Make Every Day a Good Mail Day

…have you seen what Jennie has been up to over at Red Letter Day HQ?

photo: JH

Some lovely posts over there, friends–about making mail, writing-implement-obsession, and Art’s Birthday…

an excerpt…

Do you take the time to write letters? Send postcards? Lick postage stamps?

There are a legion of folks out there who also do those things, although at times, you may feel as if you are the only one.

When asked what one did over the weekend for fun (while standing around the watercooler on a Monday morn), you will hear very few proclamations of  “I wrote some letters” or “I made postcards for a friend”.

With that in mind, I ask you “Why not?” Why not carry an addressed postcard in your handbag or backpack, ready to be filled out and mailed off? Why not write five (or more) words on a drinks coaster from your favorite cafe and toss it in the mailbox to a friend? All it takes is a postage stamp (easily transported in your wallet!) What about an envelope folded from the menu of your local brasserie, created as you are waiting for your dinner to arrive tableside? The waiter will be charmed, I guarantee, and you may even get a complimentary glass of wine (it happened to me!).

Sending a letter doesn’t have to be an orchestrated process; often something spontaneous is just as effective. The most important thing is to send. To get a letter, send a letter: it’s as simple as that.

–JH

Do you know Tumblr?

Sometimes writing a wordy blog post can seem like just too much work. It’s enough, sometimes, to keep us from getting anything done at all. Other times, the idea of reading all of those words makes us feel tired, or like we don’t already have enough to do. Sometimes we want to just let the images wash over us.

Enter Tumblr.

Drag that little button to the toolbar of your browser, and you can sail along through your daily news reading, flickr perusal–whatever you do on your trip around and about the Internet–and when you see an image that stops your heart, just mouse up and click that little “share on Tumblr” button. The code for the link is included, so the source is automatically credited.

You can also share quotes, your own thoughts, links, sound files, video… If other sites are diaries, newsletters, and newspapers, then Tumblr is that scrapbook or binder where you store your favorite torn-out magazine pictures and notations.

One of my favorite things to do is to return, periodically, to the images I’ve “heart-ed”. It’s a little visual reminder of my obsessions, and can be an interesting way to dredge up new ideas.

Pay a visit to our Good Mail Day Tumblog, which is maintained by myself and curbside treasure. It’s all mail art and postal love, with a little dash of office supplies thrown in. You can even add it to your favorite blog reader, should you be so inclined.

Then start your own, and let us know! It’s a Tumblrevolution!

–Carolee

The winner of our “Fall of the Wall” contest is Lena Bolton of Scottsville VA! Lena will be receiving a copy of Good Mail Day, mail from Pod Post, and a portable mail art kit! I hope it doesn’t spoil the surprise to show you all the spoils of her winnings (below). It just goes to show that mail art has many rewards….

"You can find it very comfortable & useful at any time & any purpose/It always stands by you"

Click through to our Good Mail Day flickr group to see more details about this jam-packed little kit.

Thank you, Lena, and congratulations!

…and stay tuned this weekend for more gorgeous mail art. Our mailbox has been full, but so have been our lives, and we’re just climbing out from under.

–Carolee

Happy December, everyone!

The new year swiftly approaches, but I’ve been in hibernation–with the flu. The good news is that it hasn’t been a bad bout, and that I’ve been spending a lot of quality time with the cat (she loves it when her humans have fevers and are horizontal), my Netflix Instant queue, my book, and my pen and paper. I’ve even got a little cramp in my writing hand from wielding a bone folder, working on the calendar I created with the most excellent Katherine Case. Have you ever wondered what a book of matches would look like if it were also a calendar? Wonder no more.

I’ve also had plenty of time to toddle about the Internet and (when I’m not sounding like Marge Simpson) talk to the lovely Erin from the Smithsonian National Postal Museum. Read the article about Good Mail Day here!

If you’re readying packages to go out for the holidays, be sure to take note of the USPS holiday shipping deadlines. For first-class and priority mail, that’s December 21st.

If you’re in the Bay Area, Jennie and I will be at the San Francisco Center for the Book’s Holiday Fair, on Friday, December 11 from 5:30-8:30. We’ll have a few books for sale, and our pens at the ready if you would like to bring a copy you already have. We’ll also be selling the few sets of merit badges we still have, so get ‘em while you can! (And if you’re not in the Bay Area, you can still order via PayPal for the holidays!)

Now, get to addressing those year-end cards!

–Carolee

At long last, here’s a photograph of the merit badges we sent out to our Good Mail Day contributors.  Only one hundred badges were made and only those who contributed to the book received one.

Thanks to you all!

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