Rainy Days and Sundays....

SF Correspondence Co-Op Meet-up
A rainy (yay!) Sunday here in San Francisco and what better way to spend an afternoon than hanging out with mail art pals?

Co-op Passport
New artistamps for the royal passport!

And more stamps....these made by JC the Burning Man postmaster....

SWAP TABLE
There is always something fun on the swap table...this time I definitely brought more stuff than I took away....honest.

Gift Bags
We had a co-op members's birthday to celebrate and a couple of folks brought small gift bags.
A very sharing group of people.
There was some chocolate.

Show & Tell
There is always show-and-tell and BS brought two books she made.I had a great time fondling them and getting ideas I'm now inspired to try making a couple of new books myself myself.....

I packed up one of my wonderful Dori Singh zippered bags with glue sticks and tape and filled up my water bottle (yes...with water...) and I was good to go!

Now...can you think of a better way to spend a rainy Sunday afternoon?

I didn't think so.
Now if I could just get that horrible song title out of my head it would be good.
I am totally going into my studio tomorrow to start making a couple of books, thanks to the inspiration today.
I highly suggest you start up a group like this in your area.
You can start with two people....
an afternoon of talking, sharing, looking and mail art is too good to to miss.

What did you do today?

SEND GOOD MAIL -- GET GOOD MAIL
and
Make Things!

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

If You like Paper.....

Opps -- I did it again!
The Vintage Paper Fair rolled into Golden Gate Park this weekend and, of course, I didn't miss it!

Boxes of SNAPS for .25-cents each.

I planted myself right here and didn't leave for about two and a half hours. See that little sign in the back?
Boxes and boxes of cool postcards for only .25 cents each. Yes!

A well attended event -- lots of vintage paper lovers out there!

A whole box of first day covers from Japan. I really wanted these but they were quite a bit more than .25 cents.

Beautiful pages from old books for sale...

Vintage matchbooks

Foreign and out-of-date currency....

You can really get a lot of bang for your buck at the VPF -- they have all the high end, very collectable things you would imagine but they are loads of affordable things to amuse you as well.
This time I kept my buying to .25 cent postcards.
I was very good.
I even bought a few for pals of mine.

After all that intense browsing I had to take a break and take myself out to lunch. There are loads of great restaurants right in the same area. I went to Manna -- my favorite Korean spot -- to relax and look over my purchases.

Hummmmmm
You can see the next date for the Vintage Paper fair in San Francisco is the weekend of August 1 & 2, 2015.  Now, aren't some of you thinking of a summer vacation?
This might be a good plan.

Sometimes the backs of the postcards are as cool as the fronts.

Beautiful handwriting and lovely stamps.

 Next step is to figure out what I want to do with the postcards I bought. I have a stack of vintage LA linen cards that I will bring on my next LA trip and send out. And, some to gift, to my friends.
They are little little works of art to me.
Real photo postcards? Hand tinted cards? Exotic locations?
All that and more.
Hope you enjoy a look -- and hope I see some of you in SF at the next VPF.
Let's have lunch together!

And -- I would really enjoy hearing from you about what kinds of postcards you might be interested in collecting? I love to hear about collections people have.
My postcard collections include -- old post office cards, vintage French fantasy cards, anything with a postal theme and the cards with flowers/roses.
Plus, if I think I am going to visit a certain city or country I like to look for vintage cards from the place to either send out while traveling or use in my travel journal.
So, what do you collect?