Mail Art Monday: Silhouettes and Seeds

Not a single piece of mail art arrived in my box this week but I was happy to hear that several packages made their way to their new home.

On my second round exchanges with Sumi, I stuffed a bunch of items into a fish illustration page from an encyclopedia. In this envelope was a Phlox and Frond silhouette, stamps print, a kitty illustration on shiny paper, a snowflake tag, a seed illustration and a small brown envelope full of sparkly bits and bots.

Sumi was the first to receive something new I came up with. I thought I'd try something different with my clippings from magazines and so I elevated them by framing them. I illustrated a frame on some thick paper, cut out the center and glued down my found clipping. A tiny bit of French text to finish it off.


I sent Russelle at Heedless Ceramics a thank you for the lovely cityscape magnet she sent me recently. I found a beautiful image of a spiderweb in an evergreen for an envelope and I filled it with a horse clipping (one in a frame and one on its own), a stamp print, a Phlox and Frond silhouette an "oh shiitake mushrooms" card, a "you are important" rolodex card and a note inside a custom made card.

 I was so excited and a touch intimidated to kick-off the first exchange with Anna Jane Searle. I really admire her work so I put together a package I thought might fit her style. A picture of two lizards formed the perfect envelope and I added speech bubbles for the addresses. I got the idea for that detail from an envelope Jessica Gowling sent to me. I forgot to take a picture of it, but luckily Anna remembered. Stuffed inside was a Coneflower and camera silhouette, a stamp print, a Kon'nichiwa clipping frame, "blarg" card, rolodex card and a handwritten note.

 

As an admirer of Emily Orpin's blog I jumped at the chance to exchange mail art. I created a bird envelope and stuffed it with Coneflower & Frond silhouettes, a bird inspired clipping frame, a "blarg" card, stamp prints, fuzzy initials, googly eyes a pencil sketch of a maple seed on a watercolour wash and a letter written on a handmade card.

I often like to create something original in my mail art packages. Emily had written about maple trees in her neighbourhood and I have at least three different kinds around my house. I have quite the collection of found items, including maple seeds, on my desk so I took this opportunity to sketch the seed. I penciled in the sketch with the intention of going back into it with ink. The more detail I gave it with the pencil the more I liked it as it was, soft and delicate.



I'm hoping to find a little mail art love in my mailbox this week but if I don't, I don't mind. I have three more fat envelopes to send away this week and I can't wait for them to reach their new home and make someone's day a little happier.

... J