Studio/Part Two

There is a whole lot of mail sitting around my studio
(you've already seen the shopping cart that is
filled with mail)

Vintage postcards to sort through and play with 

Yes, it IS fun to write letters

Poor Saint Lucy....her eyes on a platter
As a photographer I feel her pain

Have paper - will type

A friend gave me those large and lovely stamps from China
- just waiting for a project

The basket of zines
(I have got plans to work on a couple of zines myself)

Some art books 

Rubber Stamps

Cancelled stamps to collage with 

Chinese puppet and a great little hanging collage by Jane Smith


Puttering around my studio today, cleaning up and taking photos, hanging out in the secret
garden and doing some artwork. Organizing some vintage ephemera for ETSY selling.
I think I will do one more post on what's going on in my studio -- so come back for
another visit soon!

In My Studio/Part One

My studio has a tiny secret garden where I can sit and write and dream

I like to be surrounded by things from my travels

I like to save all kinds of paper ephemera to make mail art with --
and I like red!

France has always been a big influence on me - love anything French,
bien sur!

An old friend made me these FACES to hold pens and supplies

Love that washi tape -- good for so many projects

A "letter box" from 1900 China with stacks of my handmade datebooks

Love those flash cards -- going to sell them in my coming ETSY shop,
along with vintage ephemera, mail art supplies and zines

Still life with bugs -- I collect old books and cameras

Lovely old wedding photo from France and some French dried plant pressings
I made while traveling in France


Come back in a day or two for the rest of the studio tour....or come and visit my studio.
I love company.

A Little (Paper) Eye Candy

OUTGOING

Oddly enough this clown envelope took ten days to get from San Francisco to Chicago.
Kelly P and I are wondering where the detour was along the way.
Maybe someone in the USPS is afraid of clowns.
Some people are, you know.

OUTGOING

A bullet train going out to Sarah....

And a horse envelope for Michelle, who loves horses....

OUTGOING

Dim sum for GinaVisione and some postcards going out...
I am loving to round those postcard corners these days...

OUTGOING

Sushi envelope to the bento-box mail art maker Kelly P, a bird for PLH
and I can't remember what went to who else....but they are pretty,
don't you think?

OUTGOING

These babies are international travelers -- out to IB in France and to
Annejo in The Netherlands.

OUTGOING

Another postcard with rounded corners...and a collaged card for Carol.

OUTGOING

Kelly P and Tallie -- you've got mail!
And they correspond with each other too.
I love the mail art world. And I love that yellow- green envelope - my favorite color.

OUTGOING

OUTGOING

What's percolating? Some coffee-mail going out tomorrow since I was too lazy to walk up to
the post office today.

INCOMING

 I got mail this afternoon and had a fine time reading it! Thanks you all.

SEND GOOD MAIL

Hope you have all been busy making mail art and dropping it in your mail boxes.

This weekend is the SF Mail Art group, The Correspondence Co-Op's first
anniversary. One happy year of mail art and new friends and we are going to be
celebrating on Sunday.

Working on a "studio tour" post and will surely post a few shots of the mail art birthday party too.
And a Letter Writing Social is coming up on June 1st at ARCH.
Oh--and this weekend SF is celebrating the 75th birthday of our beloved
Golden Gate Bridge.

Have a happy and safe Memorial day weekend (if you live in the USA) and write some letters
or make some mail art too.

Send good mail -- Get good mail!

The Secret Language of Stamps

Language du timbre

Recently I read a (wonderful) book called The Language of Flowers. A story about how people once communicated by giving each other flowers that had special and secret meanings.
That started me thinking about the Language of Stamps -- an upside-down stamp
on the corner of an envelope used to stand for "Love" a while back......

Le Langage du Timbre

Ohlala - then I came across this great old French postcard which explained the meanings of the placements of the stamps.
I have a lot of vintage French postcards and letters and I had often noticed stamps all over the place in odd angles...

Article from
Picture Postcard Monthly, August 1997 from the UK

I had picked up this free magazine at the vintage paper fair and leafing through it I came across this article by David Gerrard (no relation).
According to him. this stamp language craze was going strong in the USA and the UK as well as France and Germany.
Who knew?

YES -- I have often wondered why -- and now I am wondering why we mail artists
don't revive The Language of Stamps and get the whole secret message thing going again.
Who needs Facebook?

The stamp on these lovebirds card means - M'aimes-tu or
Do you love me?
Awwwww......(I don't know if the fact the stamp is half folded over to the other side of the card adds anything to the message).

This stamp placement means the same thing - maybe la fille sent this to her grand-mare?

Apparently these things were taken very seriously back in the day.....


The article says "In those days, the Post Office didn't mind whereabouts on the envelope or card you put the stamp, or in which direction it was facing......Popular magazines of the time educated their readers in the rules of clandestine messages by means of a simple postage stamp."


He continues "The secret language of stamps flourished from late Victorian times until well into the late 20th century.....some still dreaded finding a particular card in their mail. It would bear a stamp in its upper left-hand corner, placed cosily on its side but, for those who knew its meaning, it carried the unequivocal message"I hate you".
Gee.

LOVE

These stamps are all on envelopes from my mom --they may not be upside-down or sideways but the message is clear!

More Love.....

Stamps all over the place......

Soyons Heureux (Be Happy)

OK, now what is going on here? I'm afraid to ask.....
Je souffre de ton absence
(I suffer from your absence)
I was thinking maybe "Don't Ask, Don't tell" but what do I know?

Top postcard from Canada and bottom is from the Helvetia Republic (which, from what I understand only existed as a state for five years). Stamp placement means Ecris moi vite
Write Me Quickly! (hum.....)
Love the beautiful handwriting.

OK--there is goes--a secret message of stamps going in to the letter box.

Now, don't you think we need to set up a secret stamps language of mail artists?

I will await your comments!

Leave me a comment in the comment section and describe the placement of the stamps and your suggestion for the secret meaning....
I will do something fun with the answers -- maybe make a zine so we can all be on the same page.
Let's start a secret language of stamp movement!

Lots of Incoming!

Incoming
Since I've posted a lot of my outgoing mail, I thought I'd show you a little incoming
eye candy
right here. I laughed out loud when I pulled this long letter out of a small
mailing tube. From the infamous Kelly P -- and typed with a cursive
typewriter and with lots of embellishments.
Love.

Incoming
More incoming love and eye candy from the lovely GinaVisione. 

Incoming
Here is a wonderfully painted envelope from the very talented Karen Isaacson
who gave Cappuccino and Art a great shout-out on her fabulous blog
iamrushmore (click that link to see!)

Incoming
And from not one -- but four - mail artists came this postcard written at the National Postal Museum's Letter Writing Social in Washington DC recently --
many thanks to PostMuse, Melissa, maryhasound and Becky the snailmailer!
What fun to get a card from all four of you.

INCOMING
From Julie in Germany -- loved all the tiny envelopes all over the card.

Incoming
Yes..there is even more....Alice, Millicent, KSP, JU, Corrine.....you all know who you are
and I loved it all.

Not exactly incoming....this was lunch.....

Incoming
This week brought some fabulous mail from The Elevated Envelope swap -- if you missed it  I suggest you watch for the next swap Tara hosts. It has been so much fun.
This amazing watercolor horse came in a barn envelope from Michelle.

Check out what I made for the Elevated Envelope swap right here!
(think typewriter envelopes)
And check out the beautiful calligraphy Tara does too. 

INCOMING (Elevated Envelope Swap)
A lovely fabric sewn envelope all the way from Australia to SF....

Incoming (Elevated Envelope)
And from Greece......Thalia outdid herself -- she carved the rubber stamps you see that decorate her envelope and the small artist book she enclosed....a real beauty.

INCOMING
Another beauty, this from Canada....Courtney made this map envelope with a sewn thread showing it's travels...and a little flap with a heart sticker that says
"Open Me" (typed, I might add).....don't mind if I do.....

I hope you can read this.....her theme was "secrets of a letter" and this shows how far her letter traveled to reach me and lots of interesting details...how clever!

OUTGOING
A couple of outgoing from me......Man, I really need to get real busy.....

I am working hard at my work table..I have a whole lot of catching up to do...
thanks for all the fabulous mail everyone!

MAKE SOMEONE'S MAILBOX HAPPY THIS WEEK!

I post additional photos and mail art links on the CappuccinoAndArtJournal's
Facebook page.
If you don't see your mail to me here, you may catch a sight of it on FB.

SEND MAIL!
Happy Weekend to all and now I better get back to work.....