Make Every Day a Good Mail Day

This month, we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the demolition of the Berlin Wall. I watched it live on television in my German class, and at the time I had a good friend who was living in Germany who sent me a small painted portion of stone as a souvenir.

Now it’s your turn to send your interpretations of “Fall of the Wall” to us. Whether you send us Wall-inspired graffiti and political statements, art made in German post-war style, or simply your own impressions and memories of the event, we want to see them!

In exchange, we will randomly select one entrant to receive a copy of Good Mail Day, special mail art from Jennie and Carolee, and a traveling mail art kit.

Send your mail art to:

“Good Mail Day” c/o Jennie and Carolee

Attn: “Fall of the Wall” dept.

PO Box 170271

San Francisco, CA 94117, USA

The Fine Print:

“Es tut mir Leid: we apologize that we cannot return your entry. All entries become property of Pod Post/Good Mail Day.

All entries must be received by Nov. 30, 2009.  EXTENDED: December 5, 2009 We will randomly draw the name of one winner on Dec. 4, 2009. Dec. 10, 2009. We will also select some of our favorite entries to display here!
(see the original Craftside post)

I’ve written about my dad’s mail art before–the fanciful marker drawings of my childhood Fisher-Price toys, the rubber stamps, the drawings of Bob Hope (not my favorite, Dad tells me) that riff on the postage stamp. When I tell people about how Good Mail Day awakened the mail artist in my ex-postal worker father, they get all swoony and dab tears of joy from the corners of their eyes. Reactions range from “amazing”, “sweet”, and “cool”, to “can you get my grandpa to do that instead of sending me e-mail forwards of bad jokes?”

Well, add this to your eye candy.

I’m a complete sucker for photos of artists’ studios and craft rooms. Every time I buy a home decoration magazine, I gravitate towards photos of desks, bookcases, and huge loftlike rooms filled with the evidence of someone’s creative impulses. I pore over sites like The Selby and WhereWeDoWhatWeDo and Modish Handmade Spaces (see also the Flickr group) looking for pops of paint and color.

So when I came back to the Old House for a visit with my dad, and heard his stories of sending mail art to all of his young neighbors and relatives, and when he said “I have the bench downstairs all set up if you want to make any mail while you’re here” I went straight down the basement steps with my camera.

I love imagining Dad going shopping for art supplies at the ShopKo or the Dollar General or wherever he goes. He has markers of all kinds, fat and thin. He has stickers clear and iridescent. He has four colors of rubber stamp ink and even a little tiny iPod-and-earbuds rubber stamp (I’ll bet you he has no idea what it is). Hearts, roses, watersoluble and permanent inks, address labels and plenty of postage stamps. Scotch tape and stencils.

When I was a little girl, we used this workbench as a place where Dad would work and I’d pretend to “fix” pieces of electronics that he gave me, using tiny screwdrivers and wire cutters to work on pieces of old television innards, or pounding tacks into little pieces of wood dad had cut to look like fish. The tacks served as magnets for my homemade magnetic fishing pole.

It’s nice to see that the workbench still has soul. Check out the larger photo for all of the delicious details.

Do you love it? I just want to spend hours there listening to old records and drawing.

–Carolee

If you were one of our cherished contributors to Good Mail Day, there’s something very special going out to you this week. And no, we’re not talking about the book–although those are shipping now, too. This is something that is, in our opinion, a little more. Above and beyond. Because you saw fit to share your work with us.

We don’t want to say more, lest we ruin the surprise–but once we know that enough people have received their gifties, we’ll post more photos here. In the meantime, we’re going to have a little puppet show with our thumbs….

–Carolee

For any of you who are still looking for a copy of Good Mail Day, the warehouse has been restocked and bookstores should be getting their copies soon. The second print run has a nice matte cover and a blue seal rather than a purple one!

And for anyone who pre-ordered the book from us at the Book Arts Jam last weekend, I’ll be shipping out your copies tomorrow, via Priority Mail.

outgoing mail, October

Although I won’t be able to dude up the standard flat-rate mailer the books will ship in, know that I wanted to.

Thanks, everyone, for your patience.

–Carolee

Today, we would like to stand up and applaud a few of the beautiful illustrated envelopes that have been arriving at PO Box 170271 — simply magnificent!  Completely divine! Although I have a variety of interests and talents, I cannot count a knack for drawing or painting among that list. However, some of you have been unfurling your talents and letting loose with pen and ink, paint and gouche. I am forever humbled by the following examples…

Artwork:

Top: “Streaming” by Rose Indigo

Bottom, left: “Year of the Letterwriter (Tiger)” by Gary Meyers

Bottom, right: “Angelfish” by Kermit Delaurant

Photo: Von Span

As always, Carolee and I l-o-v-e to see your awe-inspiring mail art — many thanks for all of the postal love!

–Jennie

I received my incredible, gorgeous, amazing, inimitable copy of Uppercase magazine today (issue 3). Surely you’ve heard of it by now, yes? It truly is astounding: it’s as though they have some kind of mind-reading capability, or advanced Canada-to-California X-ray technology, because they’ve taken each and every one of the things that are guaranteed to make my jaw drop and put them all together IN THE SAME MAGAZINE.

(images from the Uppercase set on flickr)

(and they even have a beautiful Tumblr)

Imagine how excited I was to discover that, in issue 3, they featured some very special mail I sent a couple of months ago.

Now, this magazine is honestly packed to the gills, so if you blink you might miss this. But if you’re interested in seeing more of the budget book piece, please take a look at the details in my Flickr set.

I’m off to make more mail art…

–Carolee

There were cupcakes…

photo by Tanya Madoff

photo by Tanya Madoff

…five kinds of cupcakes, baked by the wondrous Pam DeLuco. Red Velvet Cake, Tiramisu, Lemon Curd, Devil’s Food, and Coconut…

There were cookies, lovingly (and clumsily) baked and iced to look like envelopes by Carolee…

photo by Von Span

…wonky, but hopefully charmingly so.

And there was book-signing…a lot of book-signing…

photo by Von Span

…look at my posture there! My penmanship instructor would be appalled.

…there was an amazing mail art exhibit that looked like a giant airmail envelope (alas, we only have partial photos, as your authors were clutching pens in their paws rather than cameras)…

photo by Tanya Madoff

…and we raffled off prizes, but each lucky person in attendance also received a zine all about the process of creating Good Mail Day and a set of commemorative faux postage stamp/seals.

We have so many people to thank (every day, more!), but we’d most like to give our hearty thanks to the following entities and people:

The San Francisco Center for the Book

Pam DeLuco, for cupcakes

Rachel Young, for big helps of many kinds

Sugene Yang-Kelly and Matt Kelly, for stepping in and manning the book/raffle table

Von Span and Tanya Madoff, for photos

Carroll, Annie, Alyson, and John Held, Jr., for gifties

Molly Williams, our impeccably turned-out and up-for-anything volunteer and Annemaree Rea, for making everything beautiful

Beer, wine, and sparkling water for quenching our thirst

all of the contributors who were able to stop by

and all of our friends who attended, and who got about 0.1 seconds of our time.

You made our Good Mail Day.

See another round-up of the shindig on Felt & Wire.

(While supplies last: send a self-addressed stamped first class envelope and receive a set of your own GMD “Special Delivery, Every Day” seals. Mail to: Jennie Hinchcliff, GMD Faux Post Giveaway, PO Box 170271, San Francisco CA 94117)

Our talented and mail-crazy friend Carroll alerted us to a Swap-bot listing that was inspired by the traveling mail art kits in chapter 3 of GMD:

I have just (finally!) received my copy of ‘Good Mail Day’ by Jennie Hinchcliff & Carolee Gilligan Wheeler. I’ve not even finished reading it yet, but Chapter 3 has inspired me to create this swap!

Chapter 3 is called ‘The Traveling Mail Art Kit’, and as the title suggests it is simply about creating a portable pack of mail art essentials, so that you are prepared, whenever and wherever inspiration strikes. I know what I would put in my own mail art kit, but as mail art is such a personal thing & everyone expresses it differently, I thought it would be interesting to see what our partners consider the essentials of mail art.

If you haven’t heard of Swap-bot before, here’s the skinny:

What is Swap-bot?

Do you like sending and receiving snail mail? Do you like writing letters, making crafts, or putting together fun packages? You should try swapping! Swap-bot is a online service that organizes group swaps and a community of creative individuals. Swap-bot takes the hassle out of participating in group swaps by organizing all of the participant information and doing all of the partner assignments. On Swap-bot, you can host swaps, join swaps, and chat with other swappers from all over the world. Give it a try!

I haven’t engaged in swaps yet, mostly because I’m too busy sending out other mail…but those of you who love mail–and want to send and receive more of it–might sign up and give it a try!

And I have to admit, I’m very tempted by the “newbie-friendly” Scavenger Hunt swap!

–Carolee

(some people have asked where they can obtain those little yellow stencils, and I’m happy to tell you that they are still available from KIOSK. Have fun going down that rabbit-hole!)

I spent last night watching a movie and making these little flags, all ready to be introduced to some very tasty cupcakes this coming Friday, October 9, for our book release party at the San Francisco Center for the Book. (And today is cookie-baking day!)

If you’re in the Bay Area, please do head over for a couple of hours of ooh-ing and aah-ing over mail art, nibbling on homemade treats, and drinking a toast (or two) to the evidence that there are still an awful lot of people who love mail.

We’ll be raffling off some prizes–Samara O’Shea’s For the Love of Letters, a Pod Post Mail Art Bento, and a traveling mail art kit!

From the SFCB Event listing:

A Good Mail Day is when, instead of just bills, catalogs, and ads, your postal carrier delivers beautiful, artful mail from friends all over the world. Join Jennie Hinchcliff and Carolee Gilligan Wheeler of Pod Post for the release of their book Good Mail Day: A Primer for Making Eye-Popping Postal Art (Quarry Books). Jennie and Carolee will be signing books and showing off examples of mail art. Hobnob with your local mail art mavens and drink a toast to the continuation of postal correspondence!

The San Francisco Center for the Book is located at 300 De Haro St. at 16th St in lovely Potrero Hill, San Francisco. The event is scheduled from 6-8 pm. Any Postal Workers in attendance who make themselves known to us will receive a standing ovation.

A personal first: Anna’s pug, Magda, recommends Good Mail Day on her blog. I asked Anna, “does Magda need to chew the books, or pee on them, for you to tell if she likes them?”

Thank heavens, her response was in the negative. She did tell me, though, that she keeps the book on the floor (along with a stack of other books) so that Magda can more readily enjoy it.

Thanks for the tasty mail, Anna!