The dark envelope problem - - beautiful invention

Yesterday I said there would be orphans - but when I opened the post, I saw that I had not covered up the return addresses on the photo and they were both from someone who only exchanged twice - and then I couldn't find the images to cover up the return address - so I'll have to post something different.

Remember when I told Patty I would work on the problem of using up dark envelopes and finding a way to have the address on a white address label? Well, here are two attempts. Neither of them are successful, but we are going to keep trying. I buy the full sheets of label paper that you can cut into any size you like.

I thought using my scissors that make a postage stamp edge might work. The biggest problem is that the sticker paper is very temperamental. Most of the permanent markers smear - so I am stuck with Sharpies. If I could make a yellow background, they might look better with that stamp - but that is too complicated. The tiny writing on Valerie's says that I deeply regret the lack of space between the sticker and her name. I should have done her address in one straight line. 

Then on the Zeleznik's, I stacked the name and thought the sticker might work - but there was too much empty space so I added the last name - and turned it into a hodgepodge. 

On both of them, the proportion of the address label is egregious. 

What to try next? Maybe I can find some more friendly sticker paper. That would be ideal. I'm also wishing I could print out the address labels. But then I'd have to find the right font and that might be impossible.

I should also try something that is less regimented - and you know what that means? --- not rectangles. And you know who is begging for non-rectangle address labels? Those round stamps. That's who.....and those stamps should be wonderful on dark envelopes......

***

Here's a fun little video with the title:

The most beautiful invention of all time.

Warning: there is some math involved.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KW_bvB33kBc

JAN from Connie and Sharen

 

So cute --- from Connie. She had to take a break from exchanging because of the postal workers strike in Canada. She mailed this one when she popped over the border in January.  She went all the way to Grand Forks, ND - where they have the same BIG CANCEL that we get on our envelopes from JeanR in TEXAS. Note to self - look into these new jumbo-tron-cancels. I'm tempted to start drawing mushrooms - cuteness breeds cuteness. 

And this one is the last one in the folder of January envelopes. It is from. Sharen and it is trapezoidal. She used the stamp for non-machinable mail. 

Maybe it is a good sign that my folder of photos came out even with the pre-written blog posts. Of course I can always make things come out even by putting more than one envelope in a post. This reminds me of my daughter who got so fussed up because she could not get her shampoo and conditioner to run out at the same time. She was a teenager at the time. I need to remind her about that as she prepares for her life with teenagers, coming up in less than 2 years. 

***

I deleted the original add-on that was just a drivel about filling up February. I wrote something different. Now it is 3 days prior to this post popping up and once again, I have deleted the drivel. 

Let's get out there and have productive days unless we need quiet days of respite.

2024 from Valerie - Cups video

 

I hear from Valerie every January. She includes a postcard and a nice bookmark to keep me up to date on which moon is arriving. This year she included a nice note about her love of all things celestial which I really enjoyed. I'm thinking of assigning essays to people so we can get to know each other better. But - I'm not sure anyone wants me to share person info on the blog - so - I'll just let that brilliant idea wander off to the kitchen and see what's the easiest thing to eat.

***

Did anyone think that I would sneak one more dance notation video in? This is not dance - but it is a video - and I thought it would be fun to have my granddaughter learn it. She takes both voice and dance - so I thought it would appeal to her. It's from the movie Pitch Perfect - where Anna Kendrick is auditioning and she does a very fun percussion piece with a cup to go with the song.

On my last trip to Chicago, I pulled up the video and showed it to my granddaughter and asked her if *we* should learn it. Her eyes lit up. We had lots of fun. 

If you have grandkids (or kids) this is a very fun song (and *dance*) to learn. There are many tutorials on YouTube - and some fun ones where a whole group of kids do it in a circle at a table.

LINK to the song in the movie - 1:15 min

LINK to a bunch of kids  this one goes on for a while - the first 30 seconds are enough.

LINK to older kids this one is just 4 people - but they are really good. There are a gazillion CUPS videos on YouTube - both performances as well as tutorials.

JAN from Susan - Last dance notation post

 

This is from Susan and I love it. I spent just enough time on a farm/ranch with a grandma, grandpa and uncles to have an appreciation for all things farm related. I love the lady in the spotted dress. It looks just  like my Aunt Donna - she had that exact polka dot dress. Although the glasses look like mine - so maybe it was supposed to be me? Even the bar code is nicely placed. I just love it.

***

I promise - this is the last of the dance notation - but this is exactly what was in my head when I wondered how choreographers could make notes on how a particular dance should go. There is so much to dance that is 3D - and with an infinite amount of possibilities - how do they communicate the specifics.

Here is a video that illustrates one system. I love how the word *gibberish* is included.

LINK to video

The calligraphers will remember Pendance studio - maybe it is still around. Also there was that unbelievable beautiful dance performance that appeared in several places - maybe I can find it - and repost it. I'm pretty sure it's been mentioned on the blog - but it would be a looooong time ago.

***

I found it - and will add it to a post at the end of March.

JAN snake from Rachael ---- more dance notation

 

Rachael's snake goes nicely with the dance notation. And the card inside is so cool. I wish I had someone here to shoot a video - maybe I can do one and add it.

***

So yesterday when I wrote that I had uncharacteristically forgotten to ask Google when I was wondering how dancers wrote down specific dances - did you all know that I'd be doing that and subjecting you to what I found?

So. Many. Styles.  Such a deep rabbit hole.

Here's part of the blurb that goes with an article I found.

Nowadays, when video recording enables to capture each movement, dance or dance performance, the verbalgraphic style of dance notation can be perceived as dated an ineffective. However Latvia’s experience shows that contemporary dance teachers and choreographers have not yet abandoned the traditional notation system.

I did not click on the article so you are on your own from here. I'm guessing this is just one of those odd topics that goes in one eyeball and out the other. Googling *dance notation* might be more fun - it shows many different styles.

LINK to article

JAN from Patty - Dance notation

 

***

Patty enclosed a note expressing a bit of disappointment in how the label turned out. I have been having the same problem. I did several dark envelopes with white labels that I did not even take photos of. Both Patty and I are tired of dealing with the dark envelopes and inks that won't stick - and lack of contrast that the scanners won't read. 

So, this has inspired me to tackle the problem like a professional. I always remember what I liked about Project Runway. It was all about throwing problems at designers. And sometimes, the designers would make some choices that backfired big time. Sometimes they would crash and burn - but other times, the layer of problem after problem would inspire them to come up with a wildly exciting solution. 

So - that's my mission. Figure out something that works on dark envelopes. Stay tuned.

***

Well, this is funny - it is still Jan 26th -- so the add-on blurb below was written before I wrote this one.

I have come around, full circle to the 6 add ons that I did this morning. I filled up February - and then I went back and photographed the January envelopes.... and it is almost 4 pm. I have taken breaks to do laundry and fix food - but this is probably the longest I have ever spent on the blog in one day. Hopefully they aren't full of wacko stuff that I have to replace...

***

As I write this on Jan 26th, and see that I am less than a month ahead on scheduling the posts - I could do 6 posts in row during my morning coffee and maybe they will be OK. I'll start with random items that I email to myself at my storage unit email. It's my version of hoarding.

Clover sent me a link to an archive - which I have already posted (the one about snowmen) - but here it is again:

LINK to public domain images

This is one of the books that jumped out at me - not for the title - it was the image. And I was delighted to find that it is a book of dance notations. This is the first line in the blurb about it:

First published in 1701, Choregraphie details an early dance notation system invented in the 1680s at the court of Louis XIV. 

I was so excited to see it - because several years ago, I was with my grandkids and met one of their baby sitters. She was so interesting - and her main gig was dancing. She was about to leave to work on one of those cruise ships for. a year. I had never met a professional dancer and I remembered asking her if there was some kind of system for writing down dance moves. She said, "No, we use videos." I didn't probe further - but wondered what people did before video taping. I was also not on top of my research game and forgot to Google the questions. So, it was fun to find the answer to a very old question. 

I saved a couple images and thought I would use them on some envelopes. Then, I deleted them because I have too many ideas. Maybe someone who has a leftover dancer stamp will try this. 

LINK to the book

Scroll down at the link to see more pages - like this one - which is interesting - but too much for an envelope. Many of the others would work for a border.

JAN from Mary -- mailman photo

 

This very fun envelope arrived from Mary. It's the second one from Mary in January - I guess she was stuck inside with the sub-zero weather we had in the middle of the month and spent more time on envelopes..

It's so cute. You might have to open it on something larger than your phone to read the fine print.

Even the back is adorable.

Inside was another tiny envelope.

Another tiny star on the flap of the tiny envelope

and then the enclosure in the tiny envelope....

....and the description on the back.

 LINK to information about Hi-Ho soda. Plymouth, WI seems like the quintessential little midwestern town. I had fun surfing around their website. 

LINK to a whole lot more -- Antoinette, the cow statue, a children's museum, the Cheese Counter and Dairy Heritage Center just to name a few -- and many camps.

***

This was lost in the downloads - Chuck sent it a. while back.

JAN from Mary - snowmen from archive (from Clover)

Mary gets all her envelopes ready ahead of time and then gets them in the mail promptly. Her horse theme with barbed wire lettering is adorable and the lettering is surprisingly easy to read. I like the little horses. It's such a pretty stamp. She enclosed a postcard from Great Sand Dunes National Park. I had to look that one up. It's in Colorado. 

I'm testing my Big Helpful Brother to see if he still reads the blog. If you read this, please text me and tell me if you ever went to that National Park - please and thank you. Or you may leave a comment in the comment section.

***

Clover sent me a link to an archive back in January. It arrived as I was re-adjusting to my return to Des Moines and the weather was cold so I had a good excuse to surf around the archive. The snowman archive caught my eye. Here is one from Iowa in 1918.

LINK to snowman archive

LINK to main page of archive  in case you are not curious about snowmen

Here are the first few lines from the article:

What did the first snowman look like? And who rolled it? In the early 2000s, Bob Eckstein, the world’s foremost (only?) snowman historian, went searching for an icy Adam and its mittened creator, and arrived, four years later, on an illumination from a late-fourteenth century medieval book of hours: folio 78v of MS KB, KA 36, held by the Koninklijke Bibliotheek in The Hague. 

***

Jean's comment -- I think the snowman historian(s) should have clarified that this is only researching the first recording of the making of snowmen.

The Venus of Willendorf is 30,000 years old - give or take a century.

If people were carving little stone images, I'm sure they were sending their kids out to play in the snow and the kids were making snowmen. For people who did not take art history - I'll add the Venus below.

Berlin, 1913 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus_of_Willendorf

Who's tempted to make a snowman replica of this?

How about I get some friends and we put one up in the front yard of the museum in my back yard?

Coffee too strong?

JAN from Lynne and Maggie --- Blot printing

Lynne went with some celebratory fireworks in January and wrote JEAN in blue - and Maggie has a reference to blue jeans from a Neil Diamond song -- so that's 2 more people who did something blue-jean-ish. And Maggie must remember how much I like coffee.

*** written in Chicago in mid-January

It's still 0° - here's someone else with some inspiration to try something new - or maybe you have already tried it and want to try again. Blot printing.

LINK to blot printing

They can be either abstract or representational.

LINK to more ideas  from Laura Denny - if this looks interesting or if you need to fill time while dealing with the maximum chilled weather.

 

JAN from Juliana - Handmade broom

 

I put Blue Jean as an option for my name on the January lists. Juliana was the only one who addressed to Blue Jean. The idea came from the clever Blue Jean envelope from Mary. Juliana enclosed some fun snowflake ornaments that her kids had made. 

I wonder if her kids would be into making brooms (that's the add-on). I used to dream of having kids who wanted to make things with me. Then I thought the grandkids might be into making things. Nope. just a bunch of gross motor people. It's OK. I have enough playmates my own age who will get together for making things.

***

February filler. The making of a broom. I still like brooms although, the part where you have to deal with the pile of whatever you swept up can be a problem. My dream house would have some kind of trapdoor where you stepped on a pedal and then swept the stuff into some kind of receptacle. This is a step up from my dream house for kids that was entirely tile with a hose and a drain in the middle of the room.

Can anyone tell that I have been left in charge of 3 kids? (written while I was in Chicago in January)

LINK to hand made broom

JAN from JeanR ---- Offbeat

 

JeanR always does a coordinated card with her envelopes. I really like the card. Paper dolls are such a nice motif - and I really like the way she put that blue in the background. I would have never thought of something like that - and it adds so much. Nice work, JeanR.

Very random - that JeanR is paired with *offbeat* - she is not offbeat at all - although she's not the opposite of offbeat. I guess the first word that pops into my head is genuine. Don't worry - I'm not going to start labeling exchangers. I called Janet an over-achiever yesterday. When I have met exchangers in person - it's easy to come up with words to describe what I enjoy about them. The rest of you are all very mysterious...which is fine.... we're all just in it for the mail, right?

***

A quick add-on today - offbeat places to visit in each of the 50 states.

LINK to MentalFloss

It was impossible to choose one or even a few to post. Many of them are well known - others were new to me and I've been a big fan of offbeat for quite some time. Many years ago I found Offbeat Bride - which was lots of fun because I was doing so much wedding work. They have morphed into OffbeatWed - and I will let you do your own search if you are interested. Over the past 10-15 years - offbeat has become way more offbeat. Ten years ago, it was mostly goth and steampunk. 

JAN from Janet --- Happy 15th Birthday/Anniversary for the Blog

As I've mentioned - the order of posting of the envelopes is strictly by the order they were photographed...so it was just the luck of the draw that Janet gets to be the celebratory exchanger on the blog's 15th birthday. I'm soooo kicking myself that I didn't have this planned out - and invite her to a party to celebrate the honor of being the celebratory envelope. She is an over achiever in the dessert category (as well as a few others). So, it just dawned on me - it's Jan 26th as I write this. I have plenty of time to organize a party for the blog and invite Janet.....  it's tempting -- but, I think it will be more fun if I just let her read the blog this morning and bask in the honor of being the 15th Birthday enveloper. 

I think I had tossed out this style of lettering that she used and suggested that lots of people try it. Is she the only one who tried it? She was not happy with the shakiness of her lines - but I assured her that it was way better to have the lines be something other than smooth. They have so much more life. I just love this one. It's a very tricky font.

*** this part written while I was out of town earlier in January.

Well, here we are -  the 15th anniversary of the blog. I'm waiting for a brilliant idea for a special add-on. It's still 0° outside. Maybe I'll just head on over to Pinterest and see what they think I should post.

These were the first 4 items in the top row.

 A pretty. alphabet - that is the mixed-style that I've been enjoying these days.

A reminder to keep up with my self-discipline.

A snowflake - a pretty one - to offset the February chill.

And -  a snarky comment about age - yeah, yeah, yeah - everything gets old - 

Thanks to everyone who has helped me keep this going for 15 years....

JAN from Irene - CeeCee's doodle/painting

 

Irene went with a celebration theme and found a tutorial on fireworks. She's using up some linen envelopes that she said are not friendly with her pointed nib work. I can see the difference if I compare it to her work on smooth envelopes - but - it's perfectly fine. I, too, have some linen envelopes to purge from my stash. Maybe I'll pull them out after I get rid of the brown no. 9s.

Here is here card -- do we think Irene went through a tie-dye phase in her youth?

***

Here is another video about nudging your doodling into nicely designed patterns - that hopefully I have not already posted.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7lBpB_YrsY

If I did post this previously, I doubt I included the part where it shows that she is doing her voice over from her bed - and she calls it *relaxing painting and doodling - for all levels - that sounds like something I would promote.

There are endless videos on doodling/painting and some are OK - and I have nothing against diving in with abandon. However - I think this one has some features that reflect a little finesse. Or maybe they are too wimpy for your taste. It's all very subjective.

I did not do a deep dive into CeeCee - other than finding out she's Canadian. Here is the full list of her videos.

https://www.youtube.com/@creationsceecee/videos

JAN from Amy and Christy --- Ann Miller's take on Titivillus

 

This is white gel pen on shimmer paper - so I'm impressed that the ink stuck - and washi tape - from Amy. There's no cancellation.

Christy used washi tape, too. She coordinated the tape with the stamp. There were quite a few of these woodland animal stamps in January. I really like them. Notice that Christy left a half inch of white space for the USPS. I'm encouraging people to keep that half inch open. I know I didn't in January when I ran the motifs off the bottom. I had a little talk with myself - and I'm not going to do that again.

***

I hope this link takes you to Ann B. Miller's Substack - which is like a blog - or maybe not. I am signed up to get her mailings. I have not figured out Substack, yet. It seems like people can offer everything for free or just a part for free and then you need to subscribe to get everything. But, I digress.

Ann's post is about our little friend, Titivillus, the gremlin that causes all our problems if we are scribes or people who write things. I'm not sure we can blame pie-mistakes on him.

If you do a search for [Ann Miller] on my blog - you'll see where I've posted other items from her blog.

A 14th c. illustration of Titivillus, known as the "patron demon of scribes", a scapegoat to be blamed for the errors that occur when copying manuscripts.  [This was the caption on Ann's post]

LINK to Ann's post

Oh - here is some info -  from the end of Ann's blog - that explains some of how Substack works:

NOTE TO ALL: This blogpost on Substack will always be free. I will never charge for the regular newsletters. Think of the “paid” area as more of a classroom or discussion area, where we can be a bit more interactive.

PAID SUBSCRIBERS: All paid subscriptions are now $75 annually or $7.50 monthly. I am eager to devote time to interactive projects and individual discussions on this basis. For you, it’s an ongoing investment in your research and graphic skills in the book arts, handwriting, and letterform/calligraphy. I will be posting exercises that you can follow and work with on your own and upload for feedback. It’s a floating classroom, and I hope you will find it helpful!

EDUCATIONAL DISCOUNT: I’m now offering a special 50% discount on the annual paid subscription for art instructors and those in the art education field.

Rerun valentine to Eric Bruth -- Wearable art

 

Valentine's Day seems like a good day for a red and white themed envelope with heart stamps. This is from 2017. Eric was an exchanger for a while and as I recall he was posting his envelopes with his address online. I Googled and found a current link to his art from May of 2024 and it looks like he is a collage artist more than a mail artist, still living just south of Paris. He posted his address on his blog - so I did not block his address.

https://www.madcollage.com/post/eric-bruth-getting-to-know-you

The Google image search brought up quite a few fun things - many from my blog.

***

Wearable art - a topic that comes up from time to time. This is an episode of Craft in America.

This one is pretty although it would have to be a lot more subtle for me to wear it -- less contrast with the colors. And while the words are right up my alley, I'd make them a little smaller - or a lot smaller.

I might go for just designs rather than words

LINK to wearable art video