Postal Fun

Did you miss the mail art meet-up on Sunday? Well, come along for a little visit today...

There were lots -- and lots -- of postage stamps to play with....

A little show-and-tell from my PDXCC pal Karen....

Some of us worked on glue books and here is a page of mine.....the joy of a pile of stamps and a glue stick...

Here is a page from Margarete's glue book....colors and postmarks...

Some made a bird glue book book..

I wish I used that bird carrying the letter stamp in my book...

Rebecca made some postcards

And, Brianna brought in a book she made using vintage envelopes for pages. How cool is that?

Three signatures in Brianna's book...I want to try making one.

And besides postage stamps, there were artistamps for our passports....

I always bring one of my postal zip bags made by my pal Dori to every meeting.

So, that was Sunday afternoon. VERY fun to play with postage stamps with my tribe.
I can't think of a better way to spend a Sunday afternoon, can you?
SEND GOOD MAIL -- GET GOOD MAIL
& PLAY WITH YOUR POSTAGE STAMPS

Saturday in the City

Some days it is just fun to walk around in the beautiful sunshine and look at art.

Saturday started out with a trip to the farmer's market - those beautiful huge piles of asparagus, artichokes, garlic chives and all sorts of produce are art in themselves.
Then, a trip to one of my favorite SF spots
San Francisco Center for the Book
to see the fabulous Hedi Kyle show. It's up till July 17, 2016  and if you live anywhere near SF you have GOT to see it.

Here are some photos to tempt you into going -- or, as a consolation if you are too far away to attend.
And, you can call or email the SFCB and order a catalog of the show too -- tell Nina I sent you.

While I admire and love the beautiful books in the display cases, my personal favorites were the touchable books. You can just sit on the couch and look through a number of little books that it seems she just carried with her and filled up with day-to-day stuff. So cool....

The Touchable Books

Supermarket fruit stickers never looked so good...

My personal favorite was the tea bag tag book......Dori S, I thought of you, my tea-loving friend...

Take a look at Monica's Artful ReCrafter blog (on my sidebar) -- she went to the Hedi Kyle opening and posted photos on her blog too.

You can't have an art day without having lunch...

After the morning looking at Hedi Kyle's work, we spent the afternoon at the
Hunter's Point Shipyard Open Studio

I think I love looking at the artist tools as much as I enjoy looking at the art...

It is such fun to wander all around a big building filled with artists and art and fantastic views out the windows of the SF Bay...

Go, if you can, and have a look around.....

Hedi Kyle (detail)
The best part of a day like this is that feeling you are all filled up with art and want to rush home or to your own studio and make things!
I sure have that feeling. I am inspired and ready to go to work.
But I just found out the Vintage Paper fair is also this weekend -- how could I possibly have not known that?
Hummmmmmm........
Should I stay in and make things? Or go browse the VPF? (I really do have more than enough paper to work with).
Sometimes there are just too many fun things to do!
What are you doing with your day today?

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Eye Candy and Inspiration

Right before my trip to NYC I spent a day with some lovely pals at The Book Arts Jam.
My first time going.
My friends told me a an all-day outing was about right for it. I was secretly not convinced (thinking all day was too long) -- but they were right.
So much to see and do, free talks and workshops, and an incredible array of beautiful art and altered books.
The time flew by.

First off, there was a little passport station....always a good thing...

Tiny accordion book filled with bird stamps -- very cool. I just wandered from table-to-table looking at all the amazing work the artists were selling.
Check it out below...

Gelli printing (free) demo given by Dorit Elisha. I first heard about Dorit reading Seth Apter's blog The Altered Page awhile back. Dorit and I "met" via e-mail since we both live in the Bay Area and then we met in person at the Book Arts Jam. Her gelli printing was really wonderful as was the artworks she was selling at her table.
Check out her website at that link above and you'll see.

Dorit's gelli printing...

A three fold book cover made from a large inter-office envelope. I like it.

Small suitcase filled with zines! I bought one, of course.

Request a poem -- and have it typed out on a typewriter -- good idea!

My favorite table......since I like to work on making things myself, this table of paper ephemera was my favorite.
Great selection of beautiful papers, old bank books, ledger pages with beautiful cursive writing...on and on...

See?

Luckily I have a lot of paper like this already so I could resist these...

But then I discovered the little packets of stamps.....no resisting those...

I started a little Xmas shopping at this table.....

Another free workshop......how to make a one-page-wonder zine.  I already knew how but it is fun to see how someone else does it.

Who knew old, outdated foreign currency could be so beautiful? I had to get some of these old, out-of-circulation bills and now I have to think up something to make with them.

Beautiful handmade book by Jody Alexander - click here to check out her Wishi Washi Studio website. A real inspiration. This book was made from Library pockets and Due Date Cards and so cool. I am still wishing I could have bought one. Jody gives classes in her studio in Santa Cruz, CA and she also has online classes. 
My art pals and I are hoping for a day trip down to Santa Cruz to take a workshop with Jody.

So, unlike the kid's book about the No Good, Very Bad Miserable Day.....it was a
Really Good, Very Fun, Interesting Day at The Book Arts Jam....
There's the link, they have it every year....I'm just sayin'.

Sooooooo things are getting just a little too busy around these parts. I'm just trying to stay with it and get as much done as I can. 
But the fun keeps on coming. I spent all day yesterday in a terrific collage workshop. Just found out about a really good altered book workshop in early December. Next Saturday is the big Cavallini sale,  that big national (US) holiday involving too-much-food is next week, and the SF Correspondence is having a Xmas party coming up soon..... oh yes, and work...
See what I mean? Busy!

And last week was a crummy mail week. I should be glad it gave me a chance to catch up on my own outgoing mail but you know what?
I wasn't happy at all.
I need mail.

SEND GOOD MAIL ---- GET GOOD MAIL