Washington Artist Designs New USPS Lunar New Year Stamp & Its 3D

Is it just me or does the dragon mask look kike it is floating on the top of the stamp?

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Washington State Artist Design Featured on New USPS Stamp

The United States Postal Service just released a new stamp celebrating the Lunar New Year, and a Washington artist is responsible for the amazing design. The USPS vice president of retail and delivery operations for the Postal Service's WESTPAC Area, Eduardo H. Ruiz, Jr., said in a recent USPS news release that "For more than three decades, the Postal Service has issued stamps highlighting the Lunar New Year and this subject has been some of the most successful stamp releases in the long history of the Postal Service." The art design was created by Seattle, Washington artist Camille Chew, not by drawing on canvas, paper, or computer, but by actually forming the detailed mask out of paper. The process it took to create the design for the new stamp was much more than meets the eye.

How Washington Artist Camille Chew Created the Lunar New Year Mask

When I look at the design for the stamp, it looks very 3d to me and that is because it was actually created as a 3D-dimensional object. She cut and folded hand-printed paper to form the mask shape and then covered the back with paper mache to help it hold its shape. She then painted details with acrylic and attached flowers and other details like the hanging tassels. After the detailed dragon mask was completed, it was photographed in front of white paper to make the final image for the stamp. The colors for the design were carefully chosen to have meaning with the color gold signifying prosperity in the coming year and the color red is considered lucky. Chew worked with art director Antonio Alcalá to create a design that reflects the colors and feel of masks used in Lunar New Year parades. One other benefit to buying the Lunar New Year stamps is that they are issued as Forever stamps and will always be equal in value to the current First-Class Mail 1‑ounce price.

Purchase the new Lunar New Year stamps for yourself by clicking here.