Hand Ink Stamp Pencil and Note Holders

I ran across a box of old wooden handled hand stamps at the antique store here in town a year or two ago and they were so cheap I had to buy the whole lot. The actual stamp parts on most of them where gone, so it was a smooth surface, which gave me the idea of mod podging something onto the faces of them, and sitting them upright like a little piece of art for a shelf.

On some of them I applied pieces of old maps from an outdated atlas along with illustrations cut from old encyclopedias. I then applied phrases with bright letters cut from unused beer labels,
I found them on ebay and now have about 2000 of the things.


On others I attached some vintage fabric dye labels, another ebay score. They have everything on them from birds, pictured, to one that shows an Indian woman being mauled by a Tiger.
I supose that's what sold fabric dye in the 1800's.


This was a really simple and quick project but when I got done with them I was a little bothered by the fact that they really didn't have a purpose, they didn't seem to BE anything. So, I took them out to the garage. I drilled holes in some and made pencil / pen holders, and then I used looped wire on others to make business card / note holders. I like them much better now that each of them has a purpose, and they look pretty dang cool to boot.