Back in the 1980s three friends, illustrators Bill Nelson and Jack Williams and myself created “ElbowGrease,” a company that designed and sold rubber stamps.
I stumbled on the original catalog. A few pages…
And a flyer from the same period…
A few pages from the first catalog…
We promoted the stamps through our catalogs for six or seven years that, happily, were mentioned in publications such as Glamour, BusinessWeek, Playboy, and others.
Haha… Here’s an old Polaroid of the ElbowGrease Rubber Stamp Pushcart from the 1985 opening of the 6th Street Marketplace in downtown Richmond, Virginia. Left to Right: Bill Nelson, Jack Williams, Chuck Green.
My mom, Shirley Green, volunteered to man the cart for the brief time we were open—as it turned out, we didn’t sell much through the cart (plenty through the catalogs), but I remember she had a ball doing it.
Someone asked: Most of the illustrations are by Bill Nelson and Jack Williams—I contributed some here and their but my main thing was the design of the logo, the catalogs, and all the marketing stuff…
Wow, I’m pretty sure I bought stamps from you in the early 80s… 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.
Omg my childhood. My mother would drive me up from Los Angeles to SB if I was good for a stamp. I still have a huge collection
I THOUGHT those images looked familiar!!!!!! They were marketed from SB and I collect them madly. So sad about Stamp a Mania’s Mark passing…..he and I chatted about the multiple drawers of SB he got from you….I wonder what will happen to all those.
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. 🙂
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.
The images were truly unique! Them was da days. Richmond was a fun time for me. In the 70’s. I googled elbow grease when, for some reason, the name came to me. I associated the name with just Bill. Surprised to see the other names. How long did it last ? Stamping is still pretty in with the scrap book crowd. Retired now and living the life in Cape May. No stamping, though.
Good to hear you Ed. I think we worked together occassionally at Brand Edmonds Bolio–that right?
Elbow Grease was around for maybe three or four years I think.
Still have my cherished ELBOW GREASE catalogue and several stamps (among my 300+ rubber stamps)! The art in that catalogue inspired my own art, clip art, cartoons, design… still inspired by that little catalogue of witty gems. It’s on a book shelf next to Bill Nelson “Finishing the Hat.” (I am also a retired ventriloquist!)
Haha… Thanks much McNair–I was just telling one of my sons more about ELBOW GREASE this past weekend. Finishing the Hat is a good one.
Going to Stampa Barbara was like traveling to Mecca. I live in Pittsburgh, PA and have visited many stores around the country. Few stores were as unique as Stampa Barbara. Their brand of stamps were always featured on the back cover of Rubberstampmadness Magazine. Miss Gary’s designs.
Well, rats! I wish you were still in business; I would order from you. I’m not a fan of cutesy stamps. Thank you for helping keep the world weird!
Hi, still looking for a stampabarbara stamp that featured the face of Elvis on a Pumpkin! Wish I had bought it back then. I attended college in Oregon and would go down to Cal and SB as often as possible–the store on state street in paseo nuevo was fabulous-
There are two elvis pumpkins on EBAY.
OMG! I was art director at a smallish TV station in Central Ontario, Canada. I used to see Bill Nelson’s work in Communication Arts Magazine-big fan. Don’t remeber how I found Elbow Grease, but I found 2 catalogues in my garage yesterday. Bought a dozen or so stamps, back in the day, which i enjoyed using on inter-office memos, notes to the boss, amuse my kids, etc. Happy memories for me. And I still use my stamp collection.
Haha… Thanks for that Paul.
Yeah, Bill is a talented man–and, BTW, still doing lots of interesting stuff…
http://billnelsonstudios.com
Hi Chuck – great history!
Hey, is there still a rubber-stamping community at all? I’m asking because I’ve inherited about 24 cartons of rubber stamps (there must be 3,000 of ‘em) and I’m looking for someone interested. I recognize many of yours!
Thanks! ====> Darren / North Hills CA. 310.980.8080
Good question. I remember a publication called RubberStampMadness which, it appears, is still up and running…
https://rsmadness.com/
Very Cool designs Chuck! I bought a rubber stamp business back in 2016 and we mainly focus on making stamps for notaries and engineers but wanted to add some different products. I bet a lot has changed over the years since you been in the business.
I still have that catalog. I cannot give it up. Found this in a search for Gary Dorothy because I was curious where he was these days. Worked at Stampa Barbara and still have thousands of stamps. Can’t give them up, either.
Those were the days! Gary is still being creative over on Facebook.