Made for Mail Artists

While looking for postcard dimension limitations and just general cruisin' around the USPS official website, I found this presentation.

As I read through it, it sounds like the presentation was positively made for mail artists!! (Click the above link if you'd like to read the whole thing, but it is very much like a script with few breaks. =P)

The presentation discusses what is appropriate for the U.S. postal system and what is not appropriate. What makes mail machinable or non-machinable. Mailable or non mailable. Things like lengthxheight dimensions and weight restrictions and aspect ratios! Oh my!What sorts of things you can put in envelopes. Why the post office rejects certain pieces.

Here is a quote: "Sometimes when we are designing a mailpiece, we are thinking of what the customer will think when they open the item. This does not always coincide with postal requirements for automation."

Interestingly enough, many of the regulations are put in place to protect not only your mail pieces but also the post office's machines and equipment!!

It appears that the article was written for mass mailers and not so much mail artists but I think many of the things in the presentation could be applied to mail art.

Don't Touch My Mustache!!

In Japanese, to say "you're welcome," it sounds an awful lot like, "don't touch my mustache." (it's like doy toy mustafa or something like that... but don't ask google translate because google translate has something completely different...)

So I thought I'd have a little fun and I made this postcard for Stephanie!!! I looked up how to write "don't touch my mustache" (the actual words) in Japanese. That's at the bottom of the card. At the top, it says "thank you" in Japanese. I had so much fun making the card.

I drew that mustache!

I Disgust Myself. And Mail.

I have been so bad about blogging my mail!! I've been taking lots of pictures!! But I've been terrible about posting! I'm sorry! :/

INCOMING:

 ^from Annette

 ^from Node Pajomo!

 ^A lovely package from Megs!! 

^Sparkles from Emmalynn

OUTGOING:

 Valentine's Mail!! I sent out lots of Valentine's featuring Charles Dickens, my latest favorite author. I love him!

 Reply for PaJomo!

 ^letter for the Meyers. This was for a school project

 For Nicole in Massachusetts! I really like her; she's a neat gal!

 

Chinese New Year mail for Megs

 Mail for Angelia at A Year of Letters. I hope that stayed intact through the post. That right there is some crazy mesh stuff. It was a great experiment.

And lastly but not leastly, a letter for the 2011 Letters Project. This project is a family aiming to get 2,011 letters in 2011. They have three homeschooled girls who are eager to learn more about the world through letters! Isn't that wonderful? I love it!

Air Mail

I made mail art on an airplane!!

Yep, I made these on the plane with my portable mail art kit!! The man next to me was quite fascinated by the whole thing.


OUTGOING:

Node Pajome (not sure if that's his real name..) I sent him a $1.00 in postage and he sent me a super cool zine full of mail art calls and random awesome-ness!!

Here's what he sent back:

And the Zine looks like this:

It's really neat!

More mail:

 PC of the Golden Gate Bridge sent to Cricket/Lisa in WI.

Zelda in Switzerland. One of my new friends from NaNoWriMo.

Aunt Pam. (Who is actually, a friend's aunt but she is nice enough to be my aunt too!)

Postcard to Kyla Another Nano friend. Super sweet girl.

Chelsey, also known as "Clem" on Sendsomething

details on the stamp.

Postcard to Mattea. Also a plane creation. It's kinda hard to see but it says, "Usted habla espanol?"

And last but not least, some mail for Nicole! She's a fun gal! I love her mail!

Happy New Year!

First mail out(s) of the New Year!

And-now that I got a camera for Christmas (this is the third one so far, and counting.), I can take pictures again! Yay! But now that I think about it, I don't think I have any pictures of the incoming... O_o Sorry.

Outgoing:

 To Milea! On the back I included the "Queen of Hearts" (who made those tarts) nursery rhyme.

 Reply to Megs. We are passing a mail zine back and forth! It's very exciting. She has gotten me started on zines. I did one private one and I have another half-finished one which I haven't worked on in a while. I am really enjoying the process and it's fun to see what she writes in our zine every time I get her letters. It's called, "Making the Most of the Mundane."

 Mail art call submission for "Eerie Sights" which I found at the Mail-Art Forum . This postcard went to Germany and though it doesn't look quite like an eerie sight, there is a creepy story behind it.

 First letter of 2011!! (The others were sent in 2010)

 back

 This one is for Jennie Hinchcliff . She finally wrote me back in early December and I just now got to it. I think she is a pretty busy lady. She sent the loveliest postcard! (which I neglected to take a picture of!) The quote says, "and one tall joker... scrawled upon a wall with his finger dipped in muddy-less--BLOOD. The time that was to come when that wine would be spilled on the street stones, and when the stain of it would be red upon many there...." It is a quote from A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens.

 For Angelia

 And last but not least, a reply for Nicole. As you can see from the corner, we've been sending this back and forth a couple times and adding onto it. It's great fun. You will probably see this in future posts at least a few more times.

The back.

Out going

 This is all the outgoing mail for who knows how long. Unfortunately, I haven't taken pictures of incoming and I've missed a lot of outbound mail but here are the pictures I did take:

 

 To Tara

 

 To an old school teacher. (I stole this idea from a flickr pool.)

 To Chelsey. Also known as Clem from SendSomething

 To Nicole in Massachusetts. She sent me an awesome piece of mail art.

 Front. Letter to my cousin. While my aunt was here, she encouraged me to keep writing them even though they rarely write back. but it was good to know they appreciate my letters!

 back

The next few are sideways. :-/ Sorry.

 To a Tucson friend.

 Nicole again. Front and back. I decided to do something different this time and include some things that are unique to Tucson.  It was super fun to make!

And that's all I got for now...

Mail art!

 Mail art to sweden!

Sorry it's been so long. I haven't been taking very many pictures since my camera died. XP But here is one and I will post more later! (When I can locate my mom's camera...)