther apart, I will start doing updates on an on-going basis. So, look for new stamps between newsletters. Also, we will again discontinue a number of stamps this year, and move them to the discontinued section of the on-line catalogue at 50% off. In addition, this year we have a number of stamps that are overstocked as a result of the huge numbers we produced for the Christmas shows. We will also be marking these down 30% in order to try to make some room for the new stamps. So, watch for that in the next couple of weeks. If you would like us to e-mail you when we have the discontinued and overstocked items on the website, drop us a line.
	TESTIMONIAL: Hi Steve, I'm new to the stamping world and bought my first supply of stamps, ink, and embossing powder from you on the weekend when I visited the Circle Craft Fair. I was lucky because not only did you have low prices (as I compared to other stores on Sunday) you had great quality stuff! I've made 30 gift tags already and half a dozen cards and I'm only an amateur, but I just wanted to let you know that I was sure glad that I had bought the supply from you. You also were very kind to my friend and I and gave us a template for a box that I was admiring (thanks, I haven't tried it out yet, but I'm sure it'll come in handy). Now I will be probably purchasing more stuff from you online since I won't have a chance to revisit you during the craft fair! I forgot to purchase some wording for my Christmas cards i.e. "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Holidays". I think you have a few of those stamps! Thanks again! Athena J.
	METALIC RUB-ONS: For all those stampers in Ontario that we told they could get metallic rub-ons at local craft stores; we are sorry. It sounds like no one has been able to find them. Fear not, for we have a pretty good stock of them. If you are not from Ontario, we will sell them to you anyway! There are two colour schemes: Regular and Earth Tones. The price is $6.50 Canadian/$5.50(US). (If you are thinking of ordering, please keep in mind that we have a $25 minimum order, $20(US).
	MARGARET'S MUSINGS: If you have had an opportunity to see our display at anytime over the past few years, you would have seen sample cards by our friend Margaret Appleton. Margaret is always trying something new, and comes up with some great effects with our stamps. She has agreed to write a short piece for each newsletter on stamping in general and on techniques slightly beyond the basics. Happy New Year! As I sat looking out at the melting snow and the drab sky I thought ….I need colour! But it’s not yet time to think of Spring shades and floral pastels. I decided to revisit an old idea-- glitter glue on dark papers…. glitz as well as colour. I worked mostly on black paper because I think the look of the coloured glitter on black is quite wonderful. It can be achieved using a layer of glue and then glitter or using glue with glitter in it. I prefer the latter as it is a little easier to control when working with more than one colour in the same image. I stamped with black ink and embossed (clear) first and then just applied the glitter glue. If you are using glitter glue instead of glitter and glue, you will likely have to do two applications. When you are first squeezing the glitter glue on to the paper, it appears that there is more there than there really is. After the glitter glue dries you will see that more is probably needed. Be generous and let your work dry overnight if possible. Mounting the finished product is your choice but I always tend to go to black and/or white as background (maybe with a touch of the glitter colour). I think that the end result is striking! Nothing new but lots of potential for your new stamps from Santa. Happy Stamping!

FROM THE MAILBAG:  Q. I recently purchased some of your stamps at the One of a Kind Show, and I love them. However I never asked you about cleaning them. What do I need to do?

A. The stamps should definitely be cleaned. This is especially true with some of the new inks like chauk ink and ColorBox's new mica inks. They can actually do damage to the stamping surface, if left to dry. With our ColorBox pigment inks, you do not need to worry about cleaning them before they dry, however, you should clean them before you store them. We just use water to clean them. The rubber will become stained, however, it will not effect the stamping. You can use other cleaners on the rubber, and some people feel that lanolin keeps their stamps soft and supple. I do not feel that anything other than water is necessary, because the rubber is impervious to just about everything.

I have two cautions for you. First be aware that ultra violet light (direct sunlight and florescent lights) will harden your rubber stamps over time. Secondly, be careful about leaving your stamps with wet ink on them with plastic resting on the printing surface. This can happen with mounted stamps, for instance if you set them on the plastic top of your inkpad, and then leave them for a week. It can happen with unmounted stamps if you stack them on top of each other before cleaning them, and then leave them long enough that they dry. What happens is the printing surface sticks to the cling vinyl of the stamp above it in the stack. When you pull them apart, the cling vinyl can distort the printing surface. If you take reasonable care of your stamps, you should be able to give them to your grandchildren; regardless of how old you are today! So, if not for yourself, please think of all the enjoyment you are depriving future generations from having with your hand-me-down stamps!!!...it just takes a little water.

ASK EMILY: Many stampers play around with trying to sell their cards as a small business venture. Emily Hull is one of the few that I have seen who has been very successful at it. She is also the artist behind many of the original images in our line. You are welcome to direct questions to her. She will not be able to answer each one personally, however, she will pick one and address it here. So, just Ask Emily!

Dear Emily,
You may remember me- I approached you at the Art Market Christmas show for advice on creating my own wedding invitation. Any ideas?

Sincerely,

Soon to be married in Calgary!

Whew! With Christmas behind us we can finally start focusing on 2005. I’ve got many ideas for wedding invitations. My sister was recently married- I made many samples and finally around 200 invites, so here are a few ideas.

This month, I’ve decided to focus on nontraditional invitations. The first one I chose is a little more rustic than most. I’ve stamped one of my favorite stamps, skeleton leaf, three times and simply embossed it in gold. I freehand-cut around the image in a loose rectangular shape, mounted it once then set it on a heavy gold cardstock. I embellished the invitation with jute twine (found at any hardware store- very cheap!) and a couple of earth toned glass beads. I used my computer to do the text insert and mounted it with black photo corners. If you’re doing the text yourself, I would strongly suggest using a laser computer instead of an inkjet. Your text will be clear and crisp. If you would like to have the text embossed, most large stationary stores will professionally print for you. Make sure to request a sample and allow adequate time.

The next invitation I did using a classic heart design. I stamped with Merlot ink on a shipping tag and mounted it on olive green paper. I applied this to a beet colored cardstock and embellished with a matching piece of ribbon. I found inexpensive decorative wedding bands at a local craft store, and tied it to the ribbon. I like this card as it is economical, it fits into a standard envelope and it takes regular postage to send. (Beware of oversized invitations- your postage costs can vary quite dramatically for unusual sizes.)

The last card I chose uses a more traditional format. Again, I used my computer to print the text, and then I mounted the letter weight paper to a chocolate brown cardstock using rubber cement and photo corners. I embellished with a hand-made slider. I cut a one-inch strip of decorative paper, and wrapped it around the invitation. I glued it with a dab of hot glue. Then I stamped a leaf design on natural paper, double mounted it and glued a little coconut disc in the corner. I attached this to the slider. Sliders are a nice way to dress up and invitation. You can tuck the RSVP and directions behind it. If you decide to make an invitation that is an unusual size, I would suggest making your own envelopes. I can be frustrating trying to find the perfect envelope for your creation.

Good Luck & Happy Stamping!

If you have a question for Emily, email her at oldisland@saltspring.com.

EMILY'S WEBSITE: Emily has moved since the last newsletter, and changed her Internet provider. So, as many of you have noticed, the link to her website was not working for several weeks. The new link to her website is:
                                                        http://members.shaw.ca/funkyboldbright/

THE WEBSITE: I have added 4 'new' stamps to the Latest Images page. You may have seen them before at one of the shows, but they have never been on the website. The first is timely. It is a gorgeous Judy Harper tile cut of a rooster. Timely, because in the Chinese zodiac calendar it is the year of the Rooster (Check out 525-D also). Another is the Celtic Triskle, which is a symbol for empowerment. From the a former Drawing Board, I finally got Douglas Penhale's thistle stamp finished. Also, there is a little stamp I have had around the studio for some time. It is a scan of a textile pattern that I 'cleaned-up'. Trudy and Emily where using it so much, I finally decided to actually release it as a stamp. Among other things it makes a very interesting background stamp.

On the Drawing Board I have put a paisley design that Bonnie Curran recently drew. We are in the stamp making phase of our year right now, and this is one I would really like to get some feedback on. So, now is your chance to have some input.

Happy New Year and especially Happy Stamping! - Steve Mueller