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!!

A Weekend of Fishy Mailart!

I have fish flying all over the dining room this weekend! In the picture you can see an "add and pass" to go to Rosalie, an altered game postcard and an envelope for the MMSA envelope swap. I have a bunch more fish postcards happening, but I don't want to show them all before they go out. But here's a sneak peek...cracking myself up, just like Karen .

The words are from a Manga comic book from the thrift store...go figure... :)

July is "Put a Fish on It Month"

Soooo...If Cloth, Paper, Scissors can call May "Put a Bird on It" month, we can call July "Put a Fish on It" month, right?

Here's a little inspiration to get you started... Have Fun!

MailArt Inspiration...Big Time!

Wow! I was blown away by the latest Round Robin Zine that just came my way!

This is the third round of mailart round robin zine that I've done based on this previous post.

The first round took 2 and a half years, but all of the zines ended up making it safely home in the end...whew...The next two were done with mailart peeps from swap-bot and are going much quicker.

Check out these amazing pages. I'm not sure what my page will be, but I get to fill in the last page and send it back to Tarah in The Netherlands.

This is Tarah's aka Cheetarah Cheda starting page complete with scads of her local postage. Tarah chose a "going postal" theme.

 Tarah sent it Danielle aka Bedazzle who created her awesome postal page.

Danielle sent it to Tera aka kattera22 who added a super-friendly mailman then sent it to Karen.

Karen aka iamrushmore added a Super Mail Artists logo in stamps and the sent it on to Kerri.

Kerri aka misscorbeau  added more stamps and a happy mailbox and then tried to send it to me....The zine was returned to her because someone coudn't read the difference between to and from...

And now I have the daunting task of coming up with another amazing page to finish it off before it goes home to Tarah. In the end each participant ends up with an amazing mailart zine of their own.

Storing Mail Art

In honor of MMSA's Mailart Monday blog hop I'm dusting off the old blog...woohoo!

People are always asking how we store our mailart. Short of the classic "in a box" or "in a pile" methods, I do have a couple of other suggestions.

I am a thrift store junkie and you never know what will cross your path if you just keep looking. This wire rack was for Christmas cards I think. A quick spray of chartreuse spray paint...voila! It fits perfectly on the side of a bookcase.

I've also punched a hole in one corner of a bunch of cards and threaded them on metal rings. The hubby built this rack on the back of a door with wire shelving and I use shower curtain hooks to hold the rings. This system also works to hold zip-lock bags of collage bits.

My last storage suggestion for today hangs on the wall in our guest room. We bought a full sheet of rigid insulation at our local home improvement store. (I prefer the blue one over the orange one...) I had a full roll of this Waverly decorator fabric that we had bought super-cheap. We wrapped the fabric around the rigid insulation and secured it to the wall with brass screws and grommets. Simple pushpins hold the cards onto the board. I haven't filled this one up, but I should really spend a day and hang up some of my mailart that is currently in boxes....

South Shore Snail Mail Social

The First Ever South Shore Snail Mail Social

September 22, 2012

1:00-3:00pm

at The Crop Shop in Rockland,MA

You can find the details here on their website
http://www.thecropshop.net/?p=4059

Don't know who to write to? We'll help!

We'll also have special stationery and prizes from the LWA http://16sparrows.typepad.com/letterwritersalliance/

I'm doing it again!

We had so much fun at my first Mailart 101 class that I'm running it again on March 24. I would love to get more people on board and then we can start a Snail Mail Social Club.

The Crop Shop and Creation Destination

March 24, 2012

1-3 pm

http://www.thecropshop.net/?p=3090

Yes, the link is for the first class, but you can still call and sign up.

MailArt 101 Class-Woo Hoo!

Finally! I am taking the plunge and teaching a mailart class on February 4 at 1:00pm at The Crop Shop/Creation Destination in Rockland, MA. Of course, I haven't called to see if anyone has signed up yet...I could end up playing by myself...

I have been busy making class samples, putting together goodie packages, and writing a Mailart Zine to use as my handout.

The pictures below are some samples of my "Layers of Flavor" technique that I will be teaching along with a ton of basic mailart info. I am so excited to get more people doing mailart!


First layer of paint wash on random paper background.

Adding another paint wash, more paper bits, found stamps, and a vintage print block.

A different piece after many many layers...

Come join me!!! It's a bargain at only $15.00 for 2 hours of fun and inspiration! Visit their site at http://www.thecropshop.net/?cat=7 . My class is the second one in the list.

Mailbox Labels

mailbox labels 3
Originally uploaded by FarStarr

I love mailart, vintage stuff, and photography. I finally found a way to combine them all!

This is the first set of mailbox mailing labels and envelope seals that I made from a photo of a little tin mailbox. Now I'm working on a set of mailing labels made from some of my vintage ephemera. I can't wait to share those with you too!
These are available in my Etsy shop.

Mail Art Round Robin Zine

Hi All, Thanks for coming. I decided to use my blog to host the ZMACS Round Robin Mailart Zine Project so everyone could actually see what my intentions are for the swap. The examples below are the two test pieces that I mailed from Massachusetts to California and The UK. They both made it with no problems so I definitely think this swap is doable. I'm sorry, I loaded the pictures in backwards order (one of these days I'll do it right the first time). :)

I did a collage on one side and used the other side for a note and the address.

To mail the fat postcard I put a piece of packing tape on each of the three open sides.

I took five pages of 110 lb. 8 1/2 x 11 cardstock, folded them in half and sewed them together down the middle.

Creating Fabric with SuperSolvy

I had promised some Flickr friends that I would post a tutorial for making fabric with SuperSolvy ages ago...I finally did it!

Step one is to cut 2 sheets of SuperSolvy (the dissolvable interfacing available at places like Joann's). I found that about 12" by 12" is a nice manageable size.

Step Two: Cover one sheet of SS with lots of fabric bits, yarn, lint, wool roving, silk cocoons, and any other little fabricy bits you might have.

Step Three: Once you have covered your first piece of SS with fabric bits, cover it with the second piece of SS and pin it well.

I'm not sure how this picture got out of order...oh well!

Step Four: Take your sewing machine for a drive!! Sew all over the sandwich making sure to catch all the bits in your stitching.

Step Five: Following the directions on the SuperSolvy package dissolve away the stabilizer. I like to do this in a seperate container so I can dump the water outside. It isn't good to dump your gooey water down the drain.

Keep swishing it around in your warm water until all the sticky stuff is gone.

Step Six: Lay your new fabulous handmade fabric out on a kitchen towel to dry.

Voila! Once it dries it is ready to be used in any of your wonderful projects. I have used my own fabric to make postcards, ATC's, and a purse.

Have fun!