17th July - World Emoji Day

World Emoji Day

World Emoji Day is celebrated annually on 17th July, since 2014.

July 17th, 2002 was the day Apple unveiled its iCal App at Macworld 2002.  This iOS mobile operating system calendar emoji is a daily flip calendar.  It is depicted as a page torn off from a daily desk calendar displaying month in a red and blue header and day on a white square page.  It is set for July 17th, the App's birthday. So  Jeremy Burge, founder of Emojipedia choose 17th as World Emoji Day.

The below Emoji stamps issued by Switzerland on 7th September 2017, depicts emojis.

Cold Foil Stamp - Spain

To commemorate 35th Anniversary of the Constitutional court, Spain Post has issued a single stamp Miniature sheet on 23rd July 2015.  The uniqueness of this Miniature sheet is the cold foil printing technique. I have many hot foil stamps, but this is first one for cold foil.  (It seems recently Liechtenstein issued three cold foil stamps under 'Princely treasure' theme - I don't have them yet).

Brief look at Cold foil and Hot foil techniques:

In cold foil technique, gum is applied to the area where foil has to be placed and then the foil is pressed with the help of UV light.  Then colour is applied on the paper and foil through ordinary printing. Since the technique is very simple, the cost is less. Cold foil technique is preferred when large area needs foiling or when precision is needed. 

Whereas in Hot foil technique the design block (mould-like) has to be made and the foil is pressed on the paper with the help of this block. The colour is restricted to the colour of the foils available. Embossing can be done along with foil pressing.  It is not recommended for tiny area.  The block making and special printing make this technique costly.

Herdbook of Estonian Cattle breed : Flocked Effect stamp

On July 19th 2014, Estonia post (Eesti Post) released  a stamp to commemorate the 100 Years of Herdbook of Estonian Cattle Breed.  Since August 1914, Estonian cattle breeders have been recording the origination, appearance and production data of cattle. 

To give a soft smooth texture to the stamp, Cartor Security Printing house used flock technique. You can see the printing action here.

Eda Kraav of Estonia sent this textured stamp on the envelope for our swap. Thanks a lot Eda, another nice addition to my Odd and Unusual stamps.

Edelweiss

While I am writing this article, the Edelweiss flower should be blooming in the mountains of Austria, Switzerland, etc.  July to September is the blooming season of this flower.  Edelweiss is a German word that means "Noble and White".

Edelweiss is a well-known mountain flower that belongs to the daisy or sunflower family.  The petals are unequally distributed.   This flower is becoming popular because it is not only used in the skincare industry but also used in folk medicines for abdominal and respiratory diseases. 

Throughout history, Edelweiss symbolizes courage, truth, and hope.  This white flower with the golden dusty middle is a National symbol of Austria and Switzerland.

It is a protected plant in many countries including Austria, India.

Embroidery is needlework done on materials with yarn or thread. Austria's embroidery work dates back to the 18th century.  To commemorate this artwork Austria Post has issued the below embroidery stamp of "Edelweiss flower" on 19th July 2005.

Pi Approximation Day - India

 Pi  Approximation Day is observed on July 22 because 22/7 is the approximate value of Pi in the fractional form and in India they write the date first and then the month.

In 1914, the Indian Math wizard Ramanujan published a formula for PI that converges remarkably faster than many other approaches. See here. 

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The above stamp depicting Srinivasa Ramanujan was issued by India in 2010.

In U.S. Pi day is observed on 14th of March (3.14 or 3/14 in the U.S. month/day date format), since 3, 1, and 4 are the three most significant digits of π in the decimal form.