About Highlander Celtic Stamps
A finished stamp may look simple,but, it has a lot of history behind it.
BEGINNINGS
Highlander Celtic Stamps was founded by Kim Victoria and T. E. Watson. They notice that there were virtually no images available for clip art or otherwise in the Scottish, Irish and Celtic genre. Therefore, shortly after their wedding, they created Highlander Software and started producing the Celtic Collections of graphics libraries for use on the computer. These collections are still available at www.highlandersoftware.com. Soon rubber stampers were requesting these images for their use as well and in 1997 Highlander Celtic Stamps was begun.
Research is very important in the creation of the images for the collection. In the example shown above, Claddagh Ring Traditional #333, research was done on the history of the Claddagh ring. This image depicts one of the original rings designed and produced by Galway goldsmith, Richard Joyce in about 1700.
ARTISTS
Kim Victoria has been working in the arts all her life. She has Masters training in fine arts which she is currently teaching. Kim paints murals and canvases in most subjects as well as continuing to design and produce Highlander Celtic Stamps.
Most of the art in the collection is by Kim and is original art. Some of the knot designs are from classic Celtic sources such as the books of Kells, Durrow and Lindisfarne. Other designs may have been adapted from stone carvings and Celtic crosses.
Starting in Spring 2006, see Kim’s fine art at www.kimvictoria.com
Mari Lancaster contributed the Wee Piper, #347, and Wee Drummer, #348. Mari, with her husband Linus, also illustrated the children’s book “The Monster In The Mailbox” written by T. E. Watson. You can visit www.pawprintspress.com to learn about that book.
Steve Ferchaud is also a very talented artist and illustrator. He has illustrated several children’s books and has more coming available soon. Steve drew all the Gnomes in this collection as one of his specialties is Gnomes and Fairy folk. See his web site at www.steveferchaud.com for more information on his art and books.
MAKING THE STAMPS
There are many steps to manufacture a stamp:
1) Original artwork must be very sharp black and white line art
2) A film is made from the finished and properly laid out artwork
3) A magnesium plate is etched from the film to a precise depth and angle of slope
4) Then a mold is pressed from the plate
Once a mold is made hundreds of sheets of rubber may be produced.
5) Rubber is then vulcanized in the mold under controlled heat and pressure
6) Individual images are cut from the vulcanized sheet
7) Unmounted stamps may now be sold as is or glued to cushion and cut out on a scroll saw
8) Wood is cut to the size of the stamp
9) and an image label is applied to the wood
10) Finally the cushioned rubber is positioned on the wood and it is ready to be used.
Only the highest grade materials are used in the manufacture of these stamps, so you are assured of quality and long life, making your artistic expression easier and more fun.
CUSTOMERS
You are welcome to email questions, comments or suggestions to info@highlandercelticstamps.com.
If you design a card or piece of artwork using any of these stamps and you would like to share it with us, please send it as a scanned jpeg attachment with your email. As space and time allows, you may be a featured artist in the Gallery page.
Thank you for your interest in Highlander Celtic Stamps
Happy Stamping
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