Mail Art Adds Another Dimension to Letter Writing

Back when I was in high school, quite a few years ago, I had many penpals from all over the world. In an effort to save on postage, many of us wrote our letters on super-thin and light-wright airmail paper, aka onion skin paper. We also often used traditional airmail envelopes.

But, I noticed that some of my penpals from Europe would make their own envelopes from magazine pages. They made the pile of mail quite interesting.

That was my first taste of "mail art," as simple as it was. Later in life, a co-worker who moved away mailed me letters in elaborate envelopes she decorated with rubber stamp images and colored pens and pencils.

Once I started this blog, I discovered the entire world of mail art. There's a great book about mail art, Good Mail Day. And several blogs on the topic (see the list I've made over in the column on the right side of this blog.

And, sometimes, bloggers who typically blog about other topics will champion mail art. For example, PostMuse often writes about the Orphaned Postcard project, but yesterday the focus was on mail art.

If you're not familiar with the concept of mail art, read up on and then try your hand at it. It's fun, and it makes the mail just a little more exciting.

So, there's another good reason to write letters...mail art!

Creating Mail Art

Someone commented on my last blog post, asking how to make the Mail Art envelopes. Well, I'm certainly no expert, but Mail Art seems to be like most any other art form...the details are up to the artist. The one above came in the swap packet from the recent Mail Art swap my daughter and I participated in.

Here's what we do at our house: We either start with a store-bought envelope or we make our own envelopes. Then, we use a variety of art materials to adorn the envelope. We use markers, rubber stamps and ink, words or phrases we print out or clip from magazines, pictures we clip from books or magazines, glitter, etc. We try to match the words or art to the envelope. For example, if we made an envelope from a page of a fashion magazine, we might paste down the words "Let's Go Shopping!" (Sort of like the notecards and fashion envelopes in my Etsy shop — see the link on the left, if you're interested.) Some envelopes are simple with just one or two elements; others are covered in images, words, glitter, stickers, etc. It's up to the artist.

Now, to make our own envelopes from art paper, magazine pages, newspaper, etc., we start with a template. There are plenty of free templates you can download on the Internet, or you can simply carefully deconstruct one of your favorite envelopes, flatten it out and use it as a template. I often trace the template onto an old file folder and use the heavier weight template for my envelope making.

There also is a template that you can buy, the Kreate-a-Lope, that looks easy to use. I've been interested in getting one, but I don't see them in stores. And to order just the basic template, the shipping is almost double the cost of the item. So, I've been putting that off. Maybe someday.

But, no matter how you make the envelope or the Mail Art, the point, I think, is to have fun and to make the letter-receiving fun, too.

Fun Mail Art

My daughter and I both participated in Barb Nelis' latest mail art swap...what fun! We made and decorated all sorts of envelopes and then received a big packet of envelopes in the mail! Lots of new envelopes to send my letters out in!

I can't wait for the next one!

Wonderful surprise

Saturday's mail brought a nice surprise...a package of mail art from Barb Nelis! (That's all the stuff she sent in the picture above.)

I say it was a surprise because I didn't know when it would arrive, and I didn't know it would be so fun. This was my first swap of any sort.

After reading about Barb's Mail Art Swap on the Passion for Letter Writing blog, I decided to participate. I sent my 10 decorated envelopes to Barb and hoped that they were good enough for the swap. I didn't think to take a photo of my entry before I shipped it off, but if I remember correctly, I sent some handmade envelopes made from magazine pages. Some were decorated with pictures that I drew. One or two were made from graph paper, and some were adhered with some cool yellow tape that looks like a tape measure.

But the package I got in the mail was much more exciting! In her note to the swappers, Barb thanks everyone for the "gifties" and notes. Now, I did send a letter to Barb, but I didn't know about "gifties." The cool package Barb sent includes some zinnia seeds, some recipe cards, some paper for crafting and some mints, as well as a personal letter from Barb. Now, I know! I'll be on the lookout for some cool stuff to include with my next submission.

Oh, yes, Barb already has another swap on the calendar! Her next deadline is Sept. 30. If you're interested in participating, I'd suggest you e-mail Barb at rubberfish@roadrunner.com for all the details. And, then, get busy decorating some envelopes!

Peaceful Pastime

I don't know about you, but nowadays I often feel overwhelmed with everything that's going on in the world. I'm a journalist, so I'm not blaming the media, but often it's just too much to handle...war, mass murder/suicides, economic woes, salmonella poisoning, and the list goes on and on.

But, last Thursday, our electricity was off at home for almost the entire day. It went off in the middle of our morning rush, after I had fixed breakfast but before I had dried my hair. We lit some candles and finished getting ready. After too many phone calls to the electric company, they finally showed up out on the highway to replace the pole that had broken off at the ground. (Best I can tell, the wildfire the week before had weakened the pole, which was never replaced despite being burned, and then high winds snapped the pole at the ground.)

When the lights went out, instead of creating panic or mayhem in our household, the sudden quietness enveloped our lives in a gentle peace.

Except for our voices, there was total quietness. No TV blaring out the tragic news of the day or the upcoming weather. No radio screeching the latest hits or telling me what they decided at the recent city commissioners' meeting. No hum from the computers. No rumbling or buzzing from the dryer. Things we never realize make noise (coffee pot, lights, etc.) were quiet.

The lack of things to compete with brought down our own level of chaos. No need to yell in order to be heard. No need to rush...there was much less to do. I couldn't dry my hair with the hair dryer; a quick brush would have to do — it would dry on the way to work. I couldn't check e-mail or the blog. Those would have to wait till later. There was no choice.

Letter writing can produce a similar sense of peacefulness. Writing a letter doesn't require electricity, Internet service or much of anything else. All you need is a writing utensil, some paper (sometimes, that's not really necessary -- you can mail a coconut with a message written/carved on it or a wooden postcard), an envelope (again, not really needed -- any piece of paper can be folded into an envelope or self-mailer), a postage stamp, and access to postal service.

Stamps can be ordered by mail (ask at your post office for a form). Depending on where you live, you should be able to drop your letter in a nearby mail box for the postal employee to pick up. Obviously, some places don't have door-to-door mail delivery (see this earlier blog entry), but I think most do.

I'm recommending that you take a few minutes, maybe more, today to sit down, relax and write a letter. Turn off the TV. Turn off the radio. Turn off the (yikes!) computer. If it's still daylight and nice weather at your house, take your pen and paper and sit outside to write a letter. Enjoy the peacefulness of reconnecting with an old friend, introducing yourself to a new friend or catching up with family.

More mail art news

Wendy at A Passion for Letter Writing pointed me to her interview with Barb Nelis, who hosts a mail art/envelope swap. Read the interview here.

Barb has a swap this month. Sounds like letter-writing fun!

Mail Art

This weekend, I was reading "Somerset Studio" magazine. I'm always fascinated by the pictures of the letters they receive. The envelopes are so beautifully decorated. I'm usually in such a rush to get my letters to the mailbox, that I just send them off with nothing more than "to" and "from" addresses and a stamp.

The particular magazine I was reading also had an article about "Mail Art," something I was only vaguely familiar with. So, I did a little research and found some interesting links:

Dragonfly Dream
Pan Modern
Mail Me Art
Mail Art

There are many more sites out there about this interesting form of art and correspondence. Maybe I need to make my envelopes more exciting!