I was tickled to see this postcard by Julie of O-kami (below) pop up in my flickr contacts the other day.
She said she was inspired by me, and I can only imagine she meant specifically this postcard below
which I created after being inspired by the piece below by Irana Douer
cool, huh?
Today I checked my p.o. box and found this postcard from my friend Katie Licht. I didn’t need to turn it over to immediately recognize who the artist was, her work is so recognizable. I love the postcard and its arrival was such a welcome and joyful gift! I couldn’t stop smiling, and now I want to frame it.
This is a page spread from a book she was working on recently. Click on the picture above to see more.
Katie is one of the few friends I’ve made through the internet. Her aesthetic is so appealing to my eye. I’ve long admired her work, and all those years ago, was so excited to find that she lived nearby. We had the pleasure of finally meeting in person, briefly, last fall when she came to support my friend Nikki at her benefit. So, not only is she a talented artist and designer, but she is a kind soul as well. Last week she was so kind to feature one of my postcards on her tumblr.
On Thursday Katie and her husband welcomed a daughter into their family. I’m so excited for her. A son and a daughter now. Perfect. Congratulations Katie and Michael!
I’d love to encourage you to check out her artwork on her flickr, her tumblr, and her etsy shop.
I’m still going strong on my mailart365 project. I also signed up for iHanna’s DIY Postcard Swap, so some of these cards are dueling that project.
This is postcard #23 and the list on the back is nicknames I’ve had.
The above postcards were made using the handcarved stamp from the previous post. I made another for the background. These are postcards #20 and #21. Backs read Dream Professions and Things I would change about myself
Postcard #22, 10 Memories from the past 12 months.
#24, Things I always carry with me
#26, 10 responsibilities I have
# 25, Past Jobs I’ve had
On the hunt to find an ideal cutting block material for making stamps, I found this speedball brand (pictured above in pink) a few weeks ago. If you recall, I had bought a sheet from Dick Blick (Staedtler) and it was super soft. So soft, that I could cut it or nick it with my finger nails easily. Then I bought a sheet of linocut for printmaking from Hobby Lobby that was VERY hard and dense and didn’t take to ink pads very well. I wanted to find the middle ground and I think this is it. I’m not crazy about the color, but beggars can’t be choosers. “It’s not too hard, and it’s not too soft, it’s juuuuuust right” like goldilocks would say.
I carved this little audio cassette tape, and it came out so adorably. I was just kind of getting used to the new material, so I made a couple small mistakes, but they weren’t detrimental. Also, I used an Xacto carving set I found in my tool drawer. They worked perfectly.
I’m not sure yet what I should do with this stamp. I like how I was able to use the polaroid stamp for mailart a while back, so I might try something similar here. I’d also like to try something bigger, and testing the stamps out with fabric paint on fabric.
If you’ve never tried making handcarved stamps before, I’d love to encourage you to try it out. You can get going for under $20, which would include the tools, small cutting block material, and ink pad. You could start out by making a stamp of a little sketch you’ve done, or your initials, to mark on envelopes. It’s so much fun and so rewarding.
Before signing off, I wanted to share a few more stamp carving links that might inspire you.
Artist Geninne Zlatki makes wonderful stamps, you can see them here in her flickr set. Here’s a video she posted of how she carves a stamp. And if that wasn’t awesome enough, she is going to be publishing a book (released in 2012) about carving stamps. I am so excited for this to come out!
Here is a post on TalkCraftyToMe with introductions to material, and step by step instructions on making your stamp. Near the bottom of the post, there are more links with other handcarved stamp references.
Here are two flickr groups I’ve been admiring, Carve Your Stamps and Hand Carved Stamps.
And then lastly, check out this awesome tag made with multiple stamps, by Miss Thumdercat
I have no skill at titling posts. This reminds me of a newspaper I design at work. The customer never provides headlines. They send the articles without heads and I guess I’m just expected to throw something together. ugh. I’m a designer, not a writer folks, this is not a smart move. I usually just throw something together with the general topic of the article, but I always hope they will see how lousy the heads are and start providing them.
Speaking of heads. I finally put up my new banner on my blog, etsy and twitter. And, wouldn’t you know, as soon as I did, I wanted to change it to something entirely different. I thought I was going to have a meltdown. But, I’ve just decided to let it go, and not worry, be happy. It’s good enough. The most important change wasn’t really even the header so much, as making the background all white. I had a gradient gray color there before and it was claustrophobic to my posts. I wanted the blog to be like a gallery with white walls, so my artwork is the focus. I’m excited to”publish” this post and see it in action.
I didn’t have a chance to post my mailart yesterday because I actually had to go to work. Imagine that, a 5 day work week! And I was busy, busy, busy. Things have been picking up at work and while having 4 day work weeks has been a dream come true, I would also LOVE to get back to work fully and start making what I used to make on my pay checks. We’ll see how it goes.
So, without further delay, I present you with this weeks mail dump. And once again, just a reminder I’m writing a list on the back of each postcard that I send, so that is the text that appears under each card.
card 13/365 Bad Things I did as a kid
card 14/365 10 great movies
card 15/354 Things I’m looking for in my dream home
card 16/365 What I would do if I won a million dollars
I think I like this one most, for some reason :) Normally I’m a green person, but this yellow card kept grabbing my attention.
card 17/365 Times I’ve had an audience
card 18/365 Favorite places in my hometown
card 19/365 Things I’d rather do than go to work
I got off of work a little bit early. It’s soooo nice outside, but I really had my heart set on using this little bit of extra time to go into my studio and get my Art on. So before I head up there and crack open the windows for some fresh, spring air, I have to pop in here and let you in on some of my currents.
Currently:
I’m enjoying the blog of Cathy McMurray, Habit of Art. I found it through Etsy, she is the current featured seller. Her work, blog and words are amazing.
picture from Venus and Furs on Flickr
I’m also daydreaming about going to our secret beach at the Indiana Dunes and getting sand in between my toes. I don’t know if I can wait until summer. A spring trip (next month) might be necessary.
I’m enjoying playing with my new iphone app “Picture Show” which I found through A Beautiful Mess.
Before After
Okay, off to the studio. Shall I work on mailart, or paintings, resin jewelry, or make little books, or, or, or? I shall see when I get there.
I had the idea to make some chevron patterned button sets the other day. I don’t know if it is just me (because I’ve always been so obsessed with black and white patterns, especially stripes) but the chevron pattern seems to be hot and popping up everywhere.
I designed the gray background pattern on the computer, printed it out and then used my fine illustration pen to fill it in. I love how the hand drawn line work gives it an additional texture and more of an organic feeling, than if it had been solid, crisp lines.
These 1″ buttons are now available in my Etsy shop, as either pinback badges, or magnets.
Here is this week’s mailart postcards for the 365mailart project. The first four are using the stamp I carved last month. The text that goes with each postcard is the list that I wrote on the back.
I used the handcarved stamp I made of the Polaroid Camera for this series. Card #6- Compliments I receive
#7 – Skills I Have
#9 – Mythical Creatures That Should Be Real
#10 – Cities I’ve been to
This is actually a postcard I made years ago, but I never sent it until now.
This is card #8 and the list is “Things I would save if my house was on fire”
postcard # 11, the backside has 10 Things I Like to Shop For
This is postcard #12 and the backside lists the pets I’ve had.
And I’m off! Heading to the city (chicago) to visit a friend. I’m so late already. Have a good weekend :)
Last night inspiration struck in the form of a business card holder. There have been a few times recently, when I was leaving the house and thought I should grab some of my moo cards. Other than a cheap plastic business card holder or the box the cards come in, I didn’t have anything to carry them around in.
I figured there were probably tons of tutorials out there on how to sew a business card holder, but like with most other things, I’m not one for following instructions, so I ended up winging it.
It came out decent, but I didn’t have any interfacing and so it’s pretty flimsy. The outside fabric is a space-like fabric I got from Quilter’s Heaven and I really like it, the inside fabric was a solid gray. I put two pockets inside, one shallow and one deep. One side holds full cards and the other the moo cards. I also sewed in an elastic strap to keep it closed.
February is over and we are that much closer to spring! Near the end of the month, I was so ready to be over with February and the daily Thing-a-Day project. But just to show you what a glutten for punishment, or project addict, I am – before the month was even over, my eye had been caught by multiple other daily projects.
Mailart365
30 Days of Lists
29 Gifts – a month of giving
I love mailart, check out my flickr set of my previous mailart pieces. I love making lists, my sketchbook is filled with them and my studio is filled with tiny slips of paper that have lists drawn out on them. I love giving gifts – I always remember a thing I heard about George Harrison and how he was such a gift giver. He’d have a present for you every time you saw him. I go through these phases when I want to be like that, like George Harrison. We’ll call them my George Harrison phases.
So, I jumped into the deep end and signed up for mailart365. I will openly admit that while I am a HUGE supporter of daily projects, I have yet to complete a 365 project. Failed attempt one, and two.
In an attempt to combine all of these projects, I am writing a list on the back of each postcard, and as I’m sending out original pieces of artwork out in mail, it’s kind of like giving gifts. Some cards will be sent to other participants of the project, others will be sent to friends and family, and others yet will probably be sent out using addresses from sendsomething.net. Here are the first 5 I’ve completed.
edit 2/26: added the lists from the back of the cards underneath each image
10 things about me
10 good books I’ve read
10 accomplishments
10 fun things to do
10 memories
I’ve shared several of these here before, as they were pieces I made from the projects in Water Paper Paint. 5 down, 360 to go. I’m sure I will be creating all sorts of pieces will all different styles and themes. Stay tuned.
Hello, my name is Robyn and I hatched from a Kinder Surprise Egg. Print Designer by day, Inspiration Junkie by night.www.flickr.com
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