Front Door Gallery Zinenvelope

Mail Art Martha sent this great year of the rat-related zine. 

She often uses a clever fold to create the envelope from a sheet of paper.

It's called the front door gallery because she 'hangs' mail art so that it can be seen through the glass panels of her front door, for all passersby to see.

Bresh*t

Today's the day (maybe) when the UK leaves was supposed to leave the EU.

Mail Art Martha sent this fantastic trashpo book on that very topic...

Ear of the Pig

Fun envelope and drawing from Mail Art Martha

P is for Poinsettia

Having skipped issuing a global Christmas stamp for the last few years, USPS issued one in October featuring a poinsettia, also known as Christmas Star. These decorative plants are a fixture of the December holidays in the USA, and come in red and white varieties. They are native to Mexico, where they were used by Aztecs to obtain red dye. 

Are poinsettias part of the holiday decorations in your country?

I used it to send a Canadian fast-food related trashpo mini-book to Mail Art Martha, along with a related postcard.

For more P stamps to ponder, head over to the links at Sunday Stamps.

The clowns are here!

I know some people have a dreaded fear of clowns. If that's you I am sure you didn't participate in the clown mail art call. 

This excellent documentation of the Cascadia Clown Parade arrived in time for Halloween in this envelope - I love the artistamps.

And some selected pages

Clown mail

In from Martha...

And out to Martha and Cascade Post...

Springy mail from Martha

Great stamped envelope from Martha. I like the color of the new 1.17 stamp, even though the price hike from Royal Mail is a bit steep (11.4%).

And a bonus banana article from Private Eye.

IUOMA

The International Union of Mail Artists is the grand daddy of them all. The website can feel a bit intimidating at first, but if you're into mail art, it is a great place to find like-minded people. And everyone is extremely friendly and welcoming.

MomKat in Greece is one of the first IUOMA members I exchanged mail art with, and we are still sending back and forth between Columbus and Thessaloniki in Greece.

Here's her latest collaged piece.

Through my connection with MomKat, I started exchanging mail art with stripygoose on a regular basis, as they know each other very well, and hang out together whenever MomKat is in London (UK).

The latest from stripygoose, including an artistamp from Positively Postal, another IUOMA artist I connect with:

Another favorite from IUOMA is Mail Art Martha, also in the UK near London. Here's her latest:

Here's a piece of mail art from Keith (in California). We've been exchanging for a few years now.

And here's my first piece from Mim (on the east coast), sent unsolicited, and much prettier in person - the scanner didn't seem to want to pick up all the details.

Have you ever mailed someone you didn't know?

Did they respond?

Sunday Stamps - roosters or chickens

The Lunar New Year of the Rooster stamp is the 10th in a series by the artist Kam Mak. I really like the series which focuses on different aspects of this celebration, although it has been criticized for not featuring the zodiac animals more prominently.

You can't really say that about this year's stamp, as a rooster on a red hongbao is the main focus. There's also a gold rooster top right.

Here's one on an envelope from Mary.

And a printed one on a KFC bag from Jean that was inside another envelope.

And finally, a beautiful rooster stamp on this postcard from Eric.

I think this might be a stamp from a service where you choose the images and the stamps are printed for you.  This is the official La Poste Year of the Rooster stamp. Thanks for the info, Eric, and thanks for sending it, the stamp is beautiful.

Update: the French stamp is issued as a 'Monde' or overseas stamp, as well as part of a 12 stamp domestic set, one for each Lunar Zodiac Animal - the set is beautiful.

Bonus rooster from MailArtMartha, that spent a long time in transit, was delivered back to her, and finally made it.

For more links to roosters and chickens on stamps, go to Sunday Stamps.

Recycled Christmas mail

I recycled the sides of a USPS box as four Christmas 'postcards'. I have yet to find out if they made it to their destinations...

Update Jan 14 - one has been received in France.

Update Feb 25 - the one to the UK also arrived intact.

Man overboard!

In from Martha, a fun illustrated piece.

We want your trash!

TrashPo bookmark sent to Mail Art Martha.

In this veggie-themed envelope.

The stamps are from a Farmers Market set issued in summer 2014. I think they are a nice se-tenant set. They were criticized for the somewhat high prices shown on the produce, with people saying that it gave the impression that farmers markets are expensive and only for the well-off. I really don't think that such a small detail on a stamp is going to influence anyone, plus I am sure inflation will take care of that eventually.

For links to more food on stamps, head over to Sunday Stamps.

Lots of things from Mail Art Martha

A feast of trashpo.

100 years of DADA - part 2: the collages

Keeping in the spirit of DADA (I hope) I created collages from found objects, including an abandoned dictionary, a cigarette packet left to rot in the rain, and things in the bottom and side pockets of my backpack.

Here are the results.

An invitation

The 11-year plan

Soaring spirit

Things to do

For the kids

The path home

Two great traditions

In your words