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

Anybody miss me?

It's been a while, hasn't it? Funny how things get busy. And I seem to enjoy posting to Instagram these days.
But I thought I'd pop in to the blog and say hello and tell you some of the things I've been up to.
Grab a nice cappuccino and have a visit.

Since my last post of our mail art meeting, there's been another mail art meeting. We had some new visitors and all the usual fun of stamping artistamp passports and making things and finding treasures on the swap table.

There has been A LOT of hanging out and making things in my studio. I have been making lots of little origami folders and decorating them and filling them and mailing them off. It is really fun to make them. I even cleaned up and for a few days you could actually see the top of my work table. See?
Maybe not now though....

Of course I have been playing with stamps....

And, playing with rubber stamps too...

I stamped twenty pages for a FeMail rubber stamp art call and my ink pad ran dry..
By the way, anyone have a recommendation for the best stamp pads? I seem to buy cheap ones or even (gasp) pick them up at Scrap, and they really aren't any good...but no way am I paying $10 for a stamp pad...
What do you all use?

I have been sending out a lot of mail, if I do say so myself...

I made a pal an altered book a while back..(here are some pages). And, I have started a couple for myself. So many ideas...

Driving around San Francisco exploring all my favorite neighborhoods. Or walking. Or taking public transit.
Places to go and people to see.

One place I went was SFmoma - a favorite hang out of mine. If you are ever visiting San Francisco, don't miss it. Always something good to see there.
I loved the Walker Evans show and it made me wonder about the state of fine art photography these days. I went to the SF Art Institute and got a degree in Fine Art Photography but I wonder if people are still doing that....and if there are people like Walker Evans who spent his entire life following his muse and making wonderful photographs.

Lunar New Year is BIG in SF and I love it. I mean, who can resist all those lucky red envelopes and the outdoor flower market and the lion dancers....not to mention Chinese food? Not I.

There was Valentine's Day -- and a week later, our wedding anniversary. I still am crazy over my guy.  I was a child bride. Ok, maybe not....but I was very young...

Lots of flowers all around our house. Those plum blossoms are from our own tree in the backyard.

You all know me, of course there have been lots (and lots) of lunches,. I can't help myself. And a mail art pal from the east coast flew into town and we met up for lunch -- how fun.
And next week another mail art pal is coming and a group of her correspondents are meeting up for lunch at the The Slanted Door. I love when mail artists meet up.

You know it.

So, art and mail and romance and SF and food and fun ..... watching the figure skating at the Olympics too. Did you know I am married to a former figure skater?
I didn't think so. There are many mysteries still to be revealed (or not).

So, that's the news that's fit to print. Yes, there is bad stuff and average stuff too but no need to write about that. We all know about some of it and we all have some of it.

What have you guys been up to? I hope you are all well out there in cyberspace -- and making mail art -- and having good lunches.

XOXOXO
See you in the mail? Or in the comments.

Can't Seem to Stop

I'm still in Lunar New Year/Joss paper mode and I can't seem to stop.

On Friday I took two of my mail art pals around Chinatown for a personal tour of my favorite joss shops.
One of my favorite spots is closing and I was sure to pick up some of the vintage papers they had sitting around....last call.....like these old and charming tiny red envelopes...
and a whole pack for .70 cents?
I don't even have to feel guilty.

I do have a rule though...if I buy stuff I've got to use it....

I added a few finishing touches to my little zine....I definitely think the face on the cover is a nice addition...

Worked on making more cards using my photos....

OUTGOING
Lots of mail going out. And not much coming in.
Ahem.

OUTGOING
Some collaged postcards...

I am getting lots of use out of my postage template from the USPS...

Yup -- this envelope makes the cut -- passes the minimum size test.

OUTGOING
I had twelve outgoing today and another thirteen went out on Friday....

I picked up this vintage Chinese ruler on Friday too....so cool. It is printed on cardboard.

The Studio Worktable
As soon as I clear a spot to work, it gets filled again...oh well....long as I am making things I guess it's all good.

I mean, really....how can I resist?

I break for cappuccino -- of course!

Next time I will post about something other than joss paper and lucky envelopes but I have a feeling I'll be playing with these papers for a while.



Oh -- and the name that got pulled out of the hat? That would be (drumroll)
cjsrq
Please leave me a comment with your address on that previous post (I won't publish it) and I will send you your copy of the zine.
Thanks and Happy NewYear to the rest of you too.
Some of you I already trade mail with and you'll be getting a copy too.

Now....what shall I work on next, I wonder?
Any ideas for me?
All you folks on the east coast (of the USA) stay warm. Looks like an awful lot of that white stuff you've got back there. 

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