I love these postcards from Kyle Durrie of Power and Light Press. You can see the rest of the illustrations in the pack on her tiny post offices tumblr.
Kyle gets to see tiny post offices up close as she tours the country in her Moveable Type truck, a 1982 Chevy step van, retrofitted as a letterpress printing shop. Maybe she will be driving through your town this year, or you can propose that she schedules a visit/workshop in your neck of the woods.
Um, I think I am in love with Kyle Durrie.
Between the output of pint size cuties in my valentine making workshops, the creations of my children, and my own valentine production, 2013 has turned out to be a fun, colorful and love infused valentine making year.
I hope you receive a valentine or two in your mailbox. There’s nothing better!
I am writing this post to motivate myself and my children to get those holiday thank you notes written! While this blog is mostly about the pleasures of paper mail, sending thank you cards is obligatory. But like good dental hygiene, I think its important. Here are a few choice items via Etsy:
How about this lil fawn by Pheasant Press?
Or make your own thank you notes with this beautiful hand carved rubber stamp by extase?
Whatever thank you note route you take, just get it done, ok, uh, Melissa?
Last month at Renegade Craft Fair I came across Left Field Cards’ booth, selling packs of handmade, baseball themed postcards. There were 6 different packs of 5 to choose from and after much deliberation I decided on “Bizarre Injuries” for my husband for his birthday. He loved them! Can you see why?
Left Field Cards is the brainchild of Amelie Mancini, a French artist who moved to New York City in 2006 and fell in love with American baseball. I love her illustrations, her product presentation, her sense of humor and the fact that she has chosen postcards as her medium. Buy a pack for that baseball fan in your life. Because these cards are close to perfect, in sharp contrast to Mancini’s favorite baseball team, The New York Mets.
My love of postcards is a nature/nurture trait. The opportunity for sparce but meaningful writing on one side and a single photo or illustration on the other speaks to my aesthetics. I like the balance of image and text, the chance to receive an unexpected, little piece of art to hang on my wall. That appreciation is both nature and nurture. But the straight nurture? That is a direct result of my step-father Biskit and his band of postcard loving friends, the Pastafarians. But like many of us, their card sending fell off in the digital transition. So a few summers back Biskit initiated a postcard challenge to get people back in postal shape and the results were impressive. My family received 67 postcards!
So the Pastafarians are at it again, with the 2012 Postcard Challenge. And I have already received 3 postcards. Thanks Sue, Lago, and Deb! I am going to start sending out cards today.
Here’s how it works.
1. Get a group of friends to agree to a postcard challenge! Skeptical? What about all those “friends” you have on Facebook. Rope them in!
2. Have them email you their paper mailing addresses.
3. Distribute this list to everyone in the group. If you want to get theme-y, go right ahead! I’d be psyched for a “Greetings from…” postcard challenge.
4. Buy some stamps from usps.com.
5. Make picture postcards out of cereal boxes and old National Geographics that you rescue from the curb (that’s what I do) or buy some at a museum/book store/card shop/antique store.
6. Mail them to people on your list. All summer.
7. Receive mail from people on your list. All summer.
Viva Snail Mail!
If you’re sending greetings of love and gratitude to the moms in your life, mail ‘em today. Tomorrow latest!
Here’s the card I am sending to my mom, by Marisa at mad design. Hopefully Mom’s not reading the blog this week…
Gutwrench, aka Hope Amico, is having her senior show at the Ephemeral Gallery this Saturday December 3rd from 7-10 pm. They’ll be drinks and snacks and beautiful things made out of paper. Wish I lived closer.
Mazol Tov Hope!
Viva Snail Mail: Tell us about your Keep Writing project postcards.
Gutwrench: Since I moved to Baton Rouge three years ago from New Orleans, I wanted a way to keep in touch with my friends and penpals. I knew I would be busy in school and also wanted a project that somehow related to what I was doing while working towards a degree in printmaking. I started printing postcards, one each month, and sending them to everyone on a mailing list. The first year had no theme; I made what ever I was inspired to. The second year, each postcard was a collaboration between myself and a friend, sometimes a printmaker, sometimes not.
This past year, I have been printing interactive cards. Each has a part for the recipient to tear off and send back to me, completing some task that relates to the card I sent. For example, the first card I was having a difficult winter. So I printed the word TRY in large silver letters on handmade paper and asked recipients to send me something about what inspires them in difficult times, what gets them through the winter. This project has been incorporated into my school work and the cards I have received will be displayed as part of my senior show in December. Of course it will continue, but I am not sure in what form.
VSM: What gets sent back to you and what does the recipient keep?
Gutwrench: The “try” side was the half they kept. The other half was blank on one side with instructions, a stamp and my address on the other. The orange paper was made partially from my favorite shirt from Summer 2004, when I was living in New Orleans. The hurricane hit the next summer. And, obviously, things changed. All the postcards are about staying connected to the people you love, not just in postcards, but in other meaningful exchanges. This is a way for me to keep in touch with my friends but also to let them know a little about what is happening with me and ask them a question about their lives.
VSM: What’s been the best thing about this project?
Gutwrench: The best thing for sure has been hearing from people I did not expect and reading their responses. My cousin has responded to every card, though we usually only talk once a year or so. One friend has sent very thoughtful responses every time. I think the format has encouraged people who don’t usually write postcards but want to.
Viva Snail Mail!
Visit Gutwrench’s Etsy shop or write a comment on her blog, wishing her luck on her senior show!
This video clip from Wall Street Journal dot com makes me feel like I am on hallucinogens. Please watch.
While you’re at it, check out Katherine Rosman’s article, “Stationery’s New Followers”.
Photo by Peter Earl McCollough for the Wall Street Journal
After Bloomberg Business Week’s cover story, The End of Mail, the popular website Freakonomics is asking readers to vote on ways to save the USPS from complete economic collapse. After reading these articles, I watched my cheerful and lovely mailman roll his mail cart up to my building with a better understanding of just how bad things are. And then when I opened my mailbox to retrieve some completely not interesting bills and junk, my heart sank knowing that this crap is what’s paying my mailman’s salary. According to Bloomberg Business Week, in 2005 junk mail surpassed first class mail in volume. The USPS needs 3 pieces of junk mail to replace the profit made from one piece of real mail with a first class stamp. Blech.
In more adorable news, remember the World’s Smallest Post Service? Lea from Leafcutter Designs has joined forces with Chronicle Books to sell a World’s Smallest Post Service home kit! How great is that? Maybe we can all buy them and send mail with 44 dollar postage stamps, no 444 dollar postage stamps, and turn this thing around! What da ya say?
