Handmade faux postage swap

This is a bit of a random idea, but it's also a celebration of how much we all love to get cool stuff in the post. The swap is to hand-make a sheet (A4/letter-size) of faux postage stamps. This basically means you will make a sheet of stamps that look like/are inspired by 'real' postage stamps, but are not legal tender (so don't try to mail your envelope with one as postage!). There can be a blank border around the edge of your sheet, as with real stamps, but please not more than a couple of centimetres all around: the sheet should look as though it is filled with stamps. Individual stamps should not be more than 2"/5cm square, but may be smaller, and of course, may be rectangular.

(edited July 29th to add:) stamps may be supplied as individual stamps rather than a sheet, but size per stamp should still not exceed 2" x 2", and quantity should reflect how many there would be in a sheet of your chosen-size stamps

Handmade? I don't know if this is a redundant requirement or not, because if they're not 'real' stamps, you must have made them yourself, right? Well, actually no. I know that the Post Office in both the UK and USA offers a service where you can have your own photos (etc) made into postage stamps, and there are also various places online you can buy 'artistamps'. Please do not buy your faux postage: this swap is for faux postage you have made yourself.

Please also include a hand-written note with your faux postage, just to say what technique you used, why you chose a particular image, and anything else you would like to mention.

The method of hand-making is up to you: you can use your own photo printed out on your printer, or draw each stamp individually, or paint, collage, stitch each stamp, or go with mail art tradition & carve your own rubber stamp from an eraser! (Or you can use any other method you like). But remember, these are faux postage stamps, so just like real ones, they should have perforations. Many paper trimmers now come with an optional perforating blade, & you can buy a mini hand-held rotary perforator from craft stores, too. A friend reliably informs me that you can perforate paper using a sewing machine that hasn't been threaded (I am quite terrified of my sewing machine, though, & am yet to attempt usage with or without thread...). I'm sure there are other ways of doing it, too – get creative! Hmm, if you're into needlework – well I guess an evenweave/openweave fabric is technically perforated, anyway (so that counts), but you can also buy perforated paper to stitch on, in this modern day & age...

And one last thing, your faux postage needs to be stick-able. So print on or back with gummed or self-adhesive paper; or apply lick'n'stick glue to the reverse of your paper. If you are working on fabric, self-adhesive felt is available, and probably other options I don't know about, too.

Ratings of 5 or just below only, and at least 5 postal swaps. I will check through participants & remove people I think are a potential risk, so please PM me to explain any unjustified comments or ratings, and I will take that into account. This might sound harsh, but swappers are likely to put a lot of work into hand-making their faux postage, and I don't want to see anyone disappointed in return. The sign up period is just over a week, and the sending period is 3 weeks, to give you plenty of time to work on your ideas, so have fun!

I think this should be a really good fun swap, so please, take this idea & run with it :-)