Making

Good Morning
Greetings from windy, rainy, cold San Francisco. I'm loving it. Perfect time to stay inside and work at my studio work table.
After coffee and breakfast and admiring some vintage flower postcards.....

It may be messy but it is where I am happy making things for hours and hours.
I've been busy at this table trying to catch up with my outgoing mail.
But, we never really catch up, do we?

On January 1 I started my Rolodex Card a Day project and so far so good. Of course, it is only January 22 so I have a long way to go...but I am enjoying it..I have posted more photos of them on IG. And we all know I have endless amounts of paper ephemera to work with...

INCOMING
I have had some lovely incoming mail so there is a lot to catch up on...

I decided to "reprint" some of my older zines and send them to my newer mail art correspondents.

And, being me, I had to make little folders to put the zines in.....I do love a good presentation.

OUTGOING to Cuan in South Africa

OUTGOING to Virgo in Russia

Collages for Virgo

It always feels good to have a stack of outgoing mail.....

Rolo cards for Michele C

....tucked into a little folder....

The start of a mail art book.....more about this later....

PROJECTS: Mail Art book, a Rolodex Card a Day, Altered Passports,  Collages

It is raining AGAIN but that ought to keep me busy for a while....you think?
What are you all working on?
Remember, ART SAVES LIVES

SEND GOOD MAIL -- GET GOOD MAIL

A Little of This and A Lot of Art

I've always got something going on here.......one day when it was too hot to do too much of anything I stayed in my studio and whipped out a postal zine...
always fun to do.

I made fifteen -- they take a while because I glued in real stamps and rubber stamped them -- I like to personalize them and not just xerox.
The first fifteen went out so fast I had to whip up a second set of 15....

Packed up the mail art kit and took a super-fast trip down to LA. I was down and back in the blink of an eye but I did manage to work on some LA-inspired pages for my own altered bookI love starting the day in a hotel room with breakfast and glue!

I have a thing for avocados!

There are so many fun spots in the LA area to eat (even if you do have to drive all over the place to get to them).
Avocado BLT at Tops.

Back home at the wonderfully messy work table -- I took out ALL the paper ephemera I dragged back from Spain and Morocco and I am determined to use it all up! I finished the travel journal about 98%, made a small collage book and an origami wallet that I filled with Spanish and Moroccan business cards....this is a well documented trip.

Some torn posters from the trip.....

I made some more pages to send to my special friend Dori to add to the altered book I made her for her birthday.
She is a little Texas gal, transplanted to CA, so here is a Texas page....

And, she likes tea.....

Altered book page for Dori

So, there you have it -- lots of things being made around here...

And, of course, some good mail going out too.

SEND GOOD MAIL -- GET GOOD MAIL
My mail has been coming at 6 and 7PM!!!!

That is just too late in the day if you ask me. OK, no one did ask me but really....
It's another warm SF day today and I better go to the studio and make something.
It's a Maker's Sunday -- what are you all working on there days?
Have a good one!

Kitted Out

A lot of you are coming to San Francisco soon and I bet you are packing up those mail art kits!

I love to pack up my kit because that means I am going someplace but it's more like re-pack the kits because I always have various pouches stashed here and there with art supplies...you never know when you might need one.
Correspondence co-op meeting?
A sudden urge to create at a cafe (having cappuccino, of course)?
You never know.

You can never really have too many mail art kits....and since I have kits for planes, road trips , cafes and co-op meetings I do need a variety to just grab and go. Besides I collect little pouches that are postally inclined.
(That's my story and I'm sticking to it).
This one is from Itchi-ban-kan in Japantown.

These Blue Q pouches have been around quite a while and I love them...
and I have actually stuck some address labels and stamps on them and mailed them off to far flung places -- like The Netherlands and Budapest. And they both arrived! Pretty cool, huh?

But it's nice to have some that are a little more unusual too....this one is from the Plumfield shop on ETSY.
I don't know if they are still available but you could check if you're interested.
Just think, if I could sew I could make some cool pouches.

And then you have to decide what to put inside your mail art kit.......I try hard to keep mine pretty simple but there are some things I can't do with...
I love my double stick tape and glue sticks. I can give up the scissors (if I have to) because I like to tear and get a softer edge most of the time.

Of course I must add my little mail art address book and some nice postcards stamps.
Always have to send postcards from the road.
And I love to look at other folk's kits -- here are a couple of inspiring ones --

Yellow Daisy Art
I love the way she put tiny things inside the decorated Atoid tin. I think I'm going to put some of my tiny rubber stamps in one. Thanks for the inspiration, yellow Daisy!
&
The Always Inspiring Red Letter Day
I've seen Jennie's red letter kit up close and personal and it is great. But then just about everything she does is pretty terrific.

How many of you long time C&Art readers remember my mail art call way back in October 2011?
What's in YOUR Mail Art Kit?????
And I promised documentation to all? Ever wonder what happened?
Well, that envelope (above) holding all the entries was lost for quite some time. I just found it behind a bookcase when moving everything out of my studio......

......and I got busy right away......

What's in YOUR Mail Arty Kit?
The zine has been made and sent off to you who sent in submissions. I hope you all enjoyed it, especially after having waited so long and so patiently to get it.

If you want to buy a copy of the zine, I am selling them for $6. Just email me through my profile and we'll arrange it.

Unfortunately I could not fit everyone in....including my own submission. So maybe I will have to do a new call for entries and make a mail art kit zine number two. Surely there is more to be said on the subject.

Just remember -- leave some room in your kit if you are coming to SF. The Japantown town
$1.50 shops have pencil cases, pouches, washi tape, double stick tape, glue, mini staplers, sushi-erasers....on and on....

So what do you think? Another zine?
Or just leave word here in the comments about what YOU pack in your mail art kit.
 Here's a little something about mine from the original post

My mail art kit (2011)

What's in YOUR Kit?
The Mail Art Kit -- Don't Leave Home Without It!!!! 

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!!!