12 week course

Stamp Collecting A New Skill

15th March 2022 by UBee

Collecting stamps is a great hobby that people from all over the world enjoy. It doesn’t matter if you are young or old. This hobby is not only fun, interesting but you can also learn a lot. There is a whole wide world collecting stamp community for you to be part of. The key for collecting stamps is the variety you can collect. In this case you can certainly say more is better. If you are new to this hobby you have must realize that you have to have stamp collecting supplies ready before you start your collection of stamps.

Here is a list of supplies that you will need for your hobby. Stock books, stamp hinges, stamp tongs, magnifiers, glassing envelopes, blank pages, drying books, perforation gauge, water mark detector, stamp mounts, stamp catalogues, binders and of course stamp albums. This may look like big shopping list but there is no reason to be panic. Not like many other collecting hobbies, this hobby doesn’t have to be expensive at all. You don’t have to spend a lot of money on expensive equipment and supplies. There is of course a list of items no stamp collector can do without.

Let’s start with the one item that collectors cannot do without and that is a stamp album. The stamp album keeps your stamps safe while at the same time it enables you to organize your collection and to display your stamps in an attractive manner. Look for something that is high in quality. What you should look for is an album that contains plenty of space for your stamps and have strong bindings with thick pages made from good quality acid free paper. Another smart item you cannot do without is a stamp hinge. A stamp hinge is a small, folded, rectangular piece of paper or glassine coated with a gum. One end of the hinge is gummed onto the back of a stamp and the other end is gummed onto the album page. This helps to firmly hold the stamp on the page. These hinges are very inexpensive and around a thousand can be purchased for a few dollars. Stamp tongs look like tweezers, but these are specially designed for picking up and handling stamps. Tongs are available in both stainless steel and plastic. Either type will do, but make sure you choose tongs that do not have sharp edges, as they may tear and ruin your stamp. If the value of your collection is important to you then a stamp catalogue is a must. The stamp catalogue will help you identify a stamp and will also give you a rough indication of its current value. So, you exactly know how valuable your collection is in the world of philately. What you also need is a magnifying glass. This will help you to examine the inscription and design closely, the feature of a stamp as well as its condition. Also, the magnifying glass would help you spot the creases or printing error of a stamp. All of these factors have an impact on a stamps grade and its value. Glassine envelopes are translucent and available in various sizes. They are useful for sorting and storing the stamps before you place them in the album. You can also mail stamps in these envelopes. Some other gadget you will need is a perforation gauge. It measures the number of holes per two cm length of the perforations on the side of the stamps. Stamps differ in the number of perforations each have, which even helps distinguish between two identical looking stamps and also influence the relative rarity. A water mark detector is useful in detecting forgeries and identifying stamp varieties.

In hobby shops and on the internet all these tools are easy to find. Remember that these tools don’t have to cost you an arm and a leg. To start your hobby, you will need these stamp collecting supplies and have fun while collecting.

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Making a Collection From Clutter

1st March 2022 by UBee

From postcards to thimbles to salt & pepper shakers, the seeds of an unintentional collection could be right under one’s nose. According to a recent Nielsen survey, one in 10 collectors developed an interest in the hobby by slowly acquiring items over time, and only later decided to establish their own showcase collections.

“My enthusiasm for collecting began as a child with the inexpensive cars my mother would buy me as a treat during trips to the market,” said Bruce Pascal, owner of the legendary Hot Wheels red-lined Beach Bomb, valued at £72,000 at a recent collector’s convention. “When I became an adult, I rediscovered these long-discarded playthings and grew to appreciate the artistry behind them.”

Each year, collectors like Pascal gather at conventions nationwide to show off and trade their precious items. Hot Wheels collecting “pros” provided the following suggestions on how to create amazing collections. These tips are applicable not just for die-cast vehicles, but for virtually everything under the sun:

Craft a theme-Whether it’s based on size, year, location, etc., crafting a theme will help narrow down the “shopping list” when searching for additions to any collection.

Be picky-It’s okay to pass on pieces that aren’t necessarily attention grabbers. Waiting for that personal “wow” aspect really helps to give each piece in a collection a unique value.

Become familiar-Re-search the collection before beginning the hunting-and-buying process. The more knowledgeable one is, the better the chance of getting a great deal on the price (as well as better quality on each piece).

Budget, budget, budget-Along with researching the details on each piece, know what others are paying for it and one’s own personal budget. Bargaining is allowed with dealers, so knowing the cost breakdown on either side will help to “seal the deal.”

So get out the dust rag and start cleaning-there could be many collections waiting to be discovered in the attic alone!

Learn More About Badge and Pin Collecting

28th February 2022 by UBee

Pins are a hot collectible that offer an added advantage over other collections – they are small and do not take up much room. Pins are available in many motifs and themes. Some of the most collectible themes are Disney characters, sports teams, and Hard Rock Cafe. The first rule of pin collecting is to specialize. If you like the Manchester United Football Team for instance, you can start pin collecting with souvenir pins that celebrate this team. And just because these themes are popular doesn’t mean you have to collect them. Be original and collect what you like.

Many pins are centred around modern entertainments, but many pin collecting enthusiasts collect campaign pins from election campaigns. Buttons are a similar item and are collected by many of the same people who do pin collecting. Pins created to advertise businesses and services are also very collectible.

To display pins you have several options. When you wear a jacket with lapels, you can wear a few of your favourite small pins. The same goes for wearing a cowboy hat or a vest. Many pin collectors wear a few on the front of a cowboy hat. Tote bags, purses, and fanny packs are another place where some pins can be displayed.

Of course, as you get into pin collecting, you will soon find that you have too many to wear the entire collection at one time. A bulletin board, perhaps covered with a plain piece of fabric, like dark blue velvet, makes a nice backdrop for a pin collection. The pins can either be pinned into the cork of the bulletin board through the velvet or attached to the velvet first.

Another way to display and store pins is in a notebook. This method works well if you wish to take some of your pins to an event where you can do some trading with other pin collectors. To make the notebook, purchase sheets of hard felt or craft foam. Either punch holes in the side so they fit into a loose-leaf binder, or slip the pages into page protectors after attaching the pins to the pages. The type of loose-leaf binder that zips closed is the best to use for pin collecting.

Sometimes pins get scratched, especially if they are stored in a notebook arrangement such that they hit each other. The scratches can be smoothed over with a tiny bit of liquid car wax. Future scratching can be avoided by using page protectors in notebook collections.

Pin collecting is a very popular hobby. You can find groups of like minded people with which to trade pins, making pin collecting a hobby that helps people make friends.

Coin Collecting As A Hobby

24th February 2022 by UBee

Casual coin collecting

The most ordinary type of coin collector is the casual collector. Casual collectors are both kids and adults. They collect random coins because they like the fun of it. The casual coin collector does not spend as much money on buying and preserving coins as a more advanced coin collector. Casual coin collectors usually have interest in coins with a special meaning to them, like for instance a coin minted in their year of their birth. Casual collectors often get hold of more interesting pieces as gifts from friends or family members. The gift of a rare coin has transformed many casual collectors to curious collectors instead.

Curious coin collecting

When a collector goes further than just circulation finds and getting gifts. He develops more of an interest in coins and becomes more a curious collector. The curious collector will buy some inexpensive coins, maybe look around coin shops or look at coins on eBay or other related internet sites. That way a survey of potentially interesting areas of coin collecting is made, and as the curious coin collector interacts with more seasoned collectors, he is bit by bit learning the trade of buying or selling coins. Like for instance studying coin books before making any serious decisions about buying expensive coins. At a point most curious collectors learn enough to become an advanced coin collector.

Advanced coin collecting

Every advanced coin collector is a unique coin collector. Some are dedicated generalists looking for a few examples of all kinds of coins. If they do have enough resources, this can result in an astounding collection, as that of King Farouk of Egypt, who collected everything he could get his hands on.

Many coin collectors are completists who want an example of everything within a certain set. For instance, Louis Eliasberg was the only coin collector thus far to assemble a complete set of known coins of the United States. Other coin collectors focus on coins of a certain nation or historic period. And some collect coins from various nations or settle on error coins or exonumia like tokens and medals. As you can see, it can vary a lot.

At the highest levels of coin collecting, it is a highly competitive sport. It can lead to astronomical prices as enthusiastic collectors struggle for the very best examples of each date and mint mark combination.

Historical coin collecting

Coin collectors of ancient and medieval coins are more interested in historical significance than other coin collectors. The coins of Byzantine, Roman, Indian, Greek, Celtic, Merovingian, Parthian, Ostrogothic and ancient Israelite origin are among the most popular ancient coins collected. Specialties tend to vary a lot, but the common approach is collecting coins minted during a particular emperor’s time in power. A completist would for example strive for a representative coin from each emperor.

National coin collecting

Usually coin collectors of national coins specialize in the coins of their own country. A common way to collect national coins includes collecting one of every date and mint mark for a particular series. This is termed collecting by type. For instance, a date set in Britain may include one Queen Victoria large penny for each year, 18371901. In another example a U.S. type set might include an example of each variety of each denomination produced. Most coin collectors of national coins create unique combinations of date, mint mark and type sets.

Error coin collecting

Collecting error coins is a modern development made doable through the automation of coin manufacturing processes. Coin collectors of ancient and medieval coins; accept coins with errors because manual coin manufacturing processes lend unique features to each coin struck.

Examples of coin errors could be repunched mint marks, doubled dies, double strikes, overdates, off metal coins, clipped coins, displaced or off centre coins, and different denominations on two sides of one coin.

World coin collecting

World coins are collections of relatively recent modern coins from nations around the world. Geography is often the engine for this type of collector; he can travel around the world through his coin collection. Many collect by subject, for instance collecting coins from around the world featuring animals.

World coins are usually inexpensive and may be a good starting point for most people. Have you ever thought about looking for coins under those machines which change coins to vouchers? There are alot of lost coins that people have brought back from their holidays and forgotten about. . It is possible to find coins from all over the world, ranging from Canada, to South Africa, to Korea.

Scrap Booking A New Skill

23rd February 2022 by UBee

The first thing you need to know about making a scrapbook is that it isn’t a complicated process at all. Scrapbooking isn’t just for the crafty person among us either. In fact, you don’t need to have any crafting skills at all, in order to create a scrapbook of memories that will last for generations to come.

Scrapbooking is a way to take those photographs, and things that hold special meaning, out from the standard, and (yawn) boring photo albums, and the boxes where they are being stored, to add personality to and truly capture the essence of what these mean to you.

There are so many books, DVDs, software programs, scrapbook stores, and internet sites dedicated to scrapbooking that anyone can do it. In books, and DVDs about scrapbooking you will find ideas and tips on how to create personalized pages for your scrapbook, some even have patterns that are easily copied for use in the designing of your scrapbook. Most software programs have templates built into them for a fast and simple way to decorate your scrapbook. Scrapbook stores, online and off, and web sites for scrapbooking are all good resources to find design ideas for your scrapbook as well as the supplies you will need to complete your project. You will even find information on how best to join or bind your personal pages together once you have created them to make a lasting keepsake that you will cherish. With such a wealth of information, materials, supplies, and services available today: it is no wonder that scrapbooking has become so popular, and fun for so many.

Some of the unique supplies available for you to use in making a scrapbook and that also helps to make this such an easy and enjoyable activity for so many include items such as:

Stickers

Pre-Filled Labels

Patterns

Stencils

Serrated- Scissors

Designer Papers

Glitter Pens

Cut-outs

Ribbons

Buttons

Binders

Making a scrapbook of memories doesn’t have to be an expensive endeavour either. You can find many of these things at discounted prices and you may already have some of these items around the house, in the kid’s craft box for example. Scrapbook making is especially fun for children. Let them get out the construction paper and cut out picture from magazines or old greeting cards to glue on their very own special pages. Encourage them to be creative using markers, crayons, glitter pens, stencils, buttons, small pieces of fabric, or whatever else you can come up with together. You can punch holes in the pages that they create and then let them loop the pages together with ribbon or yarn. This is an activity that will keep the kids busy for long periods of time and is also an activity that you can enjoy right along with them.

Once you have all constructed your own unique scrapbooks, you can share them with one another to get a different perspective on old photographs and memories. Recall the memories of the events displayed in your scrapbooks and share love, laughter, and life-lessons with each other.

It is time to bring those pictures and mementos that hold such precious memories, out from the confines of drab albums and dark boxes, so that they can be displayed in a manner that best represents their full meaning to you and those you share these treasure books with. Create your keepsake treasure by making a scrapbook today!

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