Letter Writers Alliance

ABCs of Letter Writing

L.W.A. member and mail entrepreneur Christine of Postmark 1206 has graciously allowed me to share her ABCs of Letter Writing illustration project with you folks. In addition to having a cool mailing program and fun things in her shop, she's clearly overflowing with talent and creativity. I love everything about this. Be sure to check out all the cinderella stamps on her site in full glory. I am a big fan of "I" and "U" and "Z". Thanks for sharing, Christine! 

Charles Orr's Pop Culture Postage

Can these all be real postage stamps PLEASE?! Pretty please? I love them all. It's so hard to try to pic a favorite, but maybe The Jetson's one with Rosie, just because it has her delivering some mail. Love me a meta reference on a stamp. Check out larger images at Retroist, which also links a video lecture from the artist, Clark Orr. You can also purchase some prints through Gallery 1988. 

Penguin Post Office Stamp Window

Perhaps you remember me mentioning the Elsewhere Philatelic Society once or twice before now. Should you like to play along at home, they are having a stamp window from the BOTTOM OF THE EARTH! Follow the instructions below.

To receive the Penguin Post Office stamp:

1. Create a piece of mail (perhaps something for the penguins? A depiction of an intrepid explorer? A message for the bottom of the globe?) and address it to: 
Reigh Robitaille via General Delivery
UKAHT – Port Lockroy
c/o Stanley Post Office
Stanley 
Falkland Islands, South Atlantic
F1QQ 1ZZ

2. Specify RETURN TO SENDER IF NOT PICKED UP BY Jan 15, 2018 by writing it somewhere on the front of the envelope/card.

3. Include the following return address on the envelope / postcard: EPS PO Box 411553 San Francisco, CA 94141

4. Apply sufficient postage for Great Britain. As we assume you are in the US, that’s one *international forever stamp* or stamps totaling $1.15. This is true whether you are sending a postcard or envelope. Anything over 1/2oz costs more, so weigh and act accordingly! We suggest not mailing any unwieldy items or those of a non-standard dimension.

5. Take a photo of the mail before sending in case it gets lost at sea / ice / the penguins use it as a raft to escape hungry seals.

6. Send a S.A.S.E. to EPS PO Box 411553 San Francisco, CA 94141 (to receive the Penguin Post Office commemorative stamp).

Notes of Note: Antarctica travel is highly dependent on weather and conditions at sea. Although the goal is a visit to the post office in Port Lockroy, there’s a strong possibility that weather will prevent it. If this comes to pass, postcard requests will be fulfilled from the southernmost city in the world (Ushuaia).

**We highly advise that you send your mail now, as it can take 2-3 months for mail to reach this location.**

P.S. And if you are in the Bay area, there is a THING on Saturday. You must contact them for details.

Fun HALLOWEEN Mail

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some of you may know that Halloween is my favorite of all the holidays. I ran out of time this year, but I love to host a Halloween Mail Art Party. Without question, my favorite mail art to make is Halloween-themed. I adore these older Sent With Love posts by Margaret of Paper Pastries for her Halloween mailings. This year, I'm attempting to mail Peeps. Just straight mail them with packing tape reinforcement and some stamps. Fingers crossed they arrive edible. How do you celebrate this spooky season with the mail? Let us know!

Protest Via Postage

Kat Ran Press does excellent work around the design and use of postage stamps. Recently, on their Instagram, they've been talking about protest through postage. For example, a flag stamp affixed upside-down to a letter can be read as a message of protest. This quiet form of rebellion seems to have originated during the Vietnam War. 

For a more direct statement, the "No Cents" artistamp is available for purchase from Postal Protest. And, of course, if you are interested in writing more directly, there are actions you can take through our sister site, Stamp Out Hate.

 

P.S. More info about the language of stamps here. Plus, lots of examples can be seen here. 

10th Anniversary Artistamps

The first member download for the 10th Anniversary goodies is up! I designed these artistamps to adorn your envelopes and stationery with the proper amount of ceremonial fanfare in celebration of a decade of letter writing here at the L.W.A. Thank you all for your contributions to our community and continued efforts in writing more letters. Remember, artistamps are not valid for mailing (unless you're doing hand-delivery or using some sort of alternate reality postal system); so be sure to put regular postage on your letters as well. Also, here's a link to a guide on making stamp-like edges if you don't have pre-perforated paper like I do. You could also use the perforating service at Philosetlian Post.

Address Map Postcard

All hail the mail system! This postcard traversed two postal processors, the Royal Mail and the U.S.P.S., to be delivered to me. There's a twist though. The U.S.P.S. did not deliver it to the address illustrated on the card. The address on the card is of our studio, and it's pretty dern accurate. (Want to see the "Big red brick building"? Check out our studio tour.) However, we can't get mail at the studio. There's no mailbox. Rather, there is a mailbox, but we've never been issued keys. By the time we got a studio, we'd already grown pretty attached to our P.O. Box anyway; so we never bothered trying to press for mail at the studio. So how did the card get to us?

They put it in our P.O. Box. 

How'd they know to do that?

It's tempting to say that we're famous in the Chicago portion of the postal system. While that might play a part, I think the bigger reason it got delivered is because our P.O. Box is located in a post office that also happens to be located on Ashland Avenue. It's still VERY IMPRESSIVE. The traditional address identifiers on the card are Chicago, IL, USA, Letter Writers Alliance, Ashland Avenue, & N. Laflin Street. It's like looking at an old postcard and just seeing a name and city. So cool.

The sender of the card has been identified as none other than Alan of Adanaland who has had his postal prowess displayed upon these pages previously. He saw our post on the letter that got delivered to a farm in Iceland and was inspired to give it a try. He says he didn't put his return address on it to avoid having the card just sent back to him. BRAVO! And BRAVO the post!

So whenever you have something that goes missing or you get frustrated by a returned piece of mail art, remember that there is also a story like this. You have just as much chance at a mail miracle as you do for a debacle. The more mail you send, the more wonderful things you have a chance to experience. 

Year of the Rooster

In celebration of Chinese New Year on January 28th, I've made a new artistamp. You can download it here. Remember, you can use the service provided at Philosateleia to perforate your printed pages, or order pre-perforated paper to print on from the Olathe Poste.  Happy Year of the Rooster! May it be fortuitous and mail full for all of you!

Paper Bird Stamps of Diana Beltran Herrera

This is Colossal has a beautiful post up of these paper sculptures of birds posing on postage stamps. The artist, Diana Beltran Herrera, has really captured everyone's curiosity it seems, as so many of you sent this link our way. Here it is for the rest of you members! Sharing is caring. Thanks for spreading the postal love everyone! 

Yes, but is it Art?

Mail Art. Artistamps. We use the word "art" to define and describe these practices. But should we? Are we wrongly equating our mailings with the importance of paintings on gallery walls? I'll tell you I'm not really troubled by these questions. I think it's art and I don't believe in a war between art and craft. Still, it's a question that a lot of people talk about and even write scholarly articles trying to defend. This article "Cinderella and the Big Monster: Mail Art and the Museum" by Peter van der Meijden goes into great depth on the subject. I encourage you to check it out if you want to ruminate more on the matter. Thanks to Laura for this link! 

P.S. Art by François Colos.