Inside an Amish Stamp Shop
Raber’s Stamp Shop
2467 County Road 600
Baltic, OH 43804
If you walk to the back of Raber’s Bookstore and hang a right, this is where you end up.
The sister stamp shop to Raber’s is full of everything you need for some serious stamping.
An entire wall of stamps.
And some more. Stamping is popular among Amish women in particular. It’s not uncommon to find stamping supply stores like this one in Amish communities.
If you want to stamp, it helps to have paper. This little shop is well-equipped.
How about some more.
The shop is lit by just one light so it’s a little dark in spots, but once your eyes adjust you are set. There was also a lantern hanging from the ceiling (you can see it in the top photo) but it wasn’t lit when I visited.
Windows on either end add some light too.
I am not a stamper but if I were, this is the place I’d want to be. Stampers out there are welcome to visit. This shop is at the same location as Raber’s Bookstore. Here’s the address again:
Raber’s Stamp Shop
2467 County Road 600
Baltic, OH 43804
Greetings!!
I do a lot of crafts but I never got into stamping. Always thought about it and if I were to someday ever decide to do stamping I would have to make a trip to this shop. They have a lot of supplies in a small area. Looks to me there would be everything a person would need to get started.
Very nice pictures Erik!! Thanks for posting them!!
Have a great day!
Blessings, Alice
I know just where to go now to get things for my daughter. She enjoys things like this and scrapbooking. I’ve heard of the Amish stamp shops, but never been in one. Looks like I will have to make a trip.
I’m a little surprised that Amish would do stamping. It seems more like an English past time to me and not really plain. But I suppose they send lots of letters so maybe they enjoy stamping for that reason. Thanks for sharing. 🙂
The Amish ‘stamping’ is for scrapbook pages. It’s a newer twist on the long standing tradition of making people scrapbooks when they are ill or recovering from an injury. The scrapbook pages can contain stickers, cut outs from magazines, scripture quotes, inspirational poems and saying and much more. These are placed into plastic sleeves and then put into a binder or scrapbook binder. There are often ‘card’ showers for people too. Homemade cards are quite popular and use the stamping supplies too. The homemade Christmas cards are quite beautiful. Stamping can also be a social event when we get together to share stamps, inks and embellishments. Stores like Raber’s are quite popular…I need to get me some new supplies for my Christmas cards this year 😀
ooohhh – looks wonderful. I love making cards with stamping but have a hard time finding the time. So where do the Amish women find it??? They have so many other things that demand their time.
Creative Expression
I’m not surprised at the popularity of stamping and scrapbooking among the Amish. Amish women seem to enjoy creative pastimes such as quilting. All people like to have some sort of creative expression – Amish men take up woodcrafts and design, often for sale outside their own community. Scrapbooks were popular early in the last century, often saved through the generations. It’s a way of preserving family history. That reminds me that I once again ran across the myth that Amish forbid photographs as graven images, and this was being repeated by tour guides in an Amish community. Many Amish have family photographs going back more than a century. The prohibition is on accumulating images of oneself, and is meant to discourage vanity.
Awesome! I would love to do some stamping with my grandchildren. Thanks for the photos! Lissa
I'm surprised!
Magdalena,, I must say I’m surprised about the Amish and photographs. In just about everything I’ve read (both fiction and non-fiction) I was led to believe that taking photographs or having them was forbidden among most all (other than the most “modern”) Amish groups.
Do the Amish go to professional photograpers for “formal” family portraits, or do they ask English friends to take photos? Do the Amish own their own cameras?
This is really an interesting topic to me, for the reasons listed above. Would you be so kind as to explain a little further?
Thank you!
Alice Mary
Amish photography
Alice Mary I don’t want to cut in front of Magdalena, but this touches on some of the issues, though I don’t think it gets to all of your questions.
https://amishamerica.com/what-do-amish-think-about-photography/
I can’t say definitively on a lot of questions b/c of the usual caveats on different Amish doing things differently, but a formal photograph in a studio would be quite under the radar if it ever happened–it’s not something you’d see displayed on the dresser either. I think more Amish than we might think do have baby/child photos; I remember Mike Fisher shared some on his blog from his family when they were Amish.
I’ve taken photos of Amish kids, and have seen photos taken of Amish adults. A big part of the issue is who sees it and being perceived as prideful.
Some would own cameras (for instance in a cell phone) at the least for documentation purposes (I’m thinking businesses) though photography is not really an Amish hobby.
Never heard it called Stamping before. Here we call it Scrapbooking for keeping memories. Awesome store!
A clearer "picture"?
Thanks, Erik, for the additional info. on the Amish and photography. I am certainly learning a lot on this blog! How interesting about it being OK (at least for some Amish) to photograph kids!
I have an Amish calendar (it’s a yearly Christmas gift, always on my list) in my kitchen, and yes, there are a number of full-face photos of kids doing various chores.
Back to the stamping…that is QUITE an impressive collection of stamps at Raber’s! It’s at least as big, if not bigger than some chain craft stores I sometimes frequent.
Alice Mary
I’ve been to a nice store in Middlefield, OH. They had a huge section just for wedding invitations. I wonder if there is some sort of home business to design and create wedding invitations, etc. that some ladies run? This store looks great, I might get my sister to come down next time I go see her….