Artwork Detail Information

All Add-Ons for FDCs issued prior

to my "First Cachet" are dated to show when they

were painted which clearly designates

each of them as being an Add-On Cachets.

Each Finished Cover is hand stamped on the

reverse side with the Emrick Cachet Logo.

Purchase and Affix Stamps
Send them off for Cancels

I aquire First Day Cover Blanks for each stamp as they are issued. If I plan to do a lot of designs for a given stamp I will purchase stamps, place them on blank

covers and send them off for first day cancellations. I am always on the look-out for any First Day Cover Blanks that I feel are suitable for cachets whether Add-Ons or current issue stamps.

The Designs

A lot of careful consideration goes into each actual design. I start out by doing research on the subject at hand and begin forming several ideas. I search out photos and images that can be used as elements in the whole design and start forming design patterns that will fit the available space on the covers.

I then start making rough sketches. After several of these I hit on the one that I like best. I then draw the final design lightly onto the cover and now am ready to begin the hand painting...

The Painting Begins!

I have turned our Breakfast Nook into a makeshift "Studio".

I even put two leafs into the breakfast table and bought a nice cart to hold my ever growing stash of art supplies.

I have at my disposal everything from watercolors, water based oils, acrylics, pastel pencils, oil pastel sticks, india inks, watercolor pencils, artist grade colored pencils and even bought an airbrush... and I am likely to use a mixture of any on each cachet!

Painting as I go...

As I have gotten into Cachet Making I have found that it works best for me to "Paint as Ordered" rather than try to paint inventory for sale later... I have never been able to keep ahead of the orders coming in enough to paint anything other than those that have been ordered.

I am happy to say that I continue to maintain a very constant flow of projects coming in
and normally have MANY, MANY covers on the Schedule at any given time.

The waiting period will vary depending on how many covers are on the
schedule when you place your order.
It is my goal to make the wait worthwhile!

Example of a Work in progress...

This project was not your usual cachet cover! My customer has a collection of these 10" x 13" envelopes with the entire sheet of the 1987 American Wildlife issue affixed. Cachet Makers apply illustrations on the border space around the stamps... as shown below on the one that I did for him.

Early stages on painting...

A little more work done...

A little more progress shown here...

IT'S FINISHED!!! Had a lot of fun with this one!

...By the way, there's one animal in the cachet artwork that isn't actually on any of the stamps... but I thought it should have been... so I slipped him in anyway... figured out which one yet? Click the image for a better look!

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Award Winning Hand Painted Cachets Single Stamp Covers - $50.00 Combo Covers $55.00 Unless Otherwise Stated