News

New Postal Service Tulips Forever Stamp Brightens Any Occasion

3/24/2022

MOUNT VERNON, WA — A perennial source of beauty on U.S. stamps, flowers evoke emotions that transcend words. The Postal Service’s new Tulips Forever stamp offers bright, cheerful tulips certain to elicit positive reactions when they appear on letters and cards.

Similar in design to the 2-ounce Sunflower Bouquet stamp, which was also issued in 2022, the Tulips Forever stamp can be used on the RSVP envelopes often enclosed with wedding invitations. In addition to regular correspondence, the stamp is perfect for party invitations, thank-you notes and other important announcements.

Designed by art director Ethel Kessler, with digital photography by Harold Davis, the Tulips Forever stamp features a colorful, eye-catching array of red, orange, yellow, purple and white tulips against a bright white background. To create this image, Davis backlit a wide, horizontal arrangement of flowers on a light box. Since this composition was wider than his camera could photograph at high resolution, Davis made three separate images, moving from left to right. Each image was exposed six times at different exposure values. He digitally combined the resulting 18 captures to form the single image.

The result is a luminous, almost ethereal, assortment of overlapping tulips in a profusion of color. Davis’ intent was to create a cheerful vision that encourages feelings of happiness.

The words “FOREVER” in purple and “USA” in red appear below the panorama of tulips on the stamp. The stamp will always be equal in value to the current First-Class Mail 1-ounce price.