Review: Good Mail Day

Here's a look at the most recent snail-mail book I've been able to look over: Good Mail Day: A Primer for Making Eye-Popping Postal Art by Jennie Hinchcliff and Carolee Gilligan Wheeler.

What set this book apart for me was that it's not just about physically making the mail (though it does have useful ideas and templates), but has tons of useful ideas for other aspects of postal art, like organization, etiquette, and tips for getting chummy with local postal workers. They even include directions for creating your own Call For Entries if serious correspondence art is your cup of tea, as well as some links to pen palling websites which I plan to try soon.

The trick to staying on top of all your correspondence is staying organized. If you expect to receive mail, you need to send some out first. Personally, I'm just about to my saturation point with 9 pen pals largely because I can't shut up and what I think will be a simple letter turns in to a 3-5 page saga. Hinchcliff and Wheeler suggest postcards as a more efficient means, but I'm still on the fence about that. Frankly, I like to talk :), but I also feel bad that I'm starting to reject offers for new pen pals. Perhaps I'll add more to only exchange postcards with, but that sounds like you just wouldn't get to know each other quite as well. Since I am feeling just a little bit inundated, I started implementing a log (like this free and printable tracking sheet) per their suggestion. It helps me make sure I haven't overlooked any of my pen pals, and being just a bit more organized is helping me feel much better already.

The word "etiquette" always sounds stuffy and complicated, but Hinchcliff and Wheeler break it down into these five simple rules:

1. Every piece of mail art that comes into your mailbox should receive some sort of acknowledgement in return. This is one of the unspoken "golden rules" of mail art Networking: if someone has sent something to you-- at the very least send a "thank you!" in reply.

2. Mail artists do not charge money for their mail art. Mail art is a gift that you give selflessly because you want to. Money only complicates the whole thing.

3. No returns. Each piece that arrives in your mailbox is yours to keep. it stands to reason that every piece you send to someone else will become part of that person's mail art archive. Mail art is about giving away, not accumulating and hoarding.

4. You Give as good as you Get. If someone sends you an out-of-this-world piece of mail art, you are honor bound to send back something equally fabulous.

5. Be sure to document. If you are running a mail art project of your own, be sure to send documentation to all participants in a timely manner.

Rules 2 and 3 seem pretty obvious to me, but it's nice to have it in a concise list. Mail art is not hard. It's actually pretty simple, and it should just be fun!

Generally I keep my postal creativity 2-dimensional and stick to the typical envelope dimensions and suggested addressing layout so I can easily drop things off in my regular mailbox for pickup. However, some mail artists like to get a little more creative (duh.) and reach outside the usual layout. If this applies to you, Good Mail Day suggests getting to know your postal workers, and sharing your projects with them. As you build this relationship, they will likely be more receptive to some of the stranger pieces you send and receive, provided of course that you're not doing anything super crazy like mailing bombs or just run of the mill restricted materials.

I haven't checked out these suggested pen palling websites in detail just yet, but here's what I gleaned from a quick glance.

The Letter Writers Alliance appears to offer specialty pen palling products like stationery/rubber stamps/etc, a means to find pen pals, as well as access to a bunch of secret free (after a $5.00 lifetime membership fee) stuff, which I assume means printables. You also get a sweet little badge for some extra smarm. My favorite item I saw on this website is a $35.00 carrier pigeon mailing kit. Stuff the plastic bird with a message and drop off in a blue postal pick up box, postage included and no box necessary! Honestly, $35 is way over my pen palling budget, but this would absolutely be a good bucket list item!

The second recommended website that caught my eye, Post Crossing, is a post card exchange project. Basically once you sign up you are given an address to send a post card to, and once you do your address will be given out so someone can send a postcard to you. This way no one is taking advantage of the system. You must give in order to receive. I think I will definitely give this one a shot!

Overall I quite enjoyed Good Mail Day, and found its advice both helpful and inspiring!

Review: Creative Correspondence

Recently I had the opportunity to peruse Creative Correspondence by Michael & Judy Jacobs which I stumbled upon at my local library. I was excited because I knew the book included "15 unique card and envelope projects" and I hoped it would help me learn some new tricks. They also focus on recycling found materials for their projects, and emphasize that correspondence art is highly accessible to everyone (meaning materials and postage are very affordable and  creating a project like this doesn't have to require a lot of time).

 Although the initial premise did look promising, my overall impression was that this is a book to definitely borrow, not buy.  There were some ideas I liked, but altogether it didn't feel like it fit with my style.

The card/envelope projects  were unique as promised, but  a few of them that added personal photographs came off as a little creepy. They'd be super appropriate for children to send school pictures to grandma; or maybe, MAYBE even to send in a long distance love letter, but that's really all I could come up with. Most of the special techniques to embellish the cards and envelopes such as rubber stamps, colored pencils, and stickers frankly were already obvious to me. They also suggest bubble marbling (see "Bubble Painting #1") which did have some novelty as it was an elementary school activity once participated in and long since forgotten, but  I'm not really interested in exerting that much effort just to get a cool background when I have a massive trove of patterned scrapbooking paper already.

The Jacobs also suggest re-purposing what would be otherwise trashed and giving it a new life as a component of your work of art.  On one hand I think that including your ticket stub would add some extra visual interest when you're telling your friend about your review of a recent movie. When my sister was in college I received a letter whose envelope highlighted someone's goofy looking face she had constructed out of a magazine ad. (I still think that's one of the coolest envelopes I've ever been given.) However, I feel the Jacobs take it a little too far when they suggest taking a walk around town and not stopping until you find some interesting material in a local gutter. I get that that is in part the essence of found object art, but I really can't see myself spending my day off searching for actual garbage to pack up and ship to my friends around the world.

My final bone to pick with this book has to deal with their philosophy that great correspondence art shouldn't take long. In fact, they even suggest to spend no longer than 10 minutes on a piece to avoid interruption from your "inner critic". If you struggle with perfectionism or obsessive compulsive disorder, this may very well be some excellent advice for you. Nevertheless, it left me with the impression that the Jacobs spend 10 minutes slapping together some literal garbage supposedly elevating it to "art" status, and sending it off to fellow "artists". (For the record, I do have a very broad definition of what art is, so this does qualify, but it's really not my favorite style. I find works that are difficult to craft or take a lot of time and effort to achieve are more rewarding.)
In my experience the more time invested the better your work of art turns out. Although critiques can be humbling and sometimes painful experiences, they allow you to improve your work. I can understand that your inner critic may come across as crippling self-doubt instead of constructive self-help; but for me, smothering your inner critic almost sounds like smothering your conscience, and good things don't happen when you do that!

Doodle pattern

Sorry the lighting is so crummy here!

I was fortunate to have stumbled upon Jenny Doh's Creative Lettering: Techniques & Tips at my local library. There's loads of good inspiration for different handwriting styles as well as simple, bright, colorful shapes and patterns. This is a book that I would seriously consider adding to my collection if I didn't live right next door to the library.