finnbadger 2

here is my second envelope from finnbadger. it is numbered 83 on the back. it has not been cancelled. plus it did not get the barcode printed or stuck on with a sticker which is pretty interesting. i wonder how envelopes slip through the system.

as i mentioned in a previous post, i am usually not a big fan of diagonals because a lot of people will tilt their lettering because they want something *eye-catching.*  well, it catches the eye, and then flings the eye off the page. diagonals are useful to show depth and motion. subtle or implied diagonals will lead the eye around the composition. if you have a nice composition with some verticals and/or some horizontals and then you slap a big bold diagonal across the whole thing, it can be very distracting. here, finnbadger embraced the diagonal, the stamp and address fits in nicely. his subtle use of the 420 placed ahead of the name is a clever homage to the block of copy that was already on the page. subtle is nice.

he also lined up the stamp and address with the left justified caption and painting below. a small touch, but essential. good design is not rocket science. it is just paying attention to the details and making the elements work together. yes, you can *catch-the-eye* with jarring elements. but, it is just as effective and might hold the viewers attention a little longer if you have some subtle connections within the elements. that is just my opinion, but i am right. (that is a quote from the illustrious mary jones, an artist. http://maryjonesart.com/ )

ruth's border

i liked ruth's border a lot.
i made mine more S-shaped.

and i used a gray gel glaze pen.
i haven't decided how to finish it.
choosing a stamp
would be the best way to go...
and then pulling out three colors from the stamp.

in the note in the envelope,
 ruth mentioned that she did not count
the squares so that the number of squares
was divisible by three so the pattern would
come out right. i don't think it is a problem to
have the color sequence have one inconsistency.
i did look for it, because ruth mentioned it, but
i don't think i would have ever noticed it.

it is hard to decide when to be compulsive. i think the key is to be as compulsive as you like, but then, don't *fret* if things start going off in some unplanned direction. relax and enjoy the unexpected. there is nothing wrong with setting the goal of making something precise. but, if it doesn't work out...it's not a big deal.

the above comment is directed at envelopes. i am not making a broad statement. for all you neurosurgeons who are following my blog, you go right ahead and be seriously compulsive.

sunday guest artist

this is another one from the
goreystore.com

i like the way the lettering goes across the white space switching from black type on white to white type on black. very good idea...would be harder to accomplish than it looks.

i am still surprised that his envelopes are only $250

elizabeth picnic

this is from the day we sat around thinking up picnic ideas. i'm not sure i can come up with an entire picnic alphabet. i'm sure you can google *picnic alphabet* and there will be some. i am going to control my impulse. my favorites are the catchup and mustard. i drew with G-Tec, colored in with colored pencil and anything that is metal was done with a silver gel pen.

oh....FinnBadger has struck again. he is not a one-hit-wonder. you'll have to wait for me to scan it. it's very nice. i like his design sense...which is surprising, since i am not usually fond of diagonals.

jeri - guest artist

a pretty card from jeri. i like the row of guys.

very simple - elegant.

making the S's long is a very nice touch.

stealworthy.

those cool flowers are made with a Miracle Wedge 7900 brush
available from John Neal

http://www.johnnealbooks.com/prod_detail_list/s?keyword=BR50



White House calligrapher, Pat Blair, recommends them.
I recommend them, even though I don't allow myself to have one....I get so little done even with my modest supply of supplies.

carol red EKG + ivory envelope

this looks like a loopy EKG or something. and the postmark is adorable and notice the extra lines that run across the stamps - i wonder how they were made - and by whom.

maybe we have kindred spirits at the p.o. who like to add-and-pass.

add-and-pass is something that is done in the world of rubber stampers. they have a list of participants. one person starts something, then mails it to the next one, who adds something and passes it to the next person on the list and so on.

carol sent some ivory envelopes and said she had no idea why she even had them as she only uses white. i think some of the stamps look really nice on ivory. this one, with the white border would look fine on white. as i recall, there was one stamp that looked really bad on white and only looked good on ivory. so...lesson for today... don't judge a color by its color.

i will try to remember and post a sample of the stamp that needs to be on an ivory envelope. maybe there is more than one.

and yes, that bunch of growing stuff on the L is hiding the fact that i made an r after the o, because i was talking. i have a small group that meets once a week to prepare items for the blog and i am learning that i reeeeeeeeeeeeeeally can't talk and write at the same time. but i sure enjoy fixing mistakes.

jean-o-matic

this is how i write straight on envelopes.
cut off the top part of the top of a file folder
insert envelope
write just above the edge
when you get to a letter with a descender or *tail* just skip the tail
after you complete the line, pull the envelope up and add the tails to f,g,j,p,q,y and sometimes z

you can make marks on the file folder at the top of the envelope
to keep the level of the starting line consistent.

jenni dots

this is one of my favorites. i peeled the stamp off of some mail because this isn't going to get mailed. i tried to do this lettering again and wasn't happy with it. i'll try again some time. the shimmery pink paper is really nice to write on. paper source sells shimmer paper.

first i drew the straight line, with a ruler. then i used the fine end of a ZIG Writer and then went over it in a few places with the bolder tip.

skip's b'day plus sign

this is similar to the red one i did for chuck. i like the idea and this one is nice because the p.o. box and zip are clearly on the right side of the envelope and that is all the information the p. o. needs to deliver the envelope.

chuck's is better, but i can't mail it with only one stamp. i need to find a better stamp that is 66-cents or whatever you need for a 1-oz square.
 but this stamp is so perfect.
guess i better hand deliver it.

but can i part with that stamp?
i'm not the only one who has trouble parting with stamps.
i guess i can cut a picture of one out of the catalog the p.o. sends me.

jenni flower

another idea that i sent to ruth when she was working on the 40 envelopes for her daughter.

not a good stamp choice. not finished...
but, a good enough idea to share.

jenni - 4 ideas

4 ideas i did quickly for ruth when she was a little skeptical about coming up with 40 ideas for her daughter's 40th birthday. these are black galaxy marker on a paper source shimmer envelope. except the butterfly is either a g-tec or a pigma micron. the markers are easier to control on the shimmer paper.

jenni has a good combination of letters in her name. the three iiis, the two Ls, the double n, and the w - and the e can reflect the n-shape. the odd-ball letters are the J and S at the ends...and those two letters are usually odd-balls. J goes to the left and S goes back and forth. but you can still use the same kinds of arcs you used in the e-n-w.

i never finished these - maybe i should. the point is to look at the selection of letters in the name you are writing and see what kinds of shapes you have to work with. 

elizabeth's corn

this looks a lot like a beautiful herman miller poster invitation. i could not resist stealing the idea. this is the rough sketch. i am working on a real one with her real address and i like it a lot.

http://www.hermanmiller.com/discover/then-x-ten-the-power-of-the-poster-3/

i think that link will take you to the herman miller poster and a bunch more highly stealworthy ideas. remember...you may only steal them for your own enjoyment. you may not sell any design that resembles this poster or envelope.

i've only had one job, in an office, working for a boss. the boss had the whole collection of herman miller posters in the office, so it was fun to run across them again after [yikes] 34 years. time flies, but good design lasts forever. i think the set of posters looks just as fresh as it did in the 70's.

sunday guest artist

a very nice drawing. it would be fun to do something similar, but just stick figures...

this is from the blogspot
polarbearstale

skip tiedye

not a good stamp choice. i should have gone to the vintage stamp store and found something better. note....there is tiny writing that says *happy birthday* as one of the layers on the tie dye. i've never done much graffiti lettering. it doesn't really appeal to me. but, i liked this one to balance out some of the too-girly ones that i did for him.i used the faber-castell big brush markers from jan. thanks again jan.

guest artist - smash patriotic girl

here is a bonus post, in case the two from carol are repeats.

isn't this adorable. i hardly ever like flag stamps, but i would totally steal this idea.

smash has made comments that she thinks her names looked *tacked on* and aren't integrated into the design. this one is fine. the pale blue lettering are cloud-like. so it totally works.

if you had done the address in one tiny line, off the end of her foot, so it formed the sidewalk, that would have been a nice touch.... some people are uncomfortable leaving a big chunk of white space...but, space is as meaningful as matter....

2 from carol

two from carol that i can't remember if i posted or not. she has a ton of envelopes at her blog.

http://mamacjt.blogspot.com/

i do not have the patience to do that much coloring in... carol says on her blog that she colors in with copic markers. they are wonderful markers, but, i can't allow them in my house/studio. if i did, i would be messmerized and never get anything done. i have invented this new spelling/word. if you mesmerized, you just lose your ability to refocus on what you should be doing. messmerized means you lose focus for so long that your studio (and house) are a mess.

bonus - guest artist - smash parade

i have a whole stack of patriotic envelopes from smash that did not get posted this week

been2bizzy

maybe she'll tell us more about this one....

love the white space.
tomorrow there is more chatter about space.

becca's purple flowers

becca sent an envelope that looked a little bit like this to jan. jan wanted to learn how to draw flowers like this. so, i started teaching her. it ended up taking a lot of time and i think we both let our minds wander. you can tell that the full flower on the left got a lot more attention than the others. but that pearl border is stealworthy. i know because i lifted it right off becca's although, i shaded mine with all the shades to the south and east. i think she had all her shades on the outside, which was fine. but, i like to put all my shading as though the sun was actually shining on the objects.

i'll be mailing this to marji :-)
(after marji tells me that she saw this post- marji plays *test the post office* all the time. so i am starting a new game *test marji*)

this is the stamp i would use if i had one.




and thanks to FinnBadger who left a comment on an older post alerting us to these wonderful new UK stamps:

h.b. kafka

had to share this, in case anyone missed the picture on google this morning
it would make a great envelope. with the apple stamps

from annie

this is from annie who says she only took a couple calligraphy classes. well, annie, you must have been the star pupil.

also, do you mind telling us about the little peachy design. is it colored pencil? how do you make such symmetrical flowers? or is it a trade secret?

your printing is very nice. the note inside revealed *perfect* penmanship. she has a really nice hand. i would post it...or maybe i will post it...i have to decide if i am going to start including penmanship on the envelope blog or start a new blog for penmanship...decisions ----decisions....

guest artist smash - girl scout

nice envelope, smash. i think i am still recovering from that week at girl scout camp in 1962. i am not a tent person.

love the circle-cancel behind the name.
stealworthy :-)

are those black stars covering up mistakes? if, so, that's a good way to treat mistakes. i didn't really notice it until i was looking at the details and deciding what to say about this one. clearly, the girl scout has me a little off-my-game. PTGSD
post traumatic girl scout disorder

the air-mail-red-blue-dashed border is also stealworthy.

bunny ears

after i did the party hat people along the bottom, i thought of this. again, when i am *critical* of an envelope and work on variations towards improving it, i am very pleased with some of the stuff i come up with. i win this debate because.....i come up with all kinds of stuff i love, but i know i only get to it by questioning and improving. the first draft isn't always the best one. i can't force myself to come up with an endless stream of perfect ideas. i have to go through the process of putting something down on paper and then refining it, if it needs it. once in a while, i do something i love -in an instant-  but i don't think it is realistic to expect that to happen all the time. actually, the fin(n)badger envelope yesterday was one where i just did one, and really liked it. so, you never know. my point is that i never would have gotten to these bunnies if i had not been critical of the pennants and party hats.

the addresses will be very tiny to the right of the bunnies. i might even run them through a postage meter....i keep thinking about doing that....however... i found the perfect stamp...too bad i don't live in england

so, it's monday morning and you might feel like a longer post before you start your week. trust me, this is waaaay off topic, unless you want to learn how to line envelopes. last week was brutal for some of us. one friend had it very rough and i was trying to be the bright spot in the midst of her troubles by teaching her (over the phone) how to line envelopes. i forgot to yell at her to slow down and follow my instructions EXACTLY. she couldn't figure it out so she finally gave up and drove over to get instructions in person. i did a time test and it took exactly 12 seconds to make a perfect template. she hung her head as i made the point that she really should have been able to follow my phone directions and she admitted that she had not slowed down and followed exactly what i was saying.

later, i looked on YouTube and there are several tutorials for lining envelopes.
then i wondered if they had DIY brain surgery and yes - they do have brain surgery on YouTube. i don't think it is DIY, but, i decided to stop being curious.

bonus post

[original post written last week]
darn phone photos. i can't get them to appear upright.

but this is my response to the finnbadger envelope that i posted earlier this week.
yes, i left an *n* out of finnbadger.

machines are not being friendly today
so...we will all just have to put up with this mess.

it is a good lesson in something. i don't know what. please tell me if you know.

*****
it is saturday morning and i usually check the post that will appear the following day. i thought i would try one more time to post a corrected version of the photo and voila, it worked. so you'd think i would be happy. no. in the past week, i have tried numerous times to take a phone photo and email it. none of them will go through. so, i am at a complete loss as to what to do. the above situation might have been resolved when i rebooted the computer. maybe i need to reboot my phone. i will try that and report back.

it will be a very sad and scary day if this blog turns into a *technology-help-desk*

p.s. i really should buy a bunch of the greg peck stamps. i LOVE making envelopes with thought balloons and there will never be a better stamp depicting *thought.*

sunday guest artist

these are from another blogspot blog called polarbearstale

it says:
Sequential pair of hand-painted envelopes by Hugh Rose, with most amusing pictures of a Knight and a Damsel, sent from Perth to Mrs. King-Harman in St. Lucia, 1887-9

i love the idea of sequential envelopes. must do that someday.

bonus post skip - tiki

i'm not sure skip is into the tiki bar drinks. he's more of an alpine guy, but, his birthday is coming up and my friend beth was doing some cool bamboo lettering, so i had to give it a try. i hope i have enough of the hawaiian shirt stamps left to mail this one.

it needs the straws and fruit or swizzle stick in the drink and the bird needs some color....

pennant hats - skip

oh, i got carried away and forgot the pennants. so i still have to go back and work on a pennant idea that i love. or i could add to this one. but his birthday is coming up, so i will probably mail this one. the address will go on the 5th hat.
he has a PO box which makes his address very easy to tuck into small places.

and i think we need dots around the fluffy stuff on the top of the hats.

here it is with dots and the address in a bad phone photo. i like the way the birds are sitting on the wire. these are G-Tecs. the curls coming out of the hats were done with a paintbrush and gouache. i can't decide which one i like. i guess they are both fine. although the top one does not exist anymore.

pennant 2

the top line of pennants was an attempt to improve on the ones yesterday which i thought were a little too wimpy. these were too bold. i tried a second string of them and rather liked the dots. then, the idea hit me that pennants look like party hats.

and what is my favorite design principle? that's right, repetition.  so i quickly drew some party people on the bottom.

tomorrow will show version 3.

new time waster - 2

here is my suggestion for adding enough postage to send this one through the mail and also keep it symmetrical.

new time waster

oh, great. i just thought of taking my scans without stamps, opening them in paint, and adding a stamp. so, i have a new way to use up all my time. but, i will not have to buy stamps any more. in the long run, it might save time and money.

see below for today's post. this was not the stamp i had in mind, but when i saw it, i was reminded that nancy is a big fan of the cat.

first pennant envelope

this was the first try at something with little pennants. i knew the lettering would need to be large and bold. but, i see room for improvement. this is where i get into the debate with some of you...if i point out what i want to improve...it sounds like i am being critical of this one. it's fine. it just doesn't have the impact that i would like it to have.
and it would be tons cuter if the street address reflected the curve in the string of pennants.
and wisconsin should have fit exactly on the top of the zip.

the stamp would be the caulder wire horse.

bonus post - finnbadger

finnbadger stumbled across my blog and left a couple comments. then he sent me this cooler-than-heck envelope. it is cool because it is (A)  handmade, (B) out of vintage paper and he apologized for the non-hand lettering, but i really like the (C) font and i think that good font choice and (D) tidy craftsmanship is just as praiseworthy as hand lettering.
and he gets *with honors* for (E) stamp selection and *uber-kudos* for (F) stamp placement. three people have said..."how did he get them to deliver it without stamps?" because they can't really see the stamps. they are so perfect.
this is a hall of famer envelope. i can't wait to find out if this was beginners luck or is he the new *ray johnson* of mail art. if you don't know who ray johnson is...rent the movie, How to Draw a Bunny. interesting fellow.

thanks finnbadger.

the envelope is on a black surface. i forgot to crop the photo.
i just noticed that it is addressed to 430 44th
i moved out of that studio
and my address is now 420 44th
i suppose i should go back and *fix* all the scans....

one more thing
check out the cool link that finnbadger posted in the comment section yesterday.
it is very cool
http://privatewww.essex.ac.uk/~mjr/underground/pod/mackintosh.jpg

guest artist susan

i can't tell from the image if she adhered cut paper to the envelope or painted the shapes. they look more like cut paper. i'm pretty sure that 60-cent is not enough to mail a portrait orientation envelope. but, since she is making 365 envelopes to herself, maybe she is not actually sending them through the postal system.

this was one of my favorite LOVE stamps. i wish they would recycle some of their designs. the current one isn't a favorite.

that's it below. the lettering bothers me because it is a font and i think it would have been better it was hand lettered and a little looser. just my opinion....feel free to disagree.

line flowers - elizabeth

i copied the flowers off something on pinterest. then i came up with some letters that i liked. the S needs some work. the letters are wimpy by themselves. solution to just about everything: dots. finding a good stamp might be challenging.

one of these might be nice.
the color on the apples is better.
i'm trying to like that flower stamp.
maybe i need to buy some to see what i can come up with.

this just in

wonderful article/interview about a master of lettering....Doyald Young
having a typo in his first name didn't hinder him at all.

http://www.lettercult.com/archives/58

bonus post - burger time

i did the top one and liked it so then i did the bottom

one and decided the top one was better.
i suppose i could spend more time drawing burgers.
i really like the caulder stamp.

the earlier post today did not even look like an envelope.
ann's still needs an address. it will be fine, tiny and running just above the checkerboard.

big blue S

whilst researching ideas for hillarian doo-dads, i came across this and just copied it.
it did not have an S. i think it needs some silver.
then, i have to decide whether to send it to susan, stella, mini-stella, or skip. and i am seriously thinking of running it through the postage meter because... just because.