Postal art for Darwin Day

Although I am wary of touting every little mail art call that comes along, given my proclivity for letter-writing for communication's sake and not simply for mailing art (I am more of a writer than an artist, so I'll leave the aforementioned latter to the latter), but I did just see one that tickles me.

Have a gander at Postal art for Darwin Day. The idea is to "send evolution-themed envelopes and postcards to your friends and family on or around February 12th, Charles Darwin’s birthday." I like this theme, and it should be rich with interesting possibilities. The blog post author also welcomes cards to himself, and provides his address, in case you haven't the recipients to which to send them. (Of course MY blog readers have no shortage of a correspondence network, but hey - it should always be expanding... or dare I say, evolving!)

It simply baffles me that there are folks today who don't believe in evolution - to each his own, I suppose, just like it flummoxes me that there are folks who think that gay marriage somehow threatens straight marriage or the fabric of society or any of that stuff. We all have minds and the right to make them up as we see fit, so tra la la. But I for one support the evolution mail art project, and think it's a fun idea.

(The Missive Maven stares thoughtfully out the window and wonders what kind of comments this uncharacteristically political post will garner...)

Menu-inspired decoration

Here's some more artwork by the lovely Sirpa in Finland. She said the decorative theme for this envelope was inspired by a menu she saw in Brussels (Belgium - home of the famous sprouts), where the meal sections were hand-drawn and surrounded by fun borders.



She hand-painted the border and background for the letter, and I didn't blur out the part where she described her design inspiration for the letter. She said she copied out the design in her memory book, and she included a scan of her diagram:



Very cool! (I wish I could keep a visual memory book like this. Maybe I should try, even though I'm an awful artist.) What a neat idea to draw it and then send me the copy of the drawing to show the envelope process.

She also blogged about this letter back when she wrote it.

Metallic ink powder calligraphy on black paper

One of my pen pals is an artist who writes every letter in calligraphy with a flexible-nib dip pen. She often uses these marvelous metallic powders (dip pens only, not for use in fountain pens) for sparkly flair.

After a conversation on The Fountain Pen Network (FPN), she sent me this letter, which was even more a work of art than usual!



The theme at the time, of course, was Halloween - I love the artistic embellishments!



I'll end with two different views of the same section, so you can see the different sparkles and the orange undertones of the metallic powders (I hope).



And in case you're wondering... NO, I can't do this myself! :-)

letterflower

This lovely envelope art came from a correspondent in Canada.

Something about the dots in a line on the top half makes me think of the buttons on a shirt.

Collage mail art postcard

This lovely bat-stamp collage postcard came from a regular blog reader and mail artist. At first I thought the flower in the window looked like flames... I really like that effect.


And of course I'm a big fan of all this vintage postage! I got a giggle out of her joke about stalking the PodPost gals since Good Mail Day came out.

Die-cut Tasmanian Devil postcard

This is, without a doubt, one of the most awesome postcards I've ever received. It's a die-cut Tasmanian Devil, which of course came to me from Tasmania in Australia.

The sender also blogged about it, (and isn't she adorable standing next to that postbox?) and in an unplanned ironic continuity from yesterday's post, she also showed it going into a postbox! She shows a photo of its little fang biting a finger, and there must be some kind of allure about the little fang, because my beloved did the same thing when he picked up the postcard - tested out the sharpness of the wee fang-let! He was appropriately awed that the fang survived its journey from Australia... in fact this postcard arrived in beautiful shape, sharp fang and all.



This very artistically talented pen pal makes all her mail beautiful, even the back of a little postcard. I love what she can do with just red and black ink designs.

Hooray for funky postcards from faraway lands!

UPDATE 1.7.2010: Someone used the front photo as an image for their article on Tasmanian Devil Facial Tumors. Wow.

Meta-marvelous from the UK

If you are anywhere near as much of a mail geek as I am, you would get very excited about pulling this fabulous envelope out of your mailbox. The writer made the envelope out of an old map, and added tags and collage elements and fun rubber stamps, not to mention exceedingly cool postage stamps. (Really, Lady Jane and James Bond? Swoon!)



At the request of a favorite blog reader, here's a closer look at those stamps. If you have a Flickr account, you can view large.



So this would be awesome already, no? I was careful to photograph the envelope before I opened it, to preserve its glory. (I will say for Royal Mail and US Postal service, this envelope arrived in beautiful, pristine condition.)



But that's not all, folks - we've only just begun! The letter itself was creatively typed on an old map, and included the grooviest polaroid photo.



Start here. HOW did he type on a curve and a diagonal like that? I don't know typewriters very well though I do appreciate their anachronistic charm, so this is quite a mystery. (I will insert an aside and say that I am generally not fond of computer-typed letters - I'd rather decipher even the most difficult handwriting, because there is such personality in handwriting - but somehow a typewriter is just different, and every bit as charming as handwriting.) And the typewriter ribbon/ink/what have you is BLOO. Another swoon! I left the typing intact here because I don't think they'll mind (this letter was signed from two people, though only one really did the typing), and it's just so cool.



So here is where he explained how they took a photo of the letter. The letter was typed and explained the plan before it was executed - I LOVE this planning!



They went on a bike trip in the countryside, found a fantastic old post box, took a polaroid of the letter about to go into said mailbox, put the polaroid in the letter and mailed it. So I get to see exactly where the letter was mailed!

I am kvelling, yes, but I am really delighted by this concept. What a fantastic idea, and it's not just all concept - the typed letter was witty, charming, and delicious, and I have a fantastic new correspondent in the UK now.

US Postal Service Stamps for 2010

Happy New Year, dear readers!

No photos for this one, but I just had to share with you this link to the US Postal Service's stamps for 2010.

Do they do this every year? I've never seen a nice list of all the stamps for the year like this - very cool. I'm pretty psyched for that Katherine Hepburn one. Also, I know he's a cartoonist, but that Bill Mauldin stamp kind of looks like he's writing a letter, so you know I'll love that one, too!

The Washington Post has a great slide show with larger images of the stamps - also very cool.

Start your new year off "write" - go write a letter!