Wipe 98

I sent some ink blots in for Wipe 98.

Mailed to Australia.

I know that this issue has been mailed out, however mine is yet to arrive.

Stunning Stamp scene

Eva sent me this gorgeous stamp scene in response to my aerogramme - I love how she even extended the city to the edges of the envelope.

Such a clever idea to use different stamps in this way. And the balloon airmail stamps are an awesome accent.

(If you'd like to see it without the annoying postal scribbles, check out Eva's blog here. I honestly didn't even notice them at first, I was so thrilled when I saw this envelope.)

Reused package from Erni & Sunday Stamps

I didn't realize it at first, but Erni reused one of my mailing envelopes - I am not good at adding things to the outside - to send me a package of wild and wonderful things.

The envelope, with fantastic faux postage.

The things.

The back of the Virgins of the Seven Seas poster had a fantastic bleed-through effect (not to mention half a wall of Hamburg stuck to the back). It looks much better in person than in this photo.I have plans for this side.

Response to Erni in an envelope made from the above poster - Hamburg wall and all :)

With one of the envelopes inside (number 517).

Which contained some of the hive in blue.

I used Janis Joplin stamps on the envelope.

The Janis Joplin stamp is part of the USPS series music icons, and was issued last year. Janis Joplin died at 27, but in her short career became known as the Queen of Psychedelic Soul. Her remake of Erma Franklin's 'Piece of My Heart' is one of her most famous songs.

Each stamp is supposed to resemble an album cover. Stamps are issued on square selvage in sets of 16, designed to look like a record sleeve. Here's the large image from USPS.

For other music makers, check in on other submissions to Sunday Stamps.

Spring... and a book of Erniness

This arrived on a very cold day at the end of March when we had freezing temperatures and snow flurries. Thankfully, Katerina's mail brightened my day with a message of spring.

And inside was a great surprise - some faux stamps of Kat in her favorite blue, and my first mail art book - sent on vintage computer paper based largely on papers sent to Thessaloniki by none other than the Haptic Werewolf himself.

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Bonus link

I don't have anything for Sunday Stamps, but you may be interested in reading about the Win the War stamp issued in 1942 over at USPS Stamps.

Double the Oz

I sent two envelopes to Eva for her Wizard of Oz mail art project.

If you're  regular reader you may want to sit down first, because I hand colored this first one. It was a commercial card, and the yellow made me think of drawing the yellow brick road with Oz shining in the distance. I just noticed that I could have placed the Ocean Temperatures Global stamp upside down for a more accurate rainbow. I think the sky appeared a bit bluer on the real envelope compared to the scan.

The second is another tornado image. I liked the tones in the Hudson River School of Art stamps.

Speed limit

Erni's mail to me a while ago that featured the phrase 'Hoch 10' translating more or less as 'to the maximum' made me think of playing around with a speed limit sign that I saw.

And we had discussed thing like high 5, double high 5, low 5. So I put some 5s on the back.

My last large art sent to Erni went astray, let's hope this one makes it.

Big cats

Heleen replied, thanking me for the 2015 mail snail. The zoo stamp is pretty amazing. And the puffin is a very cool customer.

She included this great postcard that she illustrated - another big cat on the inside, although this one's extinct now.

I had a piece of card leftover from Hester's and Steve's dragons, and since Heleen loves them, having been born in the year of the dragon, I sent her one, too.

Road to nowhere

The Haptic Werewolf strikes again! Two pieces from Erni.

With the large yellow sticker removed (I think the German PO put them there).

The images.

And the duet.

Erni suggested an alternative title, which is very poetic: Road to Birdwhere

HLPN

Recently I have been sent a lot of ephemera included as mail art. Some pieces could stand on their own, others have been proclaimed as 'use it or trash it' by their senders. Some have arrived with no message.

I used pieces from four different senders to make the following collage:

Cut into four postcard sized bits. the tissue paper was thin and gauzy (and a nightmare to glue down) so i decided not to risk sending them naked.

The recipients were:

H

L

P

N

First mail art from Greece

I know I showed mail art from Katerina on St Valentine's Day, however this arrived earlier in the year.

In response to her triangle upside down airmail mail, Katerina sent me this. Really great stamp.

Sneak preview of the contents through the window.

The colorful insides

And I noticed on the inside that Katerina had reversed and re-used an envelope that was sent from the US, using metered mail - Interesting as well as tree-friendly.

Spirit of the Forest II

A last-minute entry for Spirit of the Forest, title "Leftovers II".

The Spirit of the Forest blog shows all the art received, as well as photos from the exhibit. I think it is a great subject for mail art, and there are some amazing pieces in the collection.

Mail Art Calls - Parallels, Angels & Demons, Twisted, Malerwinkelhaus, Spirit of the Forest.

For Parallels, in Siberia, made from postage selvage (thanks for the link, Eva!):

And one made of the stick-on mail barcodes the post office uses.

For the 'Twisted' call, a photograph manipulated in photoshop

This one had its own misadventure, and was delivered to me, even though my address was on the back, scrawled in my bad handwriting, and in the 'wrong' direction. I reposted it inside an envelope.

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For the 'Angels & Demons call. The images were taken on my cell phone the same night as the blue image above (lights were part of the band Alt J's concert performance). All the pictures include the exit sign which was distracting/fascinating me through the lights.

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And, spurred on by the beautiful artistamps that are the documentation for the Malerwinkelhaus call blogged by Eva, I sent these in. Jean had suggested this one for me ages ago, and I had set it aside. Nothing like leaving it to the last minute.

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Spirit of the Forest, to be displayed at the Mercury Theatre in Colchester in February, coinciding with a performance of Hansel & Gretel.