Home » Home & Style » Stamp Art » Creating A World

Creating A World

© Amy E. Badurina

Though it's by no means required to make artistamps, many artists choose to create a "world" or "country" from which the stamps they create are issued. This ranges from just a great name they thought up to meticulously crafted universes that artists have created. These worlds might be part of our own world, on another planet, or on another plane of existence -- but they all have one thing in common: a postal issuing authority.

Creating your own world is both easy and hard. It's easy in that you can just think up a name and run with it, filling in details as you go. And it can get more difficult as time goes by and your world becomes more and more complex. If you plan a little in advance, you can save yourself some time and effort, and just allow yourself to dream unencumbered by all the details. Here's some tips:

1. Buy a notebook or planner specifically for your own country. Or you can collect everything in a three-ring binder. But do keep it relatively organized -- there's nothing more frustrating than looking for something and not being able to find it later.

2. If you have an old calendar, or want to print one out, you can use it to write in when you issued certain stamps, and to put in a copy of the stamp and who you've sent it to, so that you don't accidentally duplicate mailings.

3. You can also write in any national holidays that you create and commemorate, or ones to commemorate at a later time.

Your world can be as simple or as complex as you'd like. As I mentioned, some artists have a simple name and issuing authority for their stamps, and others have an entire universe that springs up around the stamps they create.

When you're ready to make your own, here are some ideas as to what to include:

1. Where is your world? Is it in a hidden part of Earth? Is it in another solar system? Is it here, but hidden and only able to be accessed on certain times of the year, ala Brigadoon?

2. How many people live in your world? What do they do on a day to day basis? Do they have jobs? Are they the same kinds of jobs that you and I have, or are they different?

3. Where do your people live? In tall skyscrapers made of glass or small huts with no indoor plumbing? Do they live in domes? The tops of trees?