Mail Art 14: Lost in the Mail

Well, I survived the night in the "most haunted room" at the Manresa Castle Hotel in Port Townsend. It was...disappointing for many reasons. But while I was away, I received a message from punk rocker-turned-horror movie composer, Dave Neabore. He received his envelope and sent a photo. He wrote "Omg! I received your letter and your incredible envelope!! Wow I was blown away and can't thank you enough. I am putting the envelope in my permanent collection to remain there forever!" How nice. I'm glad he likes it. (I still think I should have sent him one of my haunted house envelopes. Maybe later...)

I started this one awhile ago. I was actually making it for someone in Europe---but there was no room to put two international stamps and a huge address. So, I thought about who should get it. I've sent them to my mom, nephew, various friends and former co-workers. Who haven't I sent one to? My brother... Even though he really has nothing to do with either my mother or I, he is still family (and only just two blocks from where I live!). Perhaps he'd like it if I sent one to him as well. We will see what he says, if anything... (D)

Since I made one for my brother, I thought I'd make one for my sister and her family as well. She has a soon-to-be seven-year-old, and I wasn't sure how spooky an envelope might turn out, so I switched to a space theme with a friendly-looking alien. As I wanted to get it done just before a trip off-island, I had to rush it. It looks very familiar to me--but that's only because I used copies of images I'd used before elsewhere but already had printed up. (?)

And, of course, if one brother (and a sister) gets an envelope, I need to make one for my other brother and his family. (?)

I do not know Greg Diaz and have had no dealings with him. He is new to the International Union of Mail Artists (IUOMA) and I just happened to be looking at the main message board when he happened to post his address (instead of having it posted on his personal page) for another member who asked for it. I thought why not send him something? I was briefly Mr. Welcome Wagon, always welcoming newbies to the site...but then I kept getting unwanted friend requests...which made it hard to re-retire. (NOT that I regret anyone I've become "friends" with at all. I DON'T!) But as a step to not getting any further requests, I quickly stopped the practice. Mr. Diaz does not know this is coming his way. I explained in my letter I was retired and just making envelopes as I felt like it--and asked him NOT to respond. That may seem rude, but at least I DID say hello and welcomed him. And he doesn't have to feel obligated to respond. (D)

Mikey, who never received the first piece of mail art I sent him, got the one I sent him recently--and shared a photo of him with it. Hooray! It took about two weeks (!!!) to reach him. I am glad he finally got it.

My mail art friend Amy's boyfriend Chris' birthday is coming up. They've stayed at my house. I've stayed at theirs. I made a (lame) birthday envelope for Amy...now here is one for Chris, who is hitting 60. Yowza! Clearly doing birthday cards is NOT my thing... (D)

If this envelope looks familiar to you and you've been reading my mail art blog entries, that familiarity is because this is based on one of the cards I made for Maxima Strange's Goth project about Samhain. Of all of the cards I've done for Maxima's projects, this is the only one I did not later turn into an envelope...until now. Why did I wait until now? Because the packet of 31 cards I painstakingly made for the project NEVER arrived. It went into the Mail Art Black Hole / Bermuda Triangle/Jail. I blame my local post office, of course. So, since they never arrived, I thought I'd pull together an envelope based on it after all. Actually, this is basically what the cards looked like, minus the address and stamps. (D)

But I still had two other cards in Maxima's big Samhain project. It arrived in mid-October:

These are the cards inside, all very different. My cards (the one on the bottom left and the "House of Screams) on the third row right) don't "fit" so well with the others. I don't know what I am supposed to do for these things...

Maxima's next project, still under the "Goth Emporium" umbrella, is called Yule. We are back to only doing 13 cards. This is what I came up with. Meh...

I got it done, but it was not my favorite design I ever made. Oh well. My heart truly was not in it after those 31 cards I made for the Samhain project went missing in the mail...(R)

I've turned the card into an envelope as well. This is the "expanded, movie poster" version. The damned stamps are in the way again. (D)

Amy Kiessling sent me some mail art in a groovy, seasonal envelope. As luck would have it, I had to go into Seattle one night for a quick interview (A guy who does a tiki webshow wanted me as his guest. Crazy, huh?) and Amy was able to come and hang out for a while. It was such a delight having her there.

So, since Amy sent me something---I had to send her something back. Just in time for Halloween, it's A-HAUNTING WE WILL GO-GO. (D)

I had sent something to Tara Odorizzi months ago, when I was new to IUOMA. Despite sending her a follow-up postcard and leaving a note or two for her on the site asking if she'd received it, I never heard from her...until a few days ago, just as I was finishing up this envelope for...whoever. She apologized for her delay in responding...and included a friend request. (Argh! Not ANOTHER one...) So this is off to her. (D)

This past Tuesday/Wednesday were my last scheduled days off of the island until just before Christmas. While I am sure there will be an occasional run to Coctco or wherever, there is nothing off-island currently planned. That is actually fine. I need to focus on other things aside from mail art for a while. It's getting close to Christmas card season ---and every year my list grows and g-r-o-w-s and G-R-O-W-S!! Last year, I had more than 150 cards to make out. This year, it will undoubtedly be more. Only this year, because of my arms, I have a feeling that I may be resorting to the dreaded generic holiday letter. As bad as my handwriting is, I have always prided myself on sending cards with handwritten notes. This may be the first year in many where that won't happen.