Catching Up Is Hard to Do

OUTGOING
Busy playing catch-up. Various mail going out - two handmade envelopes and a postcard to Belgium and a
SHOE. Yup -- a paper shoe -- we'll see if it gets delivered.
And maybe next time I'll send a high heeled shoe.

(Update: I just got the word -- the shoe was delivered!)

OUTGOING to Vizma in Australia
Can you see the paper clothes? on the left is the collar of the shirt.

Outgoing to Susanna in Germany
She Liked It!
Click here to see what's inside the envelope. I liked
seeing those faces peeping out through the vellum.

See???

Outgoing to John Held Jr
The Gutai show -- with mail art
John was a co-curater of this show at the San Francisco
Art Institute (my alma mater)and there are shelves of mail art you can pick up and look at. If you're in the Bay Area I recommend seeing the show.

Outgoing to KC in SF -- vintage recipe cards and a
vintage kitchen collaged postcard

Outgoing Collage Postcards
You can never have too much joss paper and Asian ephemera --
at least I can't!

OUTGOING
Collaged cards edition with security envelopes, washi tape,
vintage stamps, postal ephemera -- these babies are ready to be mailed out at the National Postal Museum in Washington, DC.
Rumor has it there is a special postcard so we'll see..

Outgoing
Here's another one...these were fun to make...I knew I was hoarding my old USPS insurance forms for some reason.

Outgoing to Cuan in South Africa - I love international mail art!

                    

INCOMING
Hard to show you this fabulous pop-up booklet from Stephanie Blake (IUOMA). I brought this to our last mail art meeting for show-and-tell and everyone loved the booklet Stephanie made.

Mail-Art Meeting
This time I actually made some collages with found papers at the meeting (instead of just gabbing and eating cupcakes).
Two cards I made are on the left and two Annie Yu made are on the right.

And here they go out -- along with some other outgoing

One of our Co-Op mailart members works in the Book Arts and Special Collections (zines and mail art) Room at the Main Library -- and we are so lucky that she brought a box of mail art to our meeting for inspiration.

Cappuccino
Go have a cappuccino in your favorite cafe and make some mail art while you sit there.

Thanks to all of you who commented on my last post when I asked if I should continue the blog.
Your comments were much appreciated and gave me some incentive to keep going.
I would love to hear from you -- what you like,don't like, any questions,
ideas, special requests??

Cappuccino & Art has a Facebook page too so if you're on FB please "like" my page. I post outgoing mail photos and interesting postal links on there -- things that aren't on the blog.

March is the birthday month so I am looking for a happy mailbox.
Unlike todays where there was nothing.
Nothing!
That is pretty unusual for me and not a happy mail day.

Take care of yourselves and send mail art!

Bella Italia (Part Three)

Venice
Because Venice has absolutely no cars.....

....everything has to be delivered by carts....

I got a kick out of seeing this dry-cleaning delivery cart.
And, as usual, people got a kick out of seeing me photographing the dry-cleaning
delivery cart(I got laughed at and looked at a lot in Istanbul too, which you
will see next post).

Restaurants get their food and wine delivered by carts...

And, of course, all this is leading up to the fact that the MAIL is also delivered by cart.
Very cool.
No sign of the delivery person. Someone could steal one of those packages
just sitting there like that...(I wouldn't think of it).

I wish one of those packages was for me -- I am part Italian, after all.

Another very cool things about Venice is, many of the mail boxes have faces on them.

Here's a shiny new mailbox (ever so out of place in crumbling Venice but I do like that envelope on there).

And here's one a bit more my style...

Posta -- Mail
Say it any way you like!

PREGO NO PUBBLICITA
My feelings exactly - a mail box is supposed to be for mail not for junk!

Venice is really a magically beautiful place just to walk around in...next time I'd like to spend a week or ten days and just walk all over, take pictures and eat and drink coffee and wine...

It is been brought to my attention by several people (hello Mary Ann...) that they haven't been able to comment
on the blog. Since I see there are hundreds of page views and so few comments I wonder if others have the same problem. I have removed the word verification this time around to see
if that helps -- so give me a shout-out and say hello. Let me know if you have been having trouble commenting and if that helps. As long as I don't get a bunch of spam I will leave it off and so we'll see what happens.

I am working on catching up with all my mail -- so if you have sent me mail, you will hear from me soon.
Send Good Mail to Get Good Mail.

Ciao tutti!

My Day with Dave and Other Postal Stories.....US Post

A Random US Post Office...
I picked up this snapshot at a thrift shop yesterday and it got me wondering...
Who took this photo? Why?
In my experience, only mail artists run around taking photos of post offices and
mail boxes.
I am curious about the story behind this shot but I guess I'll never know.
I can make something up!

Hand Canceling With Dave

One of my happiest postal memories is an afternoon I spent at the Valley Ford, CA
Post Office with
Postmaster Dave Bordessa.
He let me cancel all my own letters and a few others too...
I was in heaven.

Canceling in Action
Dave is keeping a strict eye on me as you can see.

This was in the 80's and you will have to excuse the bad perm..

Dave's daughter EB

One of my best pals was -- and is -- Dave's daughter Elvera.
Here she gets to cancel a few stamps too but you can just tell she wasn't as
over-excited as I was.
She has put up with a lot from me over the years...

(Happy Birthday today EB!)

Hum....do you think Dave is counting his stamps and making sure I didn't sneak off with any?

Dave was a lovely man and well liked by everyone in the small town of Valley Ford. His wife Edith was a fabulous cook who would make great Italian feasts and host wonderful dinners, including a number for the artist CHRISTO and his wife while they were in the area working on the Running Fence. I was invited to some of the feasts too.
Sadly the tiny Valley Ford Post office is just exactly the type of the USPS is trying to close today.
A wonderful part of US history that is changing and in my opinion, not for the better.

POSTMASTER RETIRES
and Valley Ford just won't be the same.
Dave and Edith are gone now but I know their memories live on  in many people who knew them
and enjoyed their warmth and hospitality.

Irish-American Pen Pals Meet

Oh yes...something else from my postal past....I have had many pen pals over the years
and this one, Louise Maxwell came over from Ireland to spend a summer with me and my family.
We had a blast. I visited her years later in Ireland too.
Another pen pal I had (who knew Louise) was Sue Brent. She casually wrote "My father George Brent is an actor"
and I was not in the least impressed...if she knew the Rolling Stones yes...
I mentioned this to my mom who who was VERY impressed. I guess George Brent was well known to her generation.

And yes, my hair was blond back in the day. The perm...the blond...The less said the better.

I have always -- always -- loved mail. I don't really know why but my mom also loved to write and receive letters so maybe it runs in the family?

And my mom...now there is another postal story waiting to be told...

What are your stories?

Send Good Mail -- Get Good Mail

Fun with (Collage) Friends!

Can you have too much of a good thing?
Not when it comes to collage!

Last week my mail art pal Annie came over to play.
We had lunch (of course!) and then spent three hours at my work table making
mail art collages.
I love Annie's collage work and it great to watch her in action, cutting, ripping, pasting...
I got a few tips from her and a lot of inspiration.

Some of Annie's collaged postcards

Annie has a great blog too
Curbside Treasure
which I suggest you check out -- Annie makes all kinds of wonderful things.

Outgoing Collage Cards
Here are some of the cards I made this week...

A couple of fun shout-outs from people who have received mail from me--

Planet Susannia (in Germany) and Drawing Near here in the USA

More of my collaged postcards

OUTGOING HANDMADE ENVELOPES
with little surprises inside....
these just went out in today's mail. Even got them hand cancelled by the very nice man at my
post office.

A Green Tea KitKat bar for energy .....
(that green is my favorite color)

OUTGOING HANDMADE Envelopes

OUTGOING POSTCARDS

INCOMING MAIL
Wheeee! Sometimes you just have a real good mail day...

OUTGOING
A French bathing beauty hits the road...

INCOMING
Another happy mail day

MY latest obsession -- besides making lots of collages every day, I have been
obsessed with making these little booklets.
I'll show you a bunch of them in my next post.
I have so many ideas for them.

Now here is a  Question......

I have really been having fun playing with the polaroid app and I love the soft focus
quality in the shots but I"m wondering what all of you think.
Do you prefer the sharper images or the Polaroids?
Or do you like both?
I'd really appreciate some feedback so I know what you'd like to see.

Please leave a comment and let me know what you prefer.

See you next time!

(Cappuccino&Art has a FaceBook page too -- with more photos and links)

                                                                                 

A little of this and a little of......

United States Post Office
Rincon Annex

When is a post office not a post office?
The sign says it's a post office and it looks like a post office but Rincon Annex is no longer
our main San Francisco post office. Closed years ago but happily
you can still explore the lobby and see the incredible art deco
details and postal signage.

Eagles guard the entrance doors outside....there are quite a few eagles inside and out.
At least I didn't get kicked out of this PO for taking photos.

Inside Rincon Annex, amazing art deco details are all over, wonderful old murals..
couldn't find the old PO boxes though.

Letter Drops (old signage)

Another Eagle and sign honoring the SF postal workers who fought in a war..

Eagles are all over the heating vent grills....I just love these....wouldn't this look nice in my studio?

A Korean lunch after a tour of the beautiful old Rincon Annex....need to get some energy back
before the afternoon adventures.

Afternoon visit at a friend's studio - I hadn't been before and was amazed at  how
lovely things looked.
These are collages made by my pal, hanging in her kitchen, before she mails them off.
(I hope I get one)

A drawer filled with vintage mailing labels....
I met J.U. through a mail art group and it is such fun to find someone who shares so many of the same interests.

My friend has an amazing collection of rubber stamps...I admit it, I am a little
envious.

Vintage tape measure collection
How lovely...now who would have thought to curate and hang up tape measures?
What a good idea.
I love this.

Some wooden rulers..well, at least I have a few wooden rulers too...

Monday Incoming
OoOooo I got lucky today! Thanks everyone.

Outgoing Monday
And, I've been busy too.....working on mail and several other art projects are going on my my studio.
We are having a spell of amazing beautiful weather here in SF
making it just a little hard to stay indoors and work....

Happy Mail -- Happy Monday