Special Postal Event Products

Hi All,

Recently I took on a project to put together some designs and artwork for custom products for the US Post Office in Cascade, Wisconsin.  This post office branch was having a special event -- first: the zip code, or postal code was going to match the date 53011 (May 30th, 2011), and Cascade, WI is having a Centennial Celebration this summer.

So what did they want to do?  They wanted to commemorate these events with a special postmark rubber stamp, a collectors edition envelope, and they had a special postage stamp made for the occasion as well.

First I started with black and white artwork for the postmark; used to cancel stamps on mailed letters and packages.  Now - Cascade is, by all accounts, a wonderful and beautiful small town in rural Wisconsin, however, it's not a town with many landmarks.  So the Postmaster recommended we use the bridge over Cascade Falls.

Cascade Falls Bridge; Pen and Ink, scanned and touched up in Photoshop

This pen and ink artwork was then dropped into a design for the rubber stamp.  I did provide the artwork, but someone on the other end developed the final rubber stamp (postmark), design.

Final Postmark using the Cascade Falls Bridge artwork

Once we had that taken care of, we focused on the envelope.  The postmaster gave me many photos and some basic ideas for an envelope.  She sent me some examples of what has been done in the past to look at also.  These envelopes as strictly collectors items and not for actual mailing.  As most of you may know, collecting stamps and other postal paraphernalia is very popular in certain circles.

Cascade Commemorative Envelope - 3 5/8" x 6 1/2"

The artwork is the size of a number 6 3/4 envelope.  I took some of the photos from around town and prepped them for the envelope as well as the town welcome sign.  I wanted to put a map in the upper left corner to show where Cascade is.  I drew an outline of Wisconsin and colored the background in a very loose shading - to match the loose coloring on the envelope background.  The background was painted using some custom brushes, layering semi-transparent colors, using Adobe Photoshop.  In the background, a very light image of the old mill stands out in the upper center, but not be dark enough to distract.  The top and right parts of the envelope would be kept "clear" of solid or dark imagery so the stamp and postmark could be applied.

The last piece is the postage stamp.  A local Cascade artist developed artwork based on the old mill, to be on the stamp and the postmaster ordered them for the local Cascade Post Office.

Custom Postage Stamp of the Old Mill in Cascade, WI

At the end, you put them all together: purchase an envelope and stamp, put the stamp on it and get the special postmark applied to it.  Then you have the collectors item to add to your stamp collection.

Mockup of the what the final collectors edition envelope would look
like with the stamp on it and the postmark stamped on to it.

Note: In the spirit of full disclosure; my cousin Kaye Kreienbrink Kielbasa is the Postmaster of the Cascade Post Office.  I took this on to be a fun, special project and I received no compensation from her or the US Postal Service.  I hope there are stamp collectors out there who have enjoyed the custom products and are proudly displaying them in their collections.

Have a great week everyone and let me know what projects you need help with.

Aloha.
Tom