Being back home again after 4 months away (albeit with a 2 week temporary return in January), I was overwhelmed with mail--mostly bills and Christmas cards, things like that. When I finally returned in mid-February, I recalled getting something from P. Landon in January, but had misplaced it.
For some reason I was thinking it had been mail art. Instead, I realized when I came across it again after I made her response piece, that it had only been a Christmas card and note--not mail art at all. I think I might have remembered it as being mail art due to the guy on the stationary. You KNOW he's going to end up on something I make someday. I had also remembered the sentiment in the final paragraph; that I was "the best thing that happened to that site in decades." I am assuming she meant IUOMA, which I left last summer as I was just getting too much mail and I could not keep up. While I am not looking for compliments at all, it was rather nice to have that said to me.
That same Wednesday I made the envelope above, Coco Muchmore sent me a link to a mail artist Zoom meeting. I had to use my phone, but I caught a quick screen shot to prove I was "there." The guy below is Joel Cohen, the apparent leader of the group. Aside from Coco and one other person I have exchanged a few pieces of mail with (Jon Foster), I didn't know anyone "there." Also, I had NO idea I was visible to everyone. On my Zoom screen (on my phone), the only person I saw was whoever was talking. Apparently Coco did see me though. I suppose if I had used a bigger computer, I could have seen everyone. I was content to keep quiet and watch/listen. I had to bail a little more than an hour in as I needed to get to the pharmacy before it closed. It was okay--but I felt out of place. I doubt I'll return...
Speaking of Coco Muchmore, I have SEVERAL things I need to respond to from her. One was this Christmas postcard.
In my previous post, I had responded to one of her homemade Christmas cards. I remembered she had sent me another card...but I hadn't come across it before starting her response. I thought for sure she had made it as well. Now I'm NOT so sure. She may have but it's really slickly made.
THE CHAIN LETTER: Here's what I came up with for her. I had this picture of a guy in a cap with his hand cupped to his mouth, yelling something. Was it a policeman, old-fashioned gas station attendant? milk man? or perhaps a mail man? Hmm. I opted to believe it was a mail man and tried to think up a mail-related fake horror movie and came up with this idea. I decided to cut out the face and add in a skull. It's not very good, unfortuanately. Sorry, Coco...
Included with the card was a collection of small odds and ends she'd found tucked away in books over the years.
The most interesting of the things found in books was this. The start of song lyrics? A poem perhaps? I was fascinated with it--as was she. She said it was the favorite of her collection. How could I not post it here?
AXES OF EVIL and DRACULA'S AIR B&B (BATS & BELFRIES): This is what I sent her back-- A double feature... I believe this is the first time I've done a double feature envelope since my return to mail art. Why a double feature? I did it because I found that nifty new ad piece ("2 all new blood-soaked shockers") and because I literally had no ideas. Looking through the stuff I already had printed, I came up with AXES (a riff on George W. Bush's "axis of evil"--the tag line also ripping his "weapons of mass destruction.") because I had the ax picture and the heads. DRACULA'S AIR B&B (Groan...so lame.) for the same reason. 
FANNY FRANKENSTEIN: MONSTER MADAM: Thomas Brown puts out a wonderful blog called Mail Art News, wherein he covers various mail art projects people have going on, mail art blogs, his own incoming and outgoing mail, etc. It's a unique thing and I am appreciative of him for doing it. Recently, on the IUOMA (International Union Of Mail Artists) website, he asked for submissions of erotic or sexy (I don't recall the exact terms he used--but not porn) pieces for an upcoming issue. That's not my bag at all. (Hello? My stuff is probably only PG-13, if that!) However, when I read his notice, I was looking through images I'd already printed and cut out. The female image (sort of an aged BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN if you look at her closely) was right in front of me...and the idea just snapped into my head. I had to quickly put it together if I ever wanted to move on with the list of mail art owed, because the idea was stuck in my head.
NAUGHTY FRANKENSTEIN and ZOMBIE HOOKER: I really, really do NOT like adding people to my mailing list as I already feel I have too many people to make things for. Even though I still "owe" several other people mail, I have also promised mail to people who've asked me for it. Case in point, this piece. This one became a "double feature" because I'd printed two copies of the double-feature blurb at the top. While looking for images to go with the FANNY FRANKENSTEIN one above, I got the monster image and the creepy call girl image. I didn't use them for FANNY (and the envelope is pretty sparse if you'll notice). So, I just used those images for this scandalous double-feature envelope. It's trashy, but not really. "See the monster play shocking games of peek-a-boo?" "Out of the night she came, rotting and drooling and looking for love?" Hardly hardcore. I do NOT know Jesse at all, so I hope he is not offended. That isn't my intention.
Tara Odorizzi is a mail artist in California and is one of the few that I actually know in real life. Right before I left for California for 4 months, she sent me this...but I didn't get it until I returned!
Tara's work has always proven to be surprising and interesting...never predictable. Here is the back of the piece she sent.
Inside of the piece, I found these tidbits. The red and black stamped card had a note to me on the reverse.
Here's the piece itself--simple, yet complex and utterly fascinating.
THE AMITYVILLE MINI-MART: This is what I came up with for her. This is for anyone who has followed the glut of AMITYVILLE movies out there. Because Amityville is a town and cannot be copyrighted, low-budget filmmakers have cranked out the most inane "sequels." So far, we've had things like AMITYVILLE PRISON, AMITYVILLE ASYLUM, AMITYVILLE THEATER,...and, believe it or not, AMITYVILLE DEATH TOILET and AMITYVILLE OUTHOUSE. It's only a matter of time until, I'm sure, AMITYVILLE MINI-MART becomes a reality. It may not be as, uh... "good" as AMITYVILLE BIGFOOT, AMITYVILLE IN SPACE, or AMITYVILLE VIBRATOR (Yes, those are all "real" releases--and they're god-awful!), but it's something... Tara likes horror movies. Hopefully she has better taste than--and steers away from--crap like this.
CANNIBAL FARM: I do NOT know Alexa McCabe at all. She liked my envelopes (and was also the person who hung her copy of my Halloween party poster on her wall). I told her I'd make her an envelope. This is the not-so-grat result. Oh well, I tried...
Still catching up with "owed" mail art, I received Christmas cards from two friends of a friend. They were homemade. I don't think they realized it at the time, but it consituted mail art! Here, Diane in Arizona, sent me a folded up and glued to a popsicle stick Christmas tree. Her Christmas card was tiki-themed and also homemade. Bravo, Diane!
Oh CRAP! I'd forgotten the stamp. GRR!
The other friend of a friend, Luann, also sent me a Christmas card that she probably didn't realize was mail art either. It's a simple piece of nicer cardboad with a decorative piece of cloth sown to it. Very clever. 
Wrapping up this post--and maybe also my Christmas mail (???), one of my former co-workers made me a bookmark and included it with her Christmas card to me. That I'll also count as mail art, so...
Hooray! That is my 10 envelopes for this post. And I can call it a night.
PLAYGROUND OF THE DEAD: This is what she got in return. Except for the title, taglines,and address, this envelope was slapped together with pieces I had laying about. It was the first thing I made since returning to Washington after completing my 4-month stay (with the brief interruption detailed in the last post) in California. I thought I'd jump right back into it. I hoped to have several things ready for my trip to the mainland my first Monday back for a doctor's appointment. Nope. Didn't happen. The following Thursday (Tomorrow as I write this.), I had another off-island doctor visit to make. I got this ready to go the night before. I haven't gotten my groove back yet...
My friend Cindy is someone I met years ago on (What was it called? Oh yes...) MySpace. I've never met her in real life, but for whatever reason she is one of the very few people I still "know" from that old site. We don't communicate that often--usually just Christmas cards. I opened the one she sent this year and was pleasantly surprised to see that she had made her own cards. In other words, even though I do not think she's a mail art person, she made mail art.
WHISPERS FROM THE SHRUNKEN HEAD: Eh, this one was another turd. I had been thinking about shrunken heads, as I have been watching tutorials on how to make my own for my tiki bar downstairs. That interest carried over to an envelope, but it's a mess. Why is a woman hanging? Why is another laying on the ground? Is she dead? From the title, taglines, and images, it is NOT clear what is going on. Epic FAIL! Oh well.
CANNIBAL COFFEE SHOP: This is what is coming Luann's way. Another "meh" envelope. It's not very cannibal. There is a finger and eyeball in the omelette, and two fingers on the side...but you really can't tell what they are. I'm sure Luann will be glad she really can't make them out though...
HOUSE OF THE UNDEAD: Here is what she is getting back. Like Diane and Luann above, I don't think she'll enjoy the horror theme. But...it's what I do. Diane and Luann know this, but almost NO ONE at the hospital I used to work at knows about this hobby. Actually two people from the old job know, but neither work there any longer... Maybe I'd better send her a note, warning her some spooky mail is coming her way. Hmm.
Thanks for taking a look.
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