Purple Pepper

Mail Art Monday: Puzzles

Sarah — Mon, 21 May 2012 07:47:42 +0000

The outgoing part of this post is a little sparse this week. It seems the promising start shown by the Post Office when they first increased their prices has worn off, and things are being rather slow reaching their destinations now. Oh well, luckily my mailbox was far more productive this week…

OUTGOING

Susan Walker was a lucky(?) recipient of some Mail Art from me this week, with this machine stitched collage postcard. I seem to have inadvertently announced both my jean size, and the fact that I love a bit of a bargain. Mail Art can be very telling, obviously!

Tarah (Miss Thundercat) received another of my machine stitched postcards this week. I owe Tarah a package full of wondrous things, and I’ve already started working on it, but I sent this card in the meantime to keep us both busy!

It’s also transpired that TWO of my postcards never arrived. Both of these cards went into the post box a few months ago, never to be seen again, which is a big shame, because I was actually rather attached to them.

Made from some ‘junkmail’, this one went to Mim…

… and this one to Boo Cartledge, both in the USA.

All-in-all, not a great week for Royal Mail!

INCOMING

Thankfully I was a little luckier with my incoming mail.

A very colourful, happy little dragon was the first to appear in my mailbox. He came from Suus in Mokum in Amsterdam.

Some serious DKulting has been going on this week. First, KDJ sent me these rather amazing ‘DKult is the Shit’ tattoos, which I must stick to anyone who’s willing…

… and then Trashpo queen Diane Keys sent me some DKult advertising material to persuade me into the fold. Well, I did of course sign on the dotted line!

Carina Granlund sent this fabulous card to me as a thank you for the embroidered LEGO ‘to be continued’ story cards I sent to her recently. She wrote a really sweet note on the back, and something a little ‘different’ is already on its way back over to her mailbox in Finland.

Inside a very colourful envelope from Gilberte Vermeulen I found two photographic print of magical GV paintings. Really beautiful. These will soon be on my studio wall next to the wonderful original paintings Gilberte sent to me in his last package.

I rushed out of the house on Friday morning, I found a nice big envelope from Alejandra Wilches Gianetta in my mailbox, full of something rattling around inside. I brought it in to work with me to see what lay inside (I couldn’t possibly wait until I got home!) And inside I found… a Mail Art puzzle! I quickly set to work putting it together, and discovered a wonderful postcard with an illustration and collage of her dream on one side, and a sweet message on the other. She dreams of returning to her country to continue working in the theater, and in the illustration little birds flee their cage and the locks that bind her, to fly off back home to Columbia. Beautiful.

My arty sldies collection is growing with these beautiful slides from Angie & Snooky in the US. Hidden inside the wonderfully retro card I also found my first ever ATC (artist trading card). I feel another collection coming on!

A wonderfully tactile piece arrived from Nancy Bell Scott, also in the US. Nancy does amazing things with layers of tissue paper and paint. This is part 1 of 4 of a larger piece, and I’m looking forward to seeing the other parts, wherever they end up.

Well, we reach the end of yet another Monday post. I hope Royal Mail pull their finger out so that I can show you much more next week. Until then, be good!

Fusing

Sarah — Thu, 17 May 2012 11:00:25 +0000

I’ve been having a little play about lately, fusing old plastic carrier bags together with an iron, and I have to say it’s rather addictive. With a supply of (free) bags I think I’d make sheets of the stuff!

Using different colours and types of bags you can achieve different effects, and I especially like to include the type and branding from the bag’s original design. With enough layers, the final product is a durable and flexible material that can be made into all sorts of things. I’ll definitely be exploring this a bit further! For now, these will be going out as Mail Art postcards all over the world.

By Night

Sarah — Tue, 15 May 2012 15:23:02 +0000

Another Gwynfa Camera Club competition topic, ‘By Night’ had me stumped for a while, and I didn’t think I’d be getting anything in on time.

At around half 11 the night before submission date, I left my pint (attended, of course) in the pub and ventured into the nearby churchyard in a desperate, last-ditch attempt at finding something useable. A wander around a dark cemetery later, and a frantic session with photoshop, and I had my entry! Huzzah!

This one got me a 16/20.

Mail Art Monday: Trouser Chairs

Sarah — Mon, 14 May 2012 12:00:54 +0000

Happy Monday (if there is such a thing!)

Here’s a run-down of the Mail Art happenings at my place this week.

OUTGOING

I’ll kick off this week with this machine stitched card for Amy Irwen in the US. The circus flyer in the middle was picked up in Spain, and I felt the ace of spades fitted in well to make this almost sinister looking card. She likes it, though, thankfully!

Patrice Keats finally received this ‘card’, made from lots of little cereal box circles sandwiched between craft paper and some red ‘mesh’. It’s held together with some proudly neat cross stitches.

Jill French has disappeared from the IUOMA network – I hope she comes back soon! She should have received this card by now, which I call ‘my house’.

PrettyLily in the US received this machine stitched card made from leaflets that I picked up on our recent trip to Colwyn Bay…

… while Dean Marks in France received some leaflets mixed with lunch!

Tomo in the UK should have received this tag by now too, although I haven’t heard from him. I recycled a ‘funny’(?) cartoon to create a piece with a theme of time and different generations. I hope he got it ok!

INCOMING

It looks like more of us Brits are setting up camp over at IUOMA these days, which is great for quick exchanges and lower postage costs!

Rebecca Guyver sent me this wonderfully colourful mixed media card of collage and paint. She asks what we do in pubs in Wales. We don’t generally play chess, which is what they seem to do in Suffolk! I’m working on a reply with my answer.

Laura Daniels, also from the UK sent me this add and pass piece a while ago, but it got lost in the wilderness of the house. I’ll be adding to this and passing it along soon.

Niklas Heed sent me this wonderful envelope from Sweden, covered in artistamps dedicated to a postal worker. A great idea. He also filled it up with a few postcards and leaflets that I can use in future MA efforts.

Valentine Mark Herman, founder of the Arty Slides International group, sent me two Arty Slides, two promotional slides for one of his upcoming exhibitions, and a handy little holder to keep the slides in. My AS collection in growing nicely!

Emily Garrison in Canada sent me some fabric flowers to use in my next mailart. I’d better get my thinking cap on!

I also received a printed postcard copy of a magical, homely little scene from Jane Smith in the US.

Finding this wonderful envelope in my mailbox, I spent a while going over the details – the postbird delivering mail art to me at my tree, and the ‘mail art box’ outside. On the front I found Mrs. Rabbit watering some chairs. Interesting…. it was only then that I noticed my name – Sarah CHAIRchill. I had a giggle, and opened it up. All became clear.

An ad for ‘Chairchill’s Original Trouser Chairs’. ‘You get up and the chair stays stuck to your arse – like magic!’

Only Vizma Bruns could find such an ad! Apparently she saw it and thought of me (in a good way!)

And that’s the end of yet another week of Mail Art. I haven’t been sending as much lately (since the postal charges went up), but there are still many of my cards on route to new homes around the world, so hopefully see you back here again next week!

Mail Art Monday: Stitched

Sarah — Mon, 07 May 2012 08:17:39 +0000

Another busy week for postie, and along with Royal Mail’s price hike, they seem to have upped their game with delivery too! Some super fast postage has been going on all over the world for my humble little mail art cards.

OUTGOING

An exception to the fast delivery theory, Vizma Bruns in Australia finally received my third and final sketch sent from our holiday a couple of weeks ago. This one is of the Marble Church at Bodelwyddan.

Vizma also received this Wonder Woman embroidered card that I sent a week or so after the first card. Vizma shares my love for WW, so this one just had to be hers!

Carina Granlund in Finland received the second and final part of the Lego fire story, the first part of which I showed you last week. Carina really enjoyed the ‘To be continued…’ mail art, so I might try this again, or maybe come up with a way to make it into a bigger project. Not sure about this yet, but I have my thinking hat on.

Jeannine Saylor received a postcard/package from me with super fast postage – she though that maybe I’d teleported it. I wish I was able to do that… it’d save a small fortune on stamps! This one took just 3 days to arrive in Canada.

The puffy postcard, made from a watercolour painting sewn to foam and a backing piece of card, had a tiny dinner money envelope stuck to the back, stuffed with as many bits of paper ephemera that I could fit into the tiny space. A new challenge for me, but fun!

Louise Kiner, also in Canada, received this postcard made from one of my birthday cards and the inside of an envelope (complete with plastic window).

New Letter Writers Alliance pen-pal Krishma received her first letter from me, in a hand illustrated envelope that I call ‘waiting’.

Janine Weiss received this clear plastic pocket with a flower (recycled from another birthday card) and a craft leaf sewn inside. Janine has said many nice things about this, and has shown me pics of it on display in her home, which is rather lovely.

Laura Podob (Spopod) received this rather British tag recently, and replied very speedily with an illustrated postcard (just scroll down a bit to see it!)

Arac (Cara Harrison) received her birthday package on Friday, only a few days late – but still in the all important ‘birthday week’! You might remember a couple of weeks ago I shared with you the wonderful birthday package Cara had sent to me, so I wanted to send an equally awesome package back to her… if not better! I’d already worked on a card for her, which arrived last week, but I knew exactly what to do for the main part of Cara’s birthday mail art gift from me…

So, I took my favourite purse, which had unfortunately been in the wars on a recent trip to Spain, and set to work on some surgery. After sewing it back together and decorating it with some 3D fabric paint, I stuffed it full of as many things as I could make and find before sending it off super-speedily in time for the birthday-ness in Cara’s house.

Inside Cara found a decorated tag, some arty slides (including a little experiment with transparency - right) and my first ever APC (altered playing card). I also gifted her my own birthday badge from a couple of weeks ago, a full set of my moo mini-cards, and filled the coin compartment with buttons and confetti, along with a pretty 50p piece (for good luck!)

A tiny envelope with the old saying ‘Health, Wealth and Happiness’ contained a few funny little things, including a plaster (band-aid) in case of minor emergencies with the ‘Health’ part

Gilberte Vermeulen received one of the machine stitched ‘collage’ cards I’ve been doing a lot of lately.

Erni Bär (Germany) received another machine stitched card…

… as did Suus in Mokum in the Netherlands…

… Niklas Heed in Sweden…

… and Angie & Snooky in the US! Told you postie’s been busy.

INCOMING

This hand illustrated postcard from Laura Podob arrived full of patterns and hopes for spring. Shame it’s done nothing but rain for weeks here

A little bit of ‘Blue Trashpo’ arrived from Greece thanks to Katerina Nikoltsou. If you’ve been following these posts over the past few weeks you’ll know her name – I owe her SO MUCH mail art!

Lindsay Stewart sent a card that made me laugh, and probably the postal workers too – I think it speaks for itself..!

From Patricio (The Celestial Scribe) in Brazil I received a wonderful Hummingbird – the Postbird of Patland – and leaf from the Celestial Garden, inside a wonderful (if a little water-damaged) envelope.

And there we go – another week over, and lots of new art on my wall. I’m dying for the bank holiday weekend to be over so that normal service can resume. My mailbox has been rather sad these past few days. Fingers crossed, and see you next week!

Mail Art Monday: Magic

Sarah — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 14:06:32 +0000

Hello again! Don’t Mondays come around quickly? Here we are again with the lowdown on my Mail Art comings and goings this week.

OUTGOING

I started off the week with a ‘lucky’ card for Jennifer Ley in the US. Everyone needs a little luck now and again!

While on holiday in Scotland just over a week ago, I sketched 3 postcards of the beautiful scenery around me and popped them straight into the postbox. 2 of these have already arrived at their new homes. Katerina Nikoltsou received this sketch of Loch Lomond…

… while Thom Courcelle received a sketch drawn on one of our stops at the beautiful Lake Windermere.

Even the DVLA aren’t safe from my Mail Art! I figured, if I have to waste a stamp to send off my drivers license for renewal, then I might as well make it count!

Penpal Mandy Schuster in the US enjoyed the Arty Tag I sent to her with my last letter, so I upped the MA element of my most recent letter with a heavily decorated envelope.

Carina Granlund received this card on the weekend – an embroidered comic strip leaving a cliff-hanger at the end. What’s on fire? Carina will find out any day now, when the final panel arrives!

If you read my last post, then you will know that Arac sent me the most wonderful birthday package, and a birthday/anniversary ‘twofer’ card. Well, Arac will be celebrating her own birthday tomorrow (1st May), so I had to get my skates on with a reply! Luckily, I had already made this card for her, so it arrived in the nick of time, but the parcel I put together for her will be a little late. Oh well, birthdays should last at least a week anyway!

My first Mail Art to Japan arrived in Marie Wintzer’s mailbox. Unfortunately (and stupidly) I forgot to put my name on there, so Marie had no clue as to who had sent it to her. Luckily for me, the other IUOMA members know me well enough to recognise my stamps, and the mystery was soon solved. Must make sure I sign everything from now on!

INCOMING

Janine Weiss sent me this magical card that she made on Friday 13th, will a couple of paper dolls and the cutest little fabric hearts. Janine told me that if I burn the Papier D’armenie it will leave a wonderful smell in my studio. I can’t bring myself to burn it just yet, but I’ll let you know if I do.

Steph Dodson sent me this wonderfully colourful card, which is actually a slice (quarter) of a larger original piece. I love the balance of it, with the 2 butterflies and 3 circles, and the different patterns and mark making techniques she’s used.

I received my first package from Tarah (Miss Thundercat). The beautifully decorated envelope (apparently she’s going through a self proclaimed rubber stamp phase!) was packed full of clippings and paper ephemera that I can use for future mail art packages.

I also became a fully-fledged Trashpo DKult-er with this package from De Villo Sloan in New York, containing my very own DKult portable trashpo shrine, complete with a shred of the Real Elgin Shroud. Oh, yes.

Here’s something a little different to close this week’s post. I first heard about Postmuse’s Adopt a Postcard Project through Jessica Gowling’s blog, and just had to participate. Many years ago she rescued a big box of blank postcards from a eighbour’s rubbish, and eventually they became the Adopt a Postcard Project, where adopters choose cards from a particular place that means something to them, Postmuse sends them out in an envelope, and the adopter then writes a message on the back of the cards and sends them back. I received my adopted postcard last week, with a view of Cardiff Castle. I did also request a card from Montreal, but that card had already found an adoptive parent. I’ll be filling in the back of this card very soon, and it will be on its way back to the USA. I also plan to collect together a couple more postcards to put up for adoption in the project, so stay tuned for that too.

That’s all for this week.

I went a little bit mad this weekend with my mum’s sewing machine (it doesn’t see the light of day very often, so when it does I like to make the most of it!) A big handful of postcards were dropped into the postbox this morning, so my 365 project has taken a leap up to #85! It’s great knowing that all that Mail Art is on its way to unsuspecting people, but I may have to take a few days off to recover!

Mail Art Monday: Monsters

Sarah — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 14:58:53 +0000

Hello everyone! Did you miss me?

I had a lovely birthday and anniversary, and spent a cold but awesome week traveling around the north of Wales, England and Scotland. Maybe I’ll find time to do a little blog and share some photos with you. For now, though, I have to catch up with my Mail Art Mondays, having missed last week’s!

And it’s a MONSTER!…

OUTGOING

I owe Tarah – Miss Thundercat a lot for introducing me to IUOMA, and opening up my mailbox to a world of Mail Art, quit literally! So, the least I could do to thank her was to make her an embroidered postcard. Taking a little break from the ’Stitch Sisters Series’, I went for something a little different. He really does make me smile! …

Diane Keys and Neil Gordon, both in the US, received half each of my first attempt at Trashpo, using rubbish I found on the floor on my way to work one day.

Suus in Mokum in the Netherlands, a new member of IUOMA, received my Mail Art Monster card last week. Take a look at her monster reply later in the post.

Nancy Bell Scott received a little Gold from me because, after all, us girls need a little bling now and again!

New IUOMA member Steph Dodson, in the US, got my Tony the Tiger postcard, made from a cereal box, and a few other things I found in the recycling bin.

To Svenja Wahl in Germany I sent this postcard that ‘saw much on its travels’. One of my first ‘collage’ postcards, complete with googly eyes! This has opened up a whole new can of ‘eyebombing’ worms, so we may be seeing some more of these soon.

A decorative green postcard made its way to Lindsay Stewart in Canada…

… and some more of my Arty Slides also found their way to their new homes…

Karen Champlin in the US requested one of my Wonder Woman slides, so I made this one just for her, and teamed it up with an Australian cartoon stamp. Her reply also arrived while I was away, with two gorgeous fabric covered slides that you can see a little later in this post.

Angie & Snooky got their Arty Slides this week.

I mixed things up a bit, sending a couple of decorated parcel tags out into the world. This one went to Rebecca Cook…

… while Carina Granlund received this tag…

I used clear poly ‘envelopes’ for both tags, so that everyone along the way could see them, and I wanted them to look extra interesting in the ladies’ mailboxes. Here they are all packed up and ready to be posted.I really enjoy making tactile Mail Art that’s ‘open’, but if it’s a bit delicate then I now have the habit of using clear envelopes of some kind to keep them safe.

Carina’s arrived fine, but Rebecca’s was put into a larger ‘Post Office’ envelope along the way, so I’ll have to start using bigger bags. I always find it funny how dramatically different POs can be with their regulations.

INCOMING

I received some more Arty Slides this week, this time from Katerina Nikoltsou. I owe her a lot of mail art now!

My Arty Slides collection grew even more, with there wonderful fabric covered slides arriving from Karen Champlin.

Luzia Castaneda, a recipient of one of my IUOMA welcome packages, sent a postcard full of memories of her trip to the End of the World.

Angie and Snooky (her faithful Corgi) sent this great ‘Roots’ postcard from the US, inspired by those pesky moles that are giving Snooky problems!

Christine Jones (aka Bris Chris) in Australia sent me this inspiring postcard – an altered photograph made from materials that were damaged in the January 2011 floods. This is her Mail Art #156, and Flood Art #96. It’s so full of meaning and soul.

Here’s Suus in Mokum‘s Sea Monster, who made friends with my Mail Art Monster before crossing the ocean to me.

Katerina Nikoltsou sent another postcard (I’m amassing a great little collection), this time of ‘Greek Spring Sea Breeze’. Beautiful and calming. Katerina has passed her 1001 pieces of mail art challenge, so she isn’t numbering them any more. I’m now on #59, so I have a long way to go yet!

Jeannine Saylor sent me this graphically wonderful handmade envelope all the way from Canada, filled with ephemera she found around her studio, including watercolour prints, stickers and stamps. There was also a postcard from Vancouver Island to show me what her part of Canada is like. Absolutely beautiful!

This ‘Barcodes Are Human Too’ piece arrived from Dean Marks in France – my first bit of ’3D’ mail art, and a very colourful one at that!

I’ve been following Louise Kiner’s ‘Zombie Kitty Kawaii Travels The World‘ project for a while, and am waiting for Kitty to visit me in Wales any day now. In the meantime, Louise sent me this fab ZKK postcard, decorated with pieces of barcodes that were the contents of Dean Marks’ ‘Maggie’s Phat Kat’s air sickness bag’. It’s a long story Also in there was an adorable little zine called ‘A Victorian Lady’s Guide to Anti-Zombie Weaponary’, which is sure to come in handy.

Gilberte Vermeulen sent me an incredibly generous package, inside which I found two large paintings which are just mesmerising. There was also a beautiful photograph, a tiny watercolour and a mini art card.

Absolutely lovely. The chickens, in particular, make me smile every time I look at them. These are already on the wall above my desk.

Carina Granlund sent a rather busy, large birthday postcard that’s full of so much detail I don’t think I’ve seen it all even now!

And now, the prize for most generous Mail Art Friend of the week (year?!) goes to… ARAC!

This fantabulous card from Arac arrived on the 12th April (my husband’s birthday), a twofer wishing me both a Happy Birthday (for the 14th) and a Happy Anniversary (for the 16th). Perfect timing all round, I think!

Arac had hinted that there was something else on its way to me, but I forgot all about it while I was away. So, you can probably imagine my excitement when I returned home to this amazing package…!

The envelope itself got me rather excited, but I never expected to find so much wonderful generosity inside. Along with the party decorations and ribbons were 4 amazing Arty Slides (shown here both front and back) and a lovely note accompanied by $5! The note explains that her Grandma always told her it’s unlucky to send a birthday card without money in it, and instructed me how to distribute the cash between myself and my husband. I’m still in awe of all this, and can’t thank Arac enough. Her birthday is coming up on the 1st May, so I have a lot of work to do with my reply!

Mail Art Monday: Easter Exchanges

Sarah — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 10:50:58 +0000

The Easter Bank Holiday weekend has left my mailbox a little emptier than last week, but postie has still been rather busy…

OUTGOING

A bit of a random one to start. Cadbury’s Chocolate are holding an Olympics themed competition, providing postcards with a blank area to ‘Write your message of support [...] to keep Team GB pumped!’

Not sure this is exactly what they had in mind, but I couldn’t resist taking advantage of the pre-paid postage!

My reply to Michalis Kotsaris finally arrived. I made this postcard out a photograph from a magazine and a headline from another to make something that I found rather amusing! I also threw in a little embroidery to embellish it a little.

To thank Laurence Gillot for his fabulously inspiring artwork in this post, I sent him a piece based on a photograph of a Venetian mask, with ribbons, beads and stitching. This one also went out in a clear plastic CD wallet.

Jon Foster sent a wonderfully graphic, layered postcard to me last week, so in return I made this ‘new perspective’ piece. I wasn’t sure if the punched holes would make it through the postal machines ok, but they did, and in super-quick time!

I got myself all organised and prepared a few Easter postcards, sending them off early in the hope that they’d arrive in time. These went to (Clockwise from top left) Dean Marks in France (who had mentioned something about Welsh sheep!), Angela Helmenstein in Germany and Stacey Cann in Canada.

;

INCOMING

I received my second piece of Greece from Katerina Nikoltsou this week, this time the ‘Tall Greek Blue-Green Grass’ came with a request for one of my embroidered portrait postcards. I’ll get to work on one for her as soon as I can.

Jill French in the US replied to one of little ‘Welcome to IUOMA’ packages with this amazing card made from ‘Silks & Tissues’. Jill wasn’t sure it would arrive in one piece, but it looks perfect! A really tactile piece that must have caught the eye of a postal worker or two.

My Arty Slides collection grew a little this week, with these two from Vizma Bruns in Australia. The whole package made me smile. Not only has The Scream lost his luggage on a flight to Tahiti, but there’s also a surfboarding Kangaroo. What more could I need?!

The Bank Holiday may have left my Mailbox empty, but it’s given me time to work on lots of new cards to send out this week.

There won’t be a Mail Art Monday post next week, as I’m away in Scotland for a week celebrating my Birthday and Wedding Anniversary, so expect an awesome post the week after. Until then!

Mail Art Monday: Super Warewolves

Sarah — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 11:22:49 +0000

It’s been another busy week for the postal service around the world, and I’ve had many ‘Good Mail Days’.

OUTGOING

I started the week off with a big MIAOW for Erni Bär, made from an old ad. It got a bit battered on its way over to Germany… maybe someone dared to try and put the cat back in the bag and a claw fight to the death ensued. You never know.

A reply went out to Jim SantAmour in the US, who sent a photograph postcard to me a couple of weeks ago. I made this postcard out of the same ad as the one above, and altered it using handmade paper, washi tape and a paper ‘sign’, directing the cat to the ‘Pigeon Post’. Apparently Jim’s two cats, Daryl and Daryl, loved it

Another reply went to Anna Micciulla to thank her for the ant picnic I received last week. The curious puppy wonders at the ants, and went off in search of the missing piece of Anna’s Mail Art that got lost on the way. I don’t think he found it (he’s not the sharpest tool in the shed).

Some more of my Arty Slides also found their way to their new homes this week…

Sue Hobbs in South Africa got a Wonder Woman slide and a ‘spring’ themed slide which I have been making since the sun began to shine.

Andy Hoang gave me a warm welcome to Mailart 365, and was kind enough to compliment my recycling of old comics and the unusual medium of using 35mm slides in Mail Art, so I of course made a pair of Arty Slides just for him!

Together with my usual mirrored comic book slide (this time featuring Superman instead of my beloved Wonder Woman), I experimented with a different concept and came up with this ‘What can you see?’ slide, allowing Andy to see whatever he wants through the little frame.

I’ve been working on a few more transparent slides, and ones where I incorporate the original film into the piece, so expect some more of them soon. I seem to find it so much easier to create Arty Slides rather than postcards or envelopes – probably because the limited space leaves little room to get over-involved or overly busy.

A few weeks ago I received a photograph from Emily Whistlecroft with a request to send her a ‘Secret/Confession’ that she can use in the Mail Art module of her course. I finally got around to sending her a reply – an origami fish with my goldfish related confession hidden inside. I’m not going to tell you what it is – it’s a secret!

And it’s not just Mail Art. I also have a few ‘traditional’ pen-pals that actually write ‘real’ letters. I have been writing to Christina Rowland in Georgia for a few years now, and I thought it time to introduce her into my world of Mail Art with a handstitched, recycled ad envelope.

The Letter Writers Alliance provided me with the details of a new penpal in Los Angeles, so I wrote my first letter to her and sent it off together with a little Mail Art (easing her in gently!) with this ‘Procrastination’ tag.

INCOMING

My mailbox has been a little bit mental this week! And I mean that in a very good way.

The Haptic Werewolf struck Wales with this card from the wonderful Erni Bär. Loving the the little comic illustration, not so sure about the (terrifying) clown! Our cards may have passed each other in the post (hopefully with a high-five).

New friend Boo Cartledge is a girl after my own heart, sending me this fabric covered postcard that made me think of cotton dresses and the little cotton hankies I was forced to take to school as a child. I love the juxtaposition of that with the message ‘Balls-to-the-Wall Fun’. It’s like me ‘then and now’. Fab.

Jon Foster, another new IUOMA friend, sent me this wonderful card made using sticky tape to transfer words and graphics onto a black and white illustration of a boat. This is one of those pieces that you have to study to really find all of the details. It’s reminded me of so many techniques I used in art school involving photocopies and masking tape that I’d forgotten about… until now! A real inspiration.

Mim Golub Scalin sent me a lovely congratulatory card for being the 100th member of the Mailart 365 group, which really made me smile. I’m loving the turquoise ink! Unfortunately it lost some weight on the way over……

Mim sent me a photo of how it looked before its journey, and a few of the words had, indeed, gone astray.

So, instead of saying ‘had been interested intensely private, peeking faintly in the summer’, it now reads ‘had been interested peeking faintly in’.

It’s funny how different the message becomes when just a couple of words are removed, and I think I like it even more because of that.

Patrice Keats was the recipient of a little welcome package that I send to new IUOMA members sometimes, which is a tiny decorated/painted envelope with old stamps, stickers etc. inside for them to use on their own Mail Art. I also enclose one of my mini-cards with this blog’s address on the back so that they can find out more about me. Patricia is the first to reply to one of these packages, and incorporated many of the things I sent her into the piece – the stickers adorned the back of the card, but I particularly like how she re-used my mini-card into the composition of the main image, with the blue lines of my design actually making up a portion of the flower pot’s outline. Great stuff Patricia, thank you!

My second Arty Slides package arrived this week, this time from PrettyLily in the USA. Simple, but very pretty and tactile, I’m loving this new form of Mail Art. They came wrapped in some lovely printed paper, and I’ll be reusing that very soon.

And finally, as a thank you from Kathy at the Letter Writers Alliance for taking part in a recent request for members’ information, I received this lovely, elegant letterpressed postcard.

Phew! What a week! I hope you enjoy seeing all of this Mail Art as much as I enjoy sending and receiving it. I’m now at number 30 of my 365 challenge. It’s going to be a busy year!

Mail Art Monday: A Monster is born

Sarah — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 10:58:47 +0000

In last week’s Mail Art post, Jessica Gowling commented that she had created a MA Monster, and judging by the amount of art that’s stuffed into my weekly posts she might be right! The past week has seen some more postcards, embroidered photographs and Arty Slides arrive at their destinations, and I’ve had a couple of great mail days myself!

OUTGOING

I’m still getting such wonderful feedback on the embroidered postcard I did a few weeks ago that I figured I should continue the ‘series’ for as long as my eyes and fingers will let me. Using photographs from old magazines I managed to (unwittingly) create a set of girls with different coloured hair to go with the orange of the last one. These three went out to (L-R) Lisa (Skybridge Studios), Thom Courcelle and Theresa Williams, all in the USA. Lisa coined the phrase ’Stitch Sisters Series’ for these, and I think that’s the perfect name for them!

I couldn’t help feeling rather lucky that the last embroidered postcard arrived unscathed, so I’ve decided to take precautions from now on.

I’ve discovered that clear plastic CD wallets are the perfect size for my almost square postcards. I’ve mentioned before that I’m using card and foam wastage from an industrial cleaning machine, so they’re already cut to size. The never ending supply of the stuff means that I will almost definitely be making postcards at this size for a long while yet, so I’d better stock up on CD wallets! I’m still writing my message and the address on the back of the postcard, but of course making sure that the stamps are on the outside of the wallets. Don’t think they’d get very far otherwise!

Some of my Arty Slides also found their way to their new homes this week…

These two went to Pretty Lily in the USA. The back of the ‘Joker’ slide is a tiny ‘Joker’ from a novelty pack of cards. The back of the ‘Oh darling, you know it sucks’ slide has a decoupage frame and mirror – you can see more here.

Vizma Bruns in Australia received these two slides. The back of the ‘Jack in the box’ slide has a sticker of a little giftbox, and the comic book is another of my little mirrors.

Lilian Mariutti in Brazil received a spring themed slide, and, deviating from the comic books, I used an old stamp for the outer-space slide.

Postie must be lagging a bit this week, because I have at least 6 cards that should have arrived with new friends by now. Hopefully I’ll be able to share them with you next week.

INCOMING

Last week I mentioned how much I love getting surprise Mail Art, especially from ‘strangers’ in the IUOMA community. This week I received this wonderful surprise Picnic Blanket postcard from Anna Micciulla in the US. The front had a little accident on its way to me, but I think it adds to its charm! Maybe the ants got a little peckish on their trip. Anna, a reply is already in the post.
Katerina Nikolstou replied to my Hen Party Spanish collage with this ‘Tall Greek Blue Grass and Green, Too’ painted postcard. Katerina sends Greek ‘bits of blue’ to all her MA friends, and this one is #928 of her 365 challenge. That’s a lot of Mail Art! It puts my 20 into perspective, but I only joined the group on the 16th March, so I don’t think I’m doing too badly. I’ll be catching her up in no time! Ha!

Carina Granlund, who sent me my very first piece of IUOMA mail art, has sent her second piece to me already! This ’1962 Warning from the Wall Street Journal’ is simple yet so visually appealing, and totally different from the last card I received from Carina (here). Her dedication made me want to send her something a little different, and I’ll be posting that ‘something’ later today.

My first Arty Slides arrived this weekend! They came all the way from Lilian Mariutti (our slides must have passed each other on the way!), and were accompanied by an interesting ‘Questions’ postcard, covered in dozens of little questions.

I also received my first card from Michalis Kotsaris in Greece. There’s a lovely sense of movement in the lines on both sides of this piece, with ‘Groove ‘n’ Soul’ on one side, and simply ‘Dance’ on the other. I have a reply ready to be on its way to Michalis today.

Last, but definitelynot least into my mailbox this weekend was a rather wonderful package from Thom Courcelle. I sent Thom an embroidered postcard, as I mentioned at the beginning of this post, and I’m not sure if this is a reply or if we were synchronised in our posting?! Super speedy if it is a reply.

I first contacted Thom on IUOMA because I totally fell in love with his use of knitting in his Mail Art, which isn’t that far removed from the embroidery that I enjoy. He didn’t disappoint.

Inside a clear cello wrapper, decorated with stickers and artistamps, I found a wonderfully bright piece made my both knitting and weaving ribbon. The textile work has been sewed to a piece of card (some old packaging, maybe?) with the neatest blanket stitch. There was also a magazine clipping that matches the colours and the style of the main piece perfectly. The lovely little details continued as I discovered the little ‘man’ folded out to deliver Thom’s message to me. I am in love with this piece, and I hope we can trade more Mail Art in the future.

I’ve found such wonderful pieces of art waiting for me in my Mail Box. I’m excited every time I get home and check the post, and as I make even more Mail Art friends, the days of being disapointed are rapidly being outnumbered by the days of hoarding my finds into a quiet corner and poring over the details. Only time will tell if I can keep up the enthusiasm as I progress with my 365 challenge. 20 pieces sent in 10 days, so far…