Good Things from the Mail Box

Don't you just LOVE getting mail?
I know I do. It is often a highlight of my day. But when there is NO mail.....well.....let's just say I get very crabby.
Lately my mail box hasn't been as happy as it sometimes is....
BUT
I have gotten a few beauties to share with you.

From the lovely MISS MILLICENT this cool envelope arrived recently. A red security envelope folded inside out and stitched together -- oh!
And some roses sewn on to complete whole postal beauty.

See that stitching? Miss Millicent is a whiz with a sewing machine....

DORI SINGH MAIL
Anything I get from Dori I love.....two terrific envelopes with Rolo cards inside....

DORI SINGH MAIL
These two came in another envelope.....The colors on them are more beautiful than in the photo.
My Rolodex fie is getting fat and happy.
Everything Dori makes is wonderful. Thanks, pal!

Susanna Lakner  (Planet Susannia)-- wonderful collage artist from Germany added these two beauties to my Rolodex Art Project. And a rumor has it I just might be meeting her here in San Francisco next month.

Susanna Lakner
The flip side of them....

Margarete Minar
A new member of the SF Correspondence co-op and new pal sent me three Rolodex cards tucked inside this charming little pocket....

And, these two from Margarete have stamps on them -- of course! You can check out her blog on my sidebar.

Barcode Barb
Another co-op member sent me these two Rolo cards -- with a money theme -- so cool.
Barb has been into making books and various themes with a money/banking theme and when I saw those coin stamps at ScrapSF I knew I had to get them for her...

Erica Lang
Now this was fun -- Erica contacted me and asked if I would do a swap of Rolodex Art with her -- why not? And she sent me these three lovelies for the trade.
I love the couch with the stamp "paintings" above it and the real feather glued on --
thank you Erica!

Delwen Tatton
And just today -- from Australia -- this lovely mail arrived and I got to squeeze in one last photo to show you. I love those cartoon woman with the mail comments....and those great Aussie postmarks.

I have had some pretty pathetic no mail days but when I do get mail it is
GOOD MAIL
so thanks to all of you lovelies who keep sending me such delightful mail and cheer up my mail box -- because I am kinda like those kids at the top of the post waiting to see what the mail man will bring.

I have other things to report on. Stamp bundles. Library Book Sale. Co-op meeting. Altered Passport Project.

But that's for another time.

Get any good mail lately?

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Two Mail Art Gatherings in One Weekend?

My last post was about the LWA Mail Art Social on Friday -- and on Sunday we had a meeting of the SF Correspondence Co-Op. I know, you hate me. two mail art meetings in one weekend.
Well, that's the way we roll around here.
We had a guest appearance of this cursive beauty -- and it was for sale!
Imagine that.

There's always show-and-tell. SallyW brought that book in the lower right corner and it was really interesting. Maybe your library has it?

Our "theme" this meeting was sketchbooks of whatever interests/inspires you. And we saw some real beauties.

These are Gregg's and you can check out his blog
The Junk Thief
right here. 

Wonderful old stamp album turned into a book filled with collages by Scooter.

Two of mine.....that vintage telephone book is filled with collages....and, inspired by seeing all those other books I just started a new one....

Of course we had an artistamp for our passports! (And we had three new members of the co-op checking in and buying passports and adding stamps).

And another artistamp by James Cline, Burning Man Postmaster and -- I  just found out -- retired USPS letter carrier. How did I not know that?

Passports and artistamps...
(Can you see the little bumps on the artistamps? That is Braille!)

And what have we here?

One of our new members brought in a book she made using a Priority Mail Envelope she received.
Isn't that a great book?
I know you'all are going to be asking me -- YES there is a tutorial and you can find it
Right Here

And, I highly suggest you check out her wonderful blog with LOTS of tutorials and books she's made
The Mellow Miller
And I'd appreciate it if you leave a comment, tell her I sent you over. 

I can't just sit there -- I made a little collage postcard...

And, I brought some of the wonderful incoming mail I've received for show-and-tell.....

This little party-goer was so excited she had to take a little rest on her typewriter........

And here is a link to my pal Ryan's Flickr photos of the same mail art meeting -
PHOTOS BY RYAN
Check 'em out

AND
Remember my fabulous Rolodex Art Cards? Well, now you can have some too, Mail Me Some Art is hosting 
ROLODEX ART CARD SWAP
It looks like a good one to me -- I'm doing it! 
And, I added Mail Me Some Art on my blog roll -- there are a number of interesting swaps happening right now.
If you're looking for more folks to trade mail art with, this is a good way to go.

I added various things to the blog -- there is a brand new "contact me" form -- I still love comments but if you can't comment, try contacting me. 
And I added two new blogs on the sidebar - Mellow Miller and MMSA. 
Also a link to my INSTAGRAM photos. (click the Instagram logo after you click a photo to see them on IG)
So, I hope you all enjoy the changes. Say hello.

So, it is another Friday here....no mail art events planned this weekend but lots of fun is coming right up -- The Zine Fest, The Library Book Sale, The Vintage Paper Fair....
I might need to rest up and get ready for all the upcoming fun...

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Start Your Day With Art

Good Morning!
I try to start out every day with an hour of art (no matter how early I have to get up). Some folks like to work at night....way into the wee hours....but I always feel like I have to start my day with art if at all possible.

First off, a mug of very strong, black, hot coffee and a book or magazine about art or art techniques.
(This book has been around a while and is called The Pressed Plant - it is very nice).
I like to browse UpperCase and Somerset Studio magazines.

But, Sundays are for the SF Chronicle and the New York Times.....

Oh! And happy T day to Elizabeth and the T gang. I am invited to join in this week and I hope you enjoy the beverage of choice here -- cappuccino.
Thank you
Elizabeth - Altered Book Lover

Looking at some cyanotypes...and getting ready to g to the studio and make things.....and there are so many things I want to make....

For example, I've been into bird envelopes these days....and bird rolodex cards.....

.......yes, and even more bird envelopes.....

Which, in turn, lead me to making altered book pages with birds and a teacher's notes from a bird class....

Sometimes I just make collage cards from things sitting around on my studio table....like this...

Considering I just went to the fabulous Vintage Paper last weekend and came home with lots of vintage paper there is always something sitting around I can use to make some something....25-cent snapshots...

I was very happy to find a Swedish passport for $2 (thanks to Annie) and I changed the passport photo from an old lady to this perky miss. (sorry, I couldn't help myself). I did just notice the passport says she had dark brown hair.I thought Swedes were blond. Oh well. This is added to my altered passport product....
WARNING: The next two photos might make you a little crazy!

I got a bunch of twenty cent postcards just for the fabulous stamps/post marks/cursive writing. Aren't they wonderful? I am kicking myself for not getting more. In my defense, I WAS running out of money....(This photo has gotten the second most "likes" on Instagram that I've ever had)

I just had to show you all this beauty. Some of you have seen it already on the blog's FB page or on IG I know but it is so wonderful I have to share on the blog....A lovely woman (pmarti5) on IG made me this for no reason other than to be wildly nice and generous. It is a cloth journal cover for a Moleskine journal in postal fabric. I am going to treasure this beauty.

So, there you have it -- coffee and reading, making things and surprises in the mail, wonderful old postcards. It's all good. When is your favorite time to make things?
Morning? Night? And, what is everybody out there working on? What do you like to read -- am I missing any good books or magazines? Do tell.
And have a good day you all!

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And then the sun came out

The sun came out in SF and guess what happened?
Sun prints!
Some people call them sun prints but they are really called cyanotypes. You need sun and that isn't always easy to come by in San Francisco in the summer.  I know, the tourists don't believe that either and thats why they all have to buy sweatshirts that say they love San Francisco -- because they are freezing. But I digress....

You can make cyanotypes with all sorts of things, flowers and leaves have been popular for  many, many years -- google Anna Atkins if you don't believe me.
But a lot of artists, like Linda Clark Johnson are trying out new ideas and making the old process new. Check out Linda's work on her web site and FB page and Instagram and you'll see what I mean.
Linda came down from Sacramento to give us -- Monica, Leslie, Dorothy & me -- a workshop.
When you get a group of artists together, you get art.
If you live near Sacramento, you can take a class from Linda -- highly recommended.

See that fern?

Here it is on a piece of cyanotype paper with the sun doing it's thing.
The process is a pretty simple one, coat watercolor paper with cyanotype chemicals and press between two pieces of glass or plexi, expose 10-15-20 minutes till the paper turns kinda brown, wash in water and dip in a peroxide bath and hang to dry......
That's the simple version. You can look it up if you're interested in learning more.

This is how the paper looks after exposure to the sun.

And this is how it looks after the wash.

We all tried different ideas out to get an idea of what worked and what didn't...

There was a lunch break (of course!)

A bit of hanging out in my studio and then back to work/play......

We look like we were having fun, don't we?

The next day, we trooped over to Leslie's studio and we tried out toning the cyanotypes.

We cut our least favorite prints into ATC size and we tried out a variety of different toners.

Green tea, black tea, red wine, onion skin, beets and Borax.

Look at some of the results! Pretty interesting...

So, here I am, back in the studio with my prints. What should I do with them?

I cut this print up into Rolodex cards for my Rolodex art project. Kind of nice. You can cut the prints up for ATC's or rolodex cards or collage or if you really like one, you can frame it.
I'm thinking of some pages for my altered book.
So, there you have it. Two days of cyanotypes and yesterday was the Vintage Paper Fair.
Life is good.

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