Irene's Feb env - Playmobile boat

Here's a lovely February envelope and bookmark from Irene. I agree that books and movies are apples and oranges. I'm sure I've already written about this but it's one of those things I'm glad I learned - so I like to offer it as a warning. If you read a book that strikes you as something very special that will stay with you - and you felt like you were *there*-  and then they make a movie - DO NOT go to the movie. If the images in your head are strong - you really don't want the images that a movie will create to compete with what's in your head. It takes some willpower to not see a movie of a favorite book - but sometimes, you just need a book to be the thing you will always remember. 

I'm fine with Brad Pitt -- but having read A River Runs Through It - I knew that I did not want him blended with the images conjured up by the book.

 

***

I'm a big fan of Playmobile toys because they are well made and seemed to draw my kids and the grandkids into hours of imaginative play. Here is a story about 2 brothers in Scotland who readied their Playmobile toy ship for voyage across the ocean, put in a tracking device, and tracked it all the way to South America. That sentence hardly tells the story.

https://track-adventure.squarespace.com/our-adventure

The boys have a list of 500 other things they are hoping to do. I'm pretty sure I need to start a list with my grandkids.

***

I pulled up the list - and they made it through the first 100 - and then got tired of the process. They had already accomplished quite a few items.

Ming's Feb env - Rajiv Surendra

 

I wonder how long Ming has been working on her copperplate. It's very accomplished. Teal and red are nice color combination. The card is adorable - thanks, Ming.

***

Some of my add-ons are really avant garde artists. Here's someone at the other end of the spectrum. Rajiv Surendra. He's all over the the internet with videos encouraging people to try all kinds of things. His calligraphy work and huge chalk board lettering was what caught my eye. 

If you are intrigued with him, he is on IG and has a ton of videos. I watched the one on intro to bookbinding because I couldn't picture that being a skill to learn in one easy lesson and Oh.My.Gosh. He does not warn people about finding the grain on the paper, which can be disastrous. He cuts way too many corners for my liking. On top of that - he finds cutting mats so aesthetically unappealing that he just cuts on his hardwood floor. I was incredulous. 

So -- why am I linking to him? He's a bit of a train wreck in some areas - but - his lettering skills are lovely. Maybe he's spreading himself a little too thin. But I totally get the youthful enthusiasm to try everything. I did get a kick out of his bespoke suit. The weaver of the fabric chose two particular sheep for the two tones in the herringbone pattern. 

Rajiv's video (20 minutes)

Jessica and Patty(?) Stalk & Spade

This is from the stack of mystery mail that I ran in early March. I bumped this post so that we could celebrate the passage of the Postal Service Reform Act.

I'll have a cup of coffee with my Popsicles. As far as I know, Jessica is the only exchanger from Ft Myers and I have a feeling that the popsicles are from Patty. I'm not positive - but, I think I can usually recognize her penmanship on her address. I've fallen off on my reminders to make the addresses legible. 

Both of these are good examples of friendly to the USPS addresses. 

***

I saw that McD's was going to do test marketing of their plant based burger (The McPlant) in DSM. I sent MrW to investigate and they did not have them at the one nearest our house and I'm not interested in looking further. I wonder if it bombed.

A couple days later, there was an article announcing a Stalk & Spade, the *world's first vegan franchise, coming to DSM. There was an image of their logo and it sure looked like beef on the hoof to me. Upon closer inspection, it is a leaf that has morphed into a steer-like animal. Stylized. I am OK with the logo but the actual lettering has some quirks that I do not understand.

Are the little *dash* things on the T and the P really contributing anything? To me, they just look like they are trying to grab attention because the rest of the lettering is so generic. I wonder where they got that ampersand. The way it slants is off-putting to my eyes. More pleading for attention?

***

Oh - I get it -- I finally figured out what those two random lines are intended to do. Can anyone else figure it out? And if you saw it within 15 seconds - let me know. Leave a comment - or send an email to PTEnvelopes(at)aol(dot)com

***

Quick covid warning -- my daughter knows 3 people who were full vaccinated, had breakthrough cases of covid - and then had second breakthrough cases within 90 days. So - it seems like the latest strain is aggressive. I thought there was a longer window of *no worries* if you did have it - but apparently not.

Patty's tiger and watercolor - Overusing *deeply*

This very fun tiger arrived - from Patty. She said she was inspired by Ed Emberley. Having the tail wrap around to the back is a nice touch. The gold is paint-like so it might be a gold Sharpie paint pen. And the insert looks like one of her watercolors. It's very nice - unsigned - so if it is not by Patty, I am sure she will let me know.

One of these days I'm going to do some Ed Emberley inspired envelopes. 

 ***

Just so you know that I am on top of the trendy-ness of words - recent reader comments in the NYTimes included people complaining that the word *deeply* is being overused. They also mentioned *brothy* and  *jammy* as being annoyingly over used. I'm going to stick with deeply for a while. In case nobody has noticed, I do not use the word *awesome* because it is -to my ears- the most overused word of the past decade. Maybe even two. So there.

Rachael's Feb env - BW's food truck

Clover sent me a link yesterday to watch Biden sign the Postal Service Reform Act of 2022.

I was so pleased to hear that he's on board with electric vehicles.

I had no idea that the White House has a YouTube channel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzhzCurx-Yo

Thanks for the link, Clover.

This fun Feb exchange envelope is from Rachael and there was a darling card inside.

I am drawn to the lovely gel pen monoline script.

*** off topic add-on

Yesterday I mentioned my strong interest in architecture, and while this is not a house, I am brainstorming ideas for some kind of house for BW. BW is my son's pet. I jabbered about pets back in Jan when I was pet sitting. I am not a pet person - so, I don't want anyone to think that I am more of a cat-person than a dog-person. I know the cat-people and the dog-people can get a little skeptical about people who are not *in their camp* so to speak.

After college, my son and a buddy ran a food truck. While he is happy to be out of the food service industry, he still has a fondness for those food truck days. *Food trucking* is a *career* with all kinds of weird *glamour* associated with it. People, even people who actually have brick and mortar restaurants, have some weird idea that food trucks are cool or fun or whatever.

They are not. They are claustrophobic infernos. But, his birthday was coming up and whilst pet-sitting, I noticed how many cardboard boxes were sitting around because BW likes to hang out in boxes. So, I wanted to create a more interesting hang-out-box. I love it so much, I am probably going to make a better one. And because there was a time when I wanted to be an architect, I see a cardboard Frank Lloyd Wright home in BW's future.

This is what the actual food truck looked like - from the side with the order window.

And if anyone is wondering why BW's looks so primitive - I actually intended for it to look like a crazy-cat-lady made it. I did not allow myself to buy a single thing to make it. I had to figure out things that were already on hand.

Next project is either a tipi (or teepee if you prefer), igloo, FLW, or a giant Lego-inspired fun house with various components.

This shows the pick-up window on the back. I put a photo of my son and his buddy in that window - so it looks like them - standing inside the truck. Someday, I need to make the napkin holder and condiments that were always on the little shelf.

The blog post was a little late yesterday. I had forgotten to set the time for 1:00 am.

 

Chuck's March envelope - Allan Wexler

One if my ideas - has been to wait for mail to arrive and then do direct appropriation or variations on the theme when I send my mail. I didn't put myself on any of the lists in March - but Chuck kindly sent me an envelope. If I switch to *response only* exchanging - maybe that will get me back in the groove. It's like a *call and response.* I think that's the name of those songs that do that. That shamrock is making me hungry for a corned beef sandwich.
 

***

On March 8th, the off-topic add-on was a link to two videos about fashion. On March 4th, when I was checking upcoming scheduled posts to make sure I hadn't been spouting off random, looney things, I realized what it was about the designer that intrigued me. His mom had archived so many things from his childhood and it was clear that he was drawn to fashion from a very early age.

Stories about children who have something that draws them in at an early age always fascinate me because, I had such an early interest in the alphabet, reading, and writing. My other obsession when I was older was architecture. So, it was delightful to run across Allan Wexler. Oh.My.Gosh. 

He describes himself as an artist trapped in an architects body - or maybe it's the other way around. Either way, I loved his story and I love a lot of the zany items he makes. He also teaches. Here is a link:

http://allanwexlerstudio.com

A 1971 piece that I love.

A 2019 piece that I love.

Field Office: Young Builders Bookmobile is a mobile library/artwork that houses children's books and toys about architecture, building and construction. It was conceived and designed by artist Allan Wexler and built by The Society for the Advancement of Construction-Related Arts (SACRA). SACRA is a 15-week skill-building and career training program in "the building arts" that is directed toward under-resourced communities in Buffalo. 

From Sydney and Clover (Crunching numbers)

 I posted these two together because I knew that Clover's black ink on a dark gray envelope would not show up very well in a photograph. It's very cool and I included her insert which looks like walnut ink. 

Sydney did all that work on the  floral design. She included a nice note about what she used (Pigma markers and gouache) and then she sounded *just like me* when she described some of the *ooops* incidents and the remedies. It's so much fun to meet all kinds of new people through the blog. We do seem to be kindred spirits.

The add on for today is just number crunching. 

I just noticed the list of years in the right hand column called the Blog Archive. That's right, over 5,000 posts to scroll through. The thing that popped out at me was that Blogger has given a yearly tally of how many posts I had each year. Posting daily would result in 365 (or 366) blogs per year. I can't imagine what was going on in 2013 - because I had 517 posts. That's 152 posts beyond the one-a-day. 

Then in 2021, I was down to 385 - only 20 extra posts. I can see how that would have included the half of the year of pandemic doldrums followed by half a year of responding to the bonk on the head incident. This year has had only one extra Jan post and two extra Feb posts.

I hesitated to even mention this - but we are also at 1,420,768 views (on March 7th). Some people like to watch when the odometer rolls over a big number. It was a big deal when I rolled over to 1,000,000 views. So, I guess we can watch for 1,500,000. 

For what it's worth: It took 8 years to hit 1-million views - and only 3+ years to hit 1.5-million. 

Donated birthday cards

I did the one on the left first and thought it might be a little too bouncy so I tried a second version where I did some measuring. I actually like the one on the left better. I changed the proportions, too. And the one on the left is better. The whimsical aspect seems more fun. The candles on the right one were too high so I filled in the space with dots. The dots might be better than the confetti.

This one was leftover from the first batch and did not have the color on it. I kept it because it was a little blah. Luckily, I ran across my neon gel pens. They were just right for giving it a punch of color. Colored markers would not have worked on that gray paper.

Below was an idea that I did not like one bit. But -- I didn't dislike it enough to pitch it.

I found a stack of a very nice felt finish, text weight paper. I did a French fold on the paper and the paper was large enough for a 5x7 inch card. I love finding a good use for all my excess paper.

I've posted the donated birthday cards on the last 3 Mondays - and that's all for this month.

I hope it is OK that they are not envelopes. As I mentioned - most of the ideas could be used on envelopes and they are all super easy. I'm on an *easy* binge. Or perhaps I am in my *easy* years. They're like the golden years, I guess - but, it's pretty hard to consider anything *golden* during this pandemic. I'm writing this on Feb 21 - and just heard of three more people I know (fully vaccinated) who have break through cases. It seems like there are soooo many. Grrrr.

***

and now it is April 2 - and I realized that I dropped off the next batch of cards a couple days ago and forgot to take pictures of them. Grrrrrr.

 

From one Aquarian to another

 I'm not into astrology at all - except for Aquarians. It's the only explanation I can come up with for both Mr Wilson and his offspring, Hunter. I appreciated that Maggie reminded me of the characteristics that are so charming and lovable - rather than the la-la-land-hippie-dippie-flower-children-who-are-oblivious-to-clocks-calendars-and-maps-and-think-that-a-smile-and-a-hug-will-compensate-for-whatever-monkey-wrenches-they-have-tossed-into-the-situation. I think Maggie meant to make it Jan 20 -- but that's OK. I can probably do a pretty good job of inserting an 0. 

I like that gingham background. Or buffalo check. Now I'm wondering if those two plaids are exactly the same and the name relates to the scale?

Several hits on Google say - yes - it's just a difference in size.

I hope Maggie didn't think I was referring to her in my little rant in the first paragraph. Obviously, there is some Wilson-DNA that's involved in my resident Aquarians. 

CathyO - to Hunter

 

This very cool envelope came for Hunter - from CathyO - one of our esteemed postal worker pals. She is retired - and someday, I hope to figure out a way to show up at a conference or workshop that she is attending so I can bombard her with postal questions. In the mean time - she is most generous with her beautiful work. 

And -- those of you who do italics -- please note the gracefully understated height of the caps on the name and address. So pretty.

She included this adorable little book for Hunter - and I was at his house when he opened it. He took the time to read it - cover-to-cover. I think I bought The Seven Little Postmen for my grandkids. It's a Little Golden Book. I need to find it and retrieve it - and put it on Hunter's bookshelf.

And while we are in a postal mood -- it seems odd that this is the first time I have ever done a search for an authentic leather postman's bag. This one is only $500. There are others for $1,300-$1,500.

April Exchange Sign-up

There is a little bit of *April fool* to this fun envelope from Lauren that arrived in February. The stamp is hidden so nicely. I like all that white space where we would expect to see a stamp - and then the cancellation ended up in the lower left corner. Very cool - and yes - we do LOVE mail art. The airmail border is such a classic design.

So - if you would like to exchange mail art in April - 

sign up is April 1-4 and lists are sent out on the 5th.

Send the following info in the format indicated to the new email address:

PTEnvelopes@aol.com

(CARDS) means you will also exchange handmade cards

(birthday means you have an April birthday

(2 lists) means you are willing to be on two lists if I need to make the lists come out even

Jane Doe (CARDS)

123 Oak Street

Ames, IA 50110

Jane.doe@gmail.com

(birthday) (2 lists)

Additional info for new exchangers:

https://pushingtheenvelopes.blogspot.com/p/rules-of-exchangement.html

Lauren's card

 

Janet's Feb envelope (LATE today - oops)

Oooops - 

I forgot to schedule a March 31st envelope -- and woke up to snow on the ground. 

****

Janet went with a winter theme in February. As I type this on March 13 we still have a little snow. By April 21, when this pops up, I bet we're all counting on it being full blown spring. This is the last of the Feb exchange envelopes.

My new method of scheduling posts seems to work very well. Twelve years to figure this out. Yay. Seems like I should set a new goal.

****

LOL - it works -- except for me not remembering how many days are in each month. Grrrrr. 

Winter is all downhill -- is black paper cut and glued onto a red card.

Vintage valentines - just a bit suggestive. The one on the left is captioned, MAKING HAY and the verse on the other one is: Here I sit - So sad and piney - Feeling very Valentiney - If YOU were only by my side - I'd let my conscience be my guide.

Dear Ruth:-

Well how is Ruth? I have a headache tonight. I suppose Aunt Ola told you about our accident down here. I like my work fine but I don't get my $10 yet. Hope I will soon. Where are you working now? Is Mary still there? Tell her "Hello" if she is. Now ans soon and I will try to. Florence 901 6th Ave.

Postmarked Nov 3 - 1910 from Des Moines

 

Janet's postal theme to Hunter

I was so happy to be at Hunter's house when he got home from work and pulled this one out of his mailbox. It's from Janet - and we are wondering where she found that image. It's soooo Hunter. Especially the long hair. He never wears his hair down at work - but -- he has a hat just like that. 

I made it a goal to never impose my wishes or desires on my kids regarding careers or how they wanted to spend their time. And I think I did a good job of not nudging them in any direction. But, this whole postal thing is like an obsession with me. At first, I was just obsessed with the writing and calligraphy (obsessed with the alphabet and writing from the time I could hold a pencil through art degree and then calligraphy classes as an adult ) - but then catching the mail art bug 25 years ago -- that tipped things into a whole different world. 

Now, with my insider at the PO - there is an additional layer to learning all about it. I might have to read that book about the history of the PO again. 

***

Warning: for the next 4 weeks, the posts are a little chaotic. Although, that might not be any different from what they have been the past 9 months (or 12 years).

Irene's birthday mail for Hunter.

This one, from Irene, is really lovely. I've done a few envelopes with similar writing, but mine is always loose and sketchy. I call it ribbon-writing. I really like how carefully Irene's is drawn and filled in. And that cake looks good enough to eat. So pretty.

And then on the inside -- lovely brush lettering. I wonder how many styles Irene does? That would actually be a fun project. For the next exchange, I could get the list of names and then start doing each name - assembly line style - in every style of lettering that I know. I actually love this idea. Will I remember it when I get back to Iowa?

Where am I? It's tax time - so I generally spend the first two weeks of April in Chicago because my daughter is a CPA. So, as I fill up the blog (it's Feb 25th) I can talk about where I think I will be - and fingers crossed, nothing happens to interfere with the plan. 

And now it is March 28 - and looks like I leave Thur for Chicago. It's crazy how fast the time is going. A quarter of 2022 is gone already.

 

Donated birthday cards

An idea straight off Pinterest. I did a search for birthday cards and there were lots. My flowers are a lot different from the ones that inspired this design. I liked it enough to do the second one and I can't say that I like one better than the other.

I tried some more complicated flowers - and these are deeply regrettable. But, I imagine there is a granny who will be very happy to get this card.

Real time comment: I check the blog every morning - and I usually check the one for the following day to make sure it's halfway interesting. I assumed that I would have Hunter's birthday present posted today and instead I found a very skimpy post and no envelope - so - the present does not appear until April 7. 

Here is something fun - I Googled mail art. It's done by Elina Stromberg - using Viva Las Vegas rubber stamps and probably colored pencils. 

link to the envelope and how it was made: https://vivalas.blogspot.com/2018/01/mail-art-monday-on-craft-envelope.html

from there - you can click on the current date and see what they are up to - OK - I checked -- they have mostly cards - and a lot of them are in the direction of goth or camp or punk - I'm not sure what to call it - they have some Banksy stamps -- and I wonder how Banksy feels about that.....

 

Hunter's b'day - from Ming

Hunter's name appeared on some of the exchange list in February, instead of my name and this adorable card and envelope arrived - from Ming. As usual, I was thinking I'd get my nibs and ink out - and it didn't happen.

Hunter enjoyed all his mail - and I thought I would toss in a few recycled cards from MrW and MeanJean.

What kind of person does not open their birthday cards? My son. He could tell these were from me, because I used cancelled stamps and left them on his dining room table. I like that kid a lot, but I do not understand him. Next year, I hope I remember to put some dollar bills inside and then write on the outside that there is money inside and see if he opens it. 

I do like the idea of the BIG address and ZIP code. That 1234 - is covering up his address -- I did it with the computer after I forgot to cover it up before I took the picture. It should have been more colorful. And those monster stamps are endless fun.

He was thrilled with the present that I came up with. After college, he and a buddy ran Des Moines first trendy food truck. Then they morphed it into an actual restaurant - and as we know - Hunter has bounced over to the USPS. But, he will always have a very soft spot in his heart for The Spot food truck.

Details to follow.

Two to Sydney in Feb

I had so much fun playing around with this stamp again. I should probably go buy some more. Although, in the final-final-final step of getting every single bit of blog *stuff* into one drawer - I discovered a total of 4 folders of stamps. So - all those times I said I was very close to using up the hoard - I was dreaming. 

Sydney got two envelopes - because I got confused. It doesn't really bother me to do two - but, I only put a real stamp on the outer one. I do photocopies to put on the inner envelopes. 

We might be heading into a phase with shorter posts. This will be good news for those of us who are trying to cut down on our screen time. 

Here is Sydney's other envelope. I sometimes use cancelled stamps on the inner envelopes when I send two.

 

Feb to Kathleen - alternate words to lunatic

 

This isn't a new idea and I meant for this to appear with the other ones that were similar - but I don't think it is there. My frustration with how I take groups of photos - and then put them into folders - and then post them WAS getting to me. But, as a devotee of creative problem solving - I have a new plan for organizing and posting. In the mean time (or is it meantime) I really liked the way this one turned out. I also, had no recollection of sending it - so, I think I sent a second one to Kathleen - with a note inside saying I couldn't find a photo of one that I had sent - and then it popped up. Half-a-grrrr. I'm actually pleased with my new method of photographing and posting.

I like the two stacked Es - because one is the curvy one and the other is the squarish one.

***

When I used the word lunatic yesterday, did I cross a line and use a word that is no longer OK to use?

Is it even possible to keep up with which words we can use and which words are deemed offensive? I don't want to offend anyone - but, with my own *impacted* brain situation - I am still struggling with memory/focus issues. So --  because I love to search - here is a list of 120 alternatives to lunatic/lunacy. Sadly, I did not keep track of the source.

There are many words that I do not think should be on the list - but, it is not a good use of my time to ponder which ones to delete. It does, however, give me some very nice options - if only I knew how to remember them. Some of the terms from bygone eras are interesting. 

Words for mental illness: 

depression, 

hysteria, 

melancholia, 

nervousness, 

neurosis, 

neurasthenia, 

madness, 

lunacy, 

insanity, 

delirium, 

10

derangement, 

demonic possession, 

black humors, 

black bile, 

yellow bile, 

the black dog, 

the blues, 

the blue devils, 

a brown study, 

the vapors, 

20

a funk, 

a storm, 

the abyss, 

an inferno, 

hell, 

a pain syndrome, 

stress, 

an anxiety disorder, 

lack of affect, 

an affective disorder, 

30

a mood disorder, 

panic, 

loneliness, 

bad wiring, 

a screw loose, 

a mercurial temperament, 

irritability, 

schizophrenia, 

unipolar disorder, 

bipolar disorder, 

40

post-traumatic stress disorder, 

obsessive-compulsive disorder, 

attention-deficit disorder, 

borderline personality disorder, 

laziness, 

pain, 

rumination, 

grief, 

mourning, 

malingering, 

50

unhappiness, 

hopelessness, 

sadness, 

low spirits, 

invalidism, 

despondency, 

dysthymia, 

detachment, 

disassociation, 

dementia praecox, 

60

neuralgia, 

fibromyalgia, 

oversensitivity, 

hypersensitivity, 

idiocy, 

an unsound mind, 

cowardice, 

obstinacy, 

apathy, 

recalcitrance, 

70

spleen, 

a broken heart, 

battle fatigue, 

shell shock, 

self-pity, 

self-indulgence, 

self-centeredness, 

weakness, 

withdrawal, 

distraction, 

80

distemper, 

a turn in the barrel, 

a break in a life narrative, 

bad thoughts, 

bad feelings, 

coming undone, 

coming apart, 

falling apart, 

falling to pieces, 

willfulness, 

90

defiance, 

thoughts of hurting oneself or others, 

the thousand-yard stare, 

craziness, 

rage, 

misery, 

mania, 

morbidity, 

genius, --- OK, I really have to object to this one -- sometimes - but not always

suicidality, 

100

suicidal ideation, 

aggression, 

regression, 

decompensation, 

drama, --- and let's not lump all the theater majors into this group

breakdown, 

crackup, 

catatonia, 

losing one’s mind, 

losing one’s shit, 

110

losing one’s way, 

wasting away, 

psychic disorganization, 

spiritual despair, 

raving, 

the furies, 

an enigma, --- sorry - this one is just picking on people who might be just a little *out there*

a tragedy, 

a curse, 

and, of course, 

psychosis.

120

Copic WIDE to Debbie - Anthropomorphizing brush markers

 

I was not going to even post this one - but Debbie actually emailed to tell me she had already appropriated an idea that I had sent in the Feb exchange and ask what kind of marker this is. It is a Copic WIDE marker. I LOVE it - although I thought this was a dud - and was not going to post it. 

I added copper lettering over the top and I think the effect complemented the stamp. I'm guessing I sent another envelope with faux-postage - probably something with the MoreThanMeetsTheEye - Maze stamp. I can't make out all of what I wrote on top of the black - it starts out - "some gold or copper on this would maybe improve it but I'm not sure it is going to.... " Whatever it says after that is just the usual drivel.

***

Did I sound like a lunatic when I wrote this on March 19th?

THE SECRET TO BRUSH MARKERS:

Try different styles. You never know which style will work with which marker. You just have to keep trying until you find something you like -- and then be prepared for getting 2 or 3 envelopes done before the tip goes mushy on you. Sometimes you can get 20-30. But it is highly unpredictable. Don't get mad at your markers. They have feelings and they are very sneaky. They will find out a way to get revenge if you think mean thoughts about them.

***

It does seem to anthropomorphize brush markers. Technically, they do not specifically do things. But, when you have bad thoughts while you are writing, the bad thoughts ooze through your hand into the tool and make the writing less-than-what-you-were-hoping for. 

If you are addressing an envelope to Debra and you think to yourself, "My D's are always terrible," then you are guaranteeing that you make a terrible D. Or if you are thinking something bad about brush markers - you will make some bad marks. It is rare to create work where you are shocked at how it is better than anything you have ever done. 

I was thinking I had this rant organized - but it has gotten away from me. Maybe we'll circle back on this topic someday.

***

Here is what Debbie's looked like before I added the second layer. Maybe it was better before I added the copper? I do not like the heavier D. I would have liked the name to fill the width and have the stamp be the dot on the i.