Tips for Putting Vintage Stamps on Envelopes
A friend of mine who is currently living in Austria just had a baby and wanted to send out about 100 baby announcements. I offered to help her out by putting the stamps on the envelopes and mailing them from within the US. As someone who doesn’t adhere stamps to envelopes in this quantity very often, I learned a few things, and I’m here to share them with you. Hope this helps!
It takes longer than you think. It took about four one hour sessions between stuffing envelopes, adding return address labels, separating stamps and gluing stamps on. For reference we had five stamps per envelope for the announcements we were mailing domestically. The envelopes were pre-addressed, but that would have definitely added on to the time component
Stock up on Glue and Scrap Paper. I went through 6 glue sticks through the process, and that included gluing the envelopes shut and gluing the stamps onto the envelopes. I also went through about 1/2 of my scrap paper while gluing the backs of the stamps so I could flip them and adhere them.
Glue Fingers is a real thing. The reason I would have to take breaks while doing this and broke it into multiple sessions was that my fingers would get gummed up with glue stick residue. It’s pretty hard to get off your fingers, but scrubbing with soap and water does the trick.
Get your TV show / Podcast / Music ready. I had a great time zipping through season one of The Morning Show while I separated and adhered all of the stamps. I set it up on my computer at my desk so I could work on a flat surface.
Adhering stamps to envelopes is not a service I offer my clients, though I know many stationers that do. If you’re interested in adding vintage postage to your baby announcements, thank you notes, wedding invitations, please email me.
