Let's Go to Chinatown!

With all the crazy weather we have been having here in SF, it hasn't been easy to get to Chinatown....but I have been determined to try..

You've gotta pick your days...
Things are rarely closed in Chinatown but Chinese New Year is the exception and a lot of places are closed for the holiday.

I went the day after (the first day of) Chinese New Year purposely...because I know what I will find all over the streets....

Lots of fire crackers wrappers and red papers and torn red envelopes. So many things to collage with....I only got a few odd looks while picking up trash...er...treasures off the sidewalk...
and I had to get there before it rained again and everything got soggy.

A lot of the paper displays are outdoors too so a rainy day wouldn't be ideal.

I'm sure you all know it's the Year of the Pig...
oink!!

Red envelopes with pigs on them are all over the place...I must have  red envelopes with all of the twelve animals on them...
I've been at this for a long time.

I love the joss paper shops -- inside the shop it is about 99% paper! Who doesn't love a shop filled with paper?

You need some new clothes?
Probably better to hang on the wall than try to wear though..

This paper outfit is quite fetching, don't you think?

Short on money? Here you go.

All kinds of pretty paper envelopes to choose from.

So, my rule is, if I bring it into my studio I've got to USE it. I have a vintage Chinese notebook and I am filling it with papers and photos from Chinatown...and...

I made a set of Chinese New Year artist trading cards and put them in a take out container a pal sent me...

I had fun using the papers I picked up and the fire cracker wrappers and even some pieces of the firecrackers I found...

So, today is a good day to post since it is pouring rain again...I'm glad I got to go to Chinatown in between storms...and now I have paper to play with on a rainy day.

Have you found anything interesting on the streets lately?
I'm always looking...

Gung Hay Fat Choy
&
Send Good Mail to Get Good Mail

Pretty Pictures & Things I Collect

A number of people have asked what do I collect?
It might be better to ask, what don't I collect?

Here are some pretty things sitting around my studio. I like living with them.
I love Japanese and Chinese calligraphy.....

.....and French cursive writing....and postal images of all kinds......
I have a very large collection of very old French postcards with people dressed up as letter carriers and ladies swooning with mail in hand...

If it is old and if it is paper I'd probably like it...

Old books, of course -- but you guys already know that -- that would be a whole other post.

Love old wooden rulers...

Flower and bird postcards and beautiful old handwriting in all languages...

I like outdated bank notes - love the bird on this one from the NL.

Anything and everything French. Well, you asked....

I love old airmail mail envelopes and bingo cards and typewriter and tape tins and old letters....

Stamps -- this is an old letter from Japan.

So, there are just a few of the things I love and collect.....but I just go to ScrapSF and the Vintage Paper and see what I come up with....I really don't spend a lot and I don't troll eBay for this stuff. My little sister is totally confused and does not get this at all.
I do not want things from department stores or malls....give me the old and torn and worn and I am happy.

I am on the look out for old passports if any of you out there have one to trade.
(You'll see why very soon)

Want to see any more or does this satisfy your curiosity?

And now, how about telling me what YOU collect?

SEND GOOD MAIL -- GET GOOD MAIL

More paper -- This time It's Asian....

Wow! You guys really like paper, don't you? So many delightful comments on my last post (about the Vintage Paper Fair).
Thanks to all of you who comment.
My whole studio looks a little bit like the VPF -- I do seem to collect old paper ephemera.
This is a little bundle of vintage Chinese paper -- calligraphy books, old booklets, a small book of Chinatown photos, odd bits and pieces -- all tied up with a red ribbon -- like a present for me.

Vintage Chinese Booklet
I have been lucky enough to have found a number of quite old booklets  -- they have lovely drawings and I love looking at the characters and wondering what they say.
I am lucky enough to have a number of Chinese friends who translate them for me.

Chinatown/Lunar New Year Zine

I love this time of year here in SF. The Lunar New Year is well celebrated here, especially in Chinatown. There is a wonderful outdoor flower market and the streets are filled with good-luck citrus and flowering plum or cherry blossoms.
I love seeing all the flowers and the big piles of orange and yellow citrus -- tangerines, pomolos, Buddha's Hands....a great time to visit SF for all you folks back east who are about to get buried in snow!
I made a little zine to celebrate.
Too bad each one can't come with a tangerine!

I always like to personalize a zine but adding rubber stamps and tape and stickers or whatever I can think of to make each copy a little unique.

Most of these Asian rubber stamps I picked up at the free table at the SF Correspondence Co-op -- lucky me!
But I did buy the take-out container stamp and the hand with chopsticks.

Some vintage greeting cards....

I also made some cards with photos I've taken (that is one at the bottom). And I picked up a stack of free postcards at the Asian Art Museum and folded them in half to make little booklets for the Year of the Ram too. (top right).

Some envelopes ready to finish up -- top one is vellum and bottom has a see-thru panel -- I love peek-a-boo envelopes, don't you?

Pink/Red Chinese enevlopes
I love using these envelopes too but I did find out the hard way I have to really tape them up because they tend to break open in transit.
Wouldn't want my zines to fall out, would I?

I also made some cards using old photos and watercoloring the card stock and envelopes...

Vintage Chinese Booklet (cover)

Collage
A pal just returned from a trip to Vietnam and brought me back a bunch of paper ephemera she found there.
My friends sure know what I like.

So, my work table is covered in reds and golds and joss paper. Zines are getting folded. Envelopes are getting labeled and stamped. The 2015 Lunar New Year stamp is about to be issued here in SF.
I have had a horrible cold for over a week and really didn't accomplish nearly as much as I wanted to but I am working on all this.

And, guess what?
I just noticed the is my 300th post! 
That is a lot of blogging. 

So, to say thanks -- or xie xie -- to you guys I will pull one name out of a hat 
and send a Lunar New Year mailing out to the lucky winner in about a week.
Leave a comment if you're interested......and I'll put your name into the hat.

Send Good Mail -- Get Good Mail