The Good, The Bad and the Lunch

Good Cancellations

Received this week, some mail with the fabulous Ex Postal Facto special cancellation.

Bad Cancellation

Also received a lovely collage and envelope from Stan Askew with this horrible Sharpie "cancellation" ruining the stamps and envelope.
Doesn't this make you mad?

The BUZZzzzzzzz from Ex Postal Facto continues but I have been seriously trying to catch up and spending a fair amount of time at my (temporary) work table.

Speaking of cancellations, I have been making some cards using some of my postal rubber stamps.
Nice?

Collaged Postcards

A couple of folks from out-of-town had a rather...shall we say, interesting.....ride on a local SF Muni bus and here are the collaged cards to remind them....or maybe they want to forget..

OUTGOING

OUTGOING

I cannot help myself. I can't stop making these Stamp Head ATC's. And certain people were egging me on. (You know who you are). This one cracks me up.

Stamp Head

I rather like this one too -- what do you think?

Kelly P sent me these two......but they needed a little something...

So, I collaborated with her (now she knows) and stuck them on ATC size painted paper and hit them with a couple of rubber stamps. Better?

Connie Rose got in the game and sent me these two -- I love the woman with the red stripes!
Thanks, Connie.

And...I am working on some "starts" of collages to collaborate with Allan Bealy....these have been slow going but I am almost finished.

OUTGOING

A little booklet about my town -- San Francisco -- another trade with a mail art friend.
Hope she likes it.

BEFORE

You know I had to pack up my studio a couple of weeks ago....I am still in a mess...

....but look! It is painted and the floors are finished. We need to get a rug and then move the (very) large work table back in there....

We are playing with cut outs to see what goes where and how to make the best use of the (somewhat odd) space.
I want to invite everyone over for wine and cheese and cake and mail art when it is all finished.
Who wants to come over?

I've been working hard but there is always time for lunch! Dungeness Crab Louie and sour dough bread and avocado....and California wine....not bad at all.

I remember when I didn't like rubber stamps. I guess that was in another lifetime.

That seems about it from here. Still thinking about what a great time I had at XPF and all the terrific people I met.
Trying to answer all my mail, send out the zine to those who ordered, make those crazy Stamp Head ATC's and generally have as much fun as possible.

And you?

YOU'VE GOT TO SEND GOOD MAIL TO GET GOOD MAIL!

XPF Passport -- Don't Leave Home Without It!

Ex Postal Facto lives on!
If you follow the Cappuccino&Art blog on Facebook you have been seeing loads of photos of the  unbelievable mail art event this pasty weekend here in San Francisco --
Ex Postal Facto
Thanks to Miss Red Letter Day herself (and her XPF team) this was three incredible days of mail art,
artistamps, panel discussions, rubber stamps, vending, meeting old friends and making new ones....
an event many of us will be talking about and thinking about for a very long time.

And did I mention the mail art passports?
Each day of the event had a special stamps and many of the participants brought along artistamps and rubber stamps to stamp in the passports.
The best souvenir ever!

One vender brought along a large set of vintage rubber stamps from a classroom and let everyone have at it --
Let the stamping begin.

Artistamps by John Held, Jr

Sticker Dude (and others) brought stickers and this absolutely lovely photo of the much missed mail art queen Patricia Taverner is by Susan Backman (bottom right).

There were rubber stamps and artistamps to purchase and all kinds of wonderful things to look at and two amazing panel discussions at the SF Library on West Coast Mail Art and Artistamps and the fabulous Mail/Art/Book show at SF Center for the book (which runs for quite some time so if you are in the the area try not to miss seeing that).

There were so many incredible things going on on for the past three+plus days I didn't even know what to show you all.
What do you want to see?
Maybe a few photos from each day's events?
Let me know and I will try.
Check out the blog's FB page and the XPF Website as it is updated.

Hello to all the wonderful new people I met --

Karen Isaacson (Mail Me Some Art), Anna Banana, Carl Chew, Niko Courtelis, Melissa Esposito, Olive Cinnamon (aka Miss Polly), TS Crow
April Gunther, Dame Mailarta, Jack Latteman,  Nina Hermus (who came all the way from The Netherlands), Adreinne, Stan Askew, B. Lee Auchter, Mary England
and everyone else.

MAIL ART -- The ETERNAL NETWORK LIVES ON!

This and That...

Ex Postal Facto passbook production line at SF Center for the Book on Saturday, February 1.
Yesterday the SF Correspondence Co-Op joined forces in cutting, folding, punching, sewing, dating and stamping the passports for the upcoming XPF.
And when we all get together it's always a lot of fun.

300 passports later.....and we're done...

No cookies this time -- we wouldn't want to smudge up those beautiful passports -- but we did get the opportunity to buy an XPF rubber stamp and see the cool postcard for the show.
And we got to preview the catalog/book for the mail art show.
You are going to want that catalog if you like mail art!

BOOT SALE
And outside the SFCB one of our members set up a trunk sale or a boot sale on the hood of her car. She was selling all postal memorabilia -- including typewriters, USPS lunch box, postal themed fabric, tiny UK metal PO Boxes......
Pretty cool sale, Anna! My wallet is lighter now.

I wanted this -- but I resisted. If anyone wants to send me one....

POST OFFICE GAME
I resisted this too. I surprise myself sometimes...

That was the fun stuff...now this is the not so fun stuff....I had to empty EVERYTHING out of my studio so we can paint it and sand the floor.
I am in total chaos, working out of boxes and feeling displaced.
All for a good cause though.

My husband set me up with a temporary work space in the studio kitchen. Bless him! But he knows it was for his own good -- I would be going absolutely crazy without a spot to work on my projects.
Like that ancient 50's metal sink?
It is nice to have a window to look at while working.

At least it was easy to move these from one room to another so my stamps and washi tape are
 close by.

Working on some more Stamp Head ATC's. I am getting the hang of it more now and they really are fun. But I am finding there are almost no stamps with children's faces on them and I need some.

MAIL ART KIT ZINE
One good thing that came out of emptying out my studio is that I finally found the envelope containing the submission for the call-for-entries I had way back on October 2011 for
What's In Your Mail Art Kit?
I have been looking for them for ages and found them behind a bookcase. I immediately got busy and made the zine.
The zine has been mailed out to those who submitted entries and there will be more about it -- and mail art kits -- in an upcoming post.

CHINATOWN
Next stop -- Chinatown for the Lunar New Year Flower Market (and lunch, of course).
Will be reporting on the paper shops there soon too. It isn't always so busy on Grant Avenue. The street was closed for the flower market (as it will be for the Parade).

There is always a lot to enjoy looking at in Chinatown -- especially at Lunar New Year.
And if you are coming to town for XPF - the famous Parade will be Saturday, February  15.
I'm just sayin'......

OUTGOING

I've been busy!! Helping out with the XPF passports, moving boxes, trying to find stuff in the studio, wandering through Chinatown, sending mail, making zines, having lunch...and there is Valentine's Day coming up too.

What are you all doing these days?

SEND GOOD MAIL -- GET GOOD MAIL!!!