Tuesday, November 18, 2014

art in the margins

The Art in the Margin of Sheet Stamps

Better than a Hot Water Bottle in the Winter
Playing the Biwa (lute) with a Zucchini
Do other countries have sheet stamps, like we do in Japan, that have gorgeous art in the margins? I've saved stamp sheet margins for years, long after the stamps were used up. The margins have the same coating on the back as the stamps do, and it gets sticky if you lick it. Sometimes I cut out the margin art and use it to decorate the outside of my mailing envelopes.

Though I've often used cancelled postage stamps to make etegami-collages, the corrugated-cardboard-etegami-collages shown here (yes, my experiments do get complicated) are the first etegami I've ever made with stamp sheet margin art. In the first one, I used a margin-art panda and combined it with my painting of a tangerine. In the second, I used a margin-art lute and combined it with my painting of a zucchini with a stem that looked a bit like a finger. The second one is missing words, so technically it doesn't qualify as an etegami....

6 comments:

  1. Are you having any snow yet? The second one could say "I lute forward to summer." Haha I crack myself up. ;) You would do better with your own words - this I'm sure.

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    1. Funny Judy. :)
      Yes, it is snowy here---- and COLD.
      I'm afraid that once I cut around the image and peel off the top layer of the cardboard, there is no more chance to add words unless I write them on the image itself.... I suppose a word or two would fit on the zucchini... Hmm

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  2. Believe it or not, I know a real lutenist (on FB, John O. Robison, not Robinson), and HE PUNS INCESSANTLY... He was my music history professor for 2 years in college. We would just groan... He still does it 40 years later!!!
    Back to the art...
    I love the combinations of textures in these pieces, Debbie. Yes, in U.S. we also have art in the margins of stamp sets which are sticky ... I feel badly that I've thrown away so much art! My mind feels like a closed box sometimes... Hopefully it'll feel more expansive as time passes! I'm still reveling in your paddock for baby Godzillas!!!!! Lol!

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    1. Mary, I know what you mean. I feel bad that I sometimes forget and throw the margins away, or I let them get torn or dirty and decide I don't want to use them.

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  3. It is so much more than recycling!

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  4. Another great lesson for me, thank you for sharing this Debbie!

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