Back in the 1980s three friends, illustrators Jack Williams and Bill Nelson and myself created “ElbowGrease,” a company that produced and sold rubber stamps. I stumbled on one of the catalogs the other day. A few pages…
And a flyer from the same period…
Wow, I’m pretty sure I bought stamps from you in the early 80sā¦ the catalog looks very familiar. I loved those stamps, though I never got particularly proficient in stamping. But rubber stamps were a wonderful analog way to balance the digital publishing that I was starting to get involved in.
Haha… small world David. Nothing like seeing a direct result of your physical effort. Hammer a nail, paint a wall, stamp a stamp–it doesn’t get much simpler. (FYI, I just added another image of a flyer I found.)
I’m David Blatner’s Dad, and what comes to mind is this line from Robert Louis Stevenson’s “Child’s Garden of Verses”:
The world is so full of a number of things!
I’m sure we should all be as happy as kings!
But right now I’m struggling with an overabundance of stuff.
Sigh. Adam Blatner
Good one Adam. It’s amazing to think that, at some point in my life, each of the things I own was the focus of my attention.
Chuck,
Love your memorabilia — great stuff! I had a custom rubber stamp manufacturing business in the Aspen, Colorado, area for most of the decade of the ’80s and did some art stamps, but mostly business-related — return address, check endorsement, signatures, etc. People do love stamps and I quite enjoyed it! In the ’90s, I ran a courier service in Central Oregon and one of my customers was an art stamp company run by a couple outside of Sisters, Oregon, who had an extensive mail order catalog, but I don’t recall the name of their business. Ring any bells with you? Thanks for sharing your “earlier life” endeavor!
Bill Schuhle
Thanks Bill. I don’t recall the company but I have invited an expert to read your post to see if they know. Beyond that, you might recognize the name from the Rubber Stamp Madness, “Where are they now” page… http://www.rsmadness.com/wherearethey.html
Hi Chuck. At my stores, called Stampa Barbara, we sold stamps from hundreds of small companies. The one from Sisters was called Remarkable, I think. Yours was one of my faves!!!
Gary, what ever happened to the designs that were Stampa Barbara specific? Does anyone still sell them? I’m looking to replace one that I loaned and was never returned.
In case you’re interested, Gary Dorothy (who penned the last comment) bought Elbow Grease’s inventory and designs way back when. Though we were sad to give it up, we were happy our work found a home at Stampa Barbara. For those who don’t know about the rubber stamp world, Stampa Barbara was THE place on the planet for stamps in those days and Gary was/is an absolute gentleman and passionate creative.
I don’t know the man in this picture, but I stumbled on a photo he posted of the shop in 1996…
https://www.flickr.com/photos/steve_frenkel/6050628613/sizes/l
Gary Dorothy is also a talented photographer. These days you will find him in Palm Springs, California at IMAGEVILLE…
Gary Dorothy IMAGEVILLE
Hi Chuck
Thanks so much for posting the Elbow Grease catalog. I was in the stamp business for 10 years, and E G was hands down some the best images ever vulcanized, and great catalog ! I might be tempted to come out of rubber retirement to put Elbow Grease back into circulation. š
Best Regards ~
Dave King
(Hi Gary !)
Thanks Dave, it was fun time.
I remember these! Bill’s office was downstairs from ours on Cary Street.
I’m really late on the scene but is there any chance I can buy some of the stamps or are they long gone?
Sorry, they’re long gone Keith. Thanks for your interest.
Oh my… I was just using some of your rubber stamps! I have so many of them. They really were among the greatest images ever available. I treasure them and they are among my favorites of all time. It would be probably unfair to pick my number one favorite, but I love the image of the capped delivery boy logo with the blank banners below. (I actually used that yesterday on some Valentine cards writing “Be Mine” in the banners.) You and Elbow Grease added so much to the rubber stamp world! (I even have an Elbow Grease T-shirt stashed away somewhere!) Thanks for the rubber stamp memories and glad to see you are (apparently) doing well in the non-rubber world!
Haha… Thanks so much for that Peter–I wasn’t sure anyone would remember.