D.I.Y. Stamps
{traveling gnome icon I created for my blog}One of the chapters in Ellen Lupton’s D.I.Y. Design It Yourself is by [then] grad student Veronica Semeco and is devoted to creative ways to create stationery and professional identities without having to deal with commercial printers. Not only do you save a lot of money this way, it also has a way more personal touch; one example is making stamps. So with a dose of creativity from the book, and a dash of inspiration from Holly at Decor8 (who had special calling cards made for when she and her husband will be in Germany for a couple months), I walked down the street to The Wm. Baumgarten Company (342 N Charles St) to have a couple stamps of my own made.
I must admit, I feel like I’m walking into the 1950s when I walk into the store, and clearly the employees have been around forever too (which is nice, because they’re beginning to recognize me as the girl who comes in to have random stamps made). And it’s kind of refreshing to hand them a piece of paper with a design (no hassle of preparing files and no disk) and like magic, a stamp is in my hands later that day (and for a great deal). 
Voila! My stamps are complete. Here are a couple test runs. I still may need to carve away a bit more of the rubber, but I’m quite pleased. I also want to play around with stamping my “card” onto a map and other fun materials (always been a fan of cardboard too). Oh, the possibilities. . .
Alex
August 29, 2007 at 1:41 pm //
I LOVE the stamp! LOVE IT!
somebody else's hero
August 30, 2007 at 10:34 pm //
Very cute! Looks like gnomey needs a road trip!