The sofa series

A humorous card from Stripygoose, labeled as number one of her Sofa Series.

International Migratory Bird Day

Stripygoose came up with the idea to send birds back and forth to be in transit or mailed on this day.

She sent me this fun bird.

And I sent her these birds in envelope 889.

And then I received what I assume was supposed to be a bird from Pam V, as she was on the list and there's one on the front. Sadly it was almost entirely eaten by a postal machine monster.

I sent her this bird-themed envelope in return.

Heleen sent me this wonderful cardinal in a bird envelope with a very cool chicken stamp (and matching the red, a December stamp from my favorite Dutch postage).

I sent her this chicken envelope.

Not part of the migration, but on the topic of birds in general and chickens in particular, this great envelope made from a year of the rooster calendar page, accompanied by beautifully matching stamps, arrived from Fabienne.

More chickens sent to her, too :)

In from stripygoose

Birds from Sue

In a nice envelope as always. I was entertained that not only did the real postage get the biro treatment, but the artistamp did as well!

Xanthophytes on XL mail

Yes, I really did receive xanthophytes on mail art. 

And the mail art was XL, as it didn't fit through the mail slot (or on the scanner). And it came with eXtra intelligent mail barcode labels - count them, they add up to half of X.

I recommend enlarging the picture of the whole envelope to appreciate the galaXy stripygoose sent me.

Remember the artistamps I showed here? The one on the envelope even got postmarked.

Well stripygoose sent me the most fantastic mail art back as a thank you - part 2 of Starling Wars!!

Front:

Back:

And standing up:

Here's the link to Starling Wars - The Birds Awaken she sent ages ago.

What's the largest piece of mail you ever received?

What's the coolest?

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?

Collaboration with Carroll

Here's what I added to the collaboration sheet I started with Carroll.

Sent in this envelope.

Here's the full sheet of artistamps. This is an (unexpected) collaboration with stripygoose. She turned my ink blots into birds, and I turned her bird blots into stamps. 

I usually find add and pass stressful, however after my one on one add and pass back with Keith worked so well, I think that is more my speed.

Do you like art collaborations? 

If you were to receive an add and pass, how would you feel?

The 'Who is Eduardo Munez?' grand opening evening

Do you remember the envelopes I sent in that would be featured in a film, 'Who is Eduardo Munez?' ?

Well, most of the filming is complete, and Ruth Tapp and the EM crew held a ceremony in November where all the letters (500+) were opened!

Stripygoose was in attendance, and she kindly took some photos of my mail. In the first one you can see two of mine, plus part of one of Eva's, I think.

 Thanks also to Eva, who first got me interested in this project.

Secular Christmas Sunday Stamp from Stripygoose

This Royal Mail stamp on an envelope from stripygoose is one of the set that celebrates traditional holiday activities.

The yellow one scans well, but looks a bit insipid in person. My favorite from the set is the snowman on the 2nd class stamp.

And here are the other two birds stripygoose sent ;)

Byrds / Wyngs

A themed art book sent to stripygoose as a big thank you for all the great art she's sent me recently.