Celebrating 10 Years of Fish Mailart

I can't believe that I've been making mailart for 10 years! Since fish have always figured prominently in my mailart I thought it would be fun to feature one fishy postcard from each of the past ten years. The one fan of my blog already knows this, but I went to school for Marine Biology and somehow ended up in an office instead of on the water. At least I can see the ocean from my office....

One of my very first postcards ever was this alluring gem from 2007

I loved sushi back in 2008 and I still love it now!

By 2009 I was playing with more painted backgrounds. This one has some paper napkin too.

 

In 2010, I did a little more dabbling with paint. I should probably try to paint some of these fish now that I've been painting longer and honed my skills. I remember being REALLY impressed with myself back when I made this.

 

I chose "Fish by the numbers" to represent 2011. Boy do I have a lot of ephemera...

Now I'm thinking that I really should use some more of my hoard of ephemera and make some more collaged cards like this beauty from 2012.

I did a bunch of teaching in 2013 and this postcard came about during an image transfer class.

In 2014, I was collecting wool sweaters in earnest and felting them. One of my many projects was this argyle flounder. he survived the mail just as you see him in the picture.

A nice simple altered vintage postcard for 2015. That reminds me, I have a pile of unused vintage postcards hanging around here somewhere.....

This postcard for 2016 is one of my favorites. I love taking lots of disparate pieces and melding them together. this one has an old plot plan, a cookbook bit, junk mail, scrapbook paper, and of course...fish!

I hope you enjoyed my walk down memory lane... Here's to 10 more years of Mailart!!

Ransom Note Makers Are True Artists

If you haven't tried to make a ransom note before, be prepared. It takes quite a bit of dedication to cut and paste all of those little letters. These postal ransom notes were sent last month and I just found that at least one didn't make it where it was going. I'm off to cut more little bits....

I wrote this little instruction manual a couple of years ago.

The camel ransom note went to Tricia for a swapbot swap. I really didn't want her camel...send peeps!

Mailart Inspiration in Light Blue and Neutrals

Isn't it amazing how different people can create with the same theme and arrive at very different results? This is Danielle's Round Robin Mailart Zine. She asked the 5 of us to create a zine with the color theme of light blue and neutrals. This is her entry-

She also asked us to add to her cover page. Yes, the fish is mine....

Next in line was Tera who added these hippos. That one in the front is a little un-nerving. He just keeps looking at me....

After leaving Ohio it went on to Massachusetts where Karen added 2 beautiful collages.

All the way back across the country the zine traveled to California where Kerri worked some magic.

Finally, after it came back across the country to me and sat on my table for a month (or more), I finished my page. The note that is hard to read upside-down says *If you have clothes on, don't take them off. They protect you from shark-skin lacerations. Good advice, I thought. It is now off to Tarah in the Netherlands for its last stop before going home to Australia.