To Tom from JeanR - Dempsey and Carroll

 

Forgive me while I do a little freak out about the time flying. I had been keeping the blog filled at least a month ahead - and just discovered that I am only a week ahead. A WEEK. Brace yourselves - the next couple weeks will have very short blurbs. And probably be repetitive -- which is a reflection of my poor writing skill. I really do like every envelope - but sometimes I have to do deep pondering to pin-point what exactly it is that I like. 

This one is clever - clever use of ideas off the stamp - generally geometric without being literal - and nice white space. Love it.

***

Back in the day - when I addressed wedding invitations - I was alway happiest when I was writing on either Crane's or William Arthur. You could get actual steel engraving from both companies. I remember hearing about another company but do not recall the name --- and then, out of the blue, I was reading an article that mentioned Dempsey and Carroll. Oh.My.Gosh. I wonder why it's taken them this long to pop up on my radar. I think it's because there is a level above the 1% - something like the .0001% who has their own exclusive purveyors of goods. 

In addition to fine stationery - they have a leather envelope. I'm not sure how one uses a leather envelope. Maybe someone knows and will enlighten us. It's only 4"x 6" - so I don't think it's a purse. Unless the only thing you need to carry is your Black American Express card. By the way - did you know that even though there is no limit to how much you can charge on a Black AmEx - you have to pay the balance, in full, during the next billing cycle. 

https://www.dempseyandcarroll.com/

To Tom from Christy +Lego artist

 

I have a page of these stamps - and I love them - but they are turning into a good example of loving a stamp - but struggling to find a design that I love equally. The way Christy used the blue - and then snowflakes reflect how the stamp had a bunch of little line drawings is giving me an idea. Of course, I like the scanner-friendly address, too.

***

Shout out to the BigHelpfulBrother who sent me this link. I've already posted some Lego sculpture that I designed using only one color per sculpture. This video will have me back with the tubs of Lego. I was interested that this artist insists that Lego is always Lego and never Legos. I'm not sure I will be able to reform myself on that item.

LEGO VIDEO on YouTube

OOO - from Janet -- Feckless and dolt

OutOfOrder

I really like this one - and accidentally posted it on the 9th of March - 

I'll just leave it here - and make a note later

***

 Quite some time ago - I used the word *dolt* and wondered if it was OK to use that terms. Later, I saw the word *feckless* - and wondered if that word was OK - or has maybe become offensive.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dolt

feckless

fĕk′lĭs

adjective

1. Careless and irresponsible.
2. Feeble or ineffective.
3. Spiritless; weak; worthless.

Then these words popped up later:

Nudnik

Nimnul

https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/377700/is-there-a-single-word-that-means-a-person-whose-sole-reason-for-existence-is-to

Is there a single word that means a person whose sole reason for existence is to annoy and aggravate others"?

To Tom from Janet - Book covers

Most of us were in winter/snowflake mode in January. I'm writing this on a 50° day in February. Is there any way for me to remember how to make the ° symbol. I have to look it up every dang time. Grrr.

Janet added icicles, too. So pretty - but so much damage to roofs and eaves. For the January exchange, I had people send envelopes to Tom. He's an old friend from my guild days. I was not with him when he opened them so I do not have photos of any cards that might have been inside. I knew that his birthday was in January.

I might have some stories about Tom as this batch of envelopes pops up. He's a marvelous person - and I'm glad that we've stayed in touch - beyond the guild days.

*** 

Holy-moly --- these book covers are gorgeous.

You may see more - and find additional links here:

https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2024/02/judging-a-book-by-its-cover/

BONUS POST - Non-machineable mail

 It's hard to make a post stand out - especially one without a cool photo -  but here goes. I'm trying to nudge us towards conforming (our envelopes) to a system that relies on machines and scanners - and while we have friendly carriers who come to our house - there are a lot of other workers along the way who would like the mail to be *regular.*

I had a conversation with an exchanger who had heard from a postal employee (a clerk) that the clear plastic envelopes were NON-MACHINEABLE MAIL and subject to a surcharge.

That sounded goofy to me - but, I was wrong - and after two clicks - I am now enlightened.

There is a copy/paste from what I found below. The highlights are MINE.

First - my own commentary:

The first bullet point addresses flimsy mail. So - that's a new one to me - but I totally get it.

Second bullet point is only for those of us who love math. Stick to traditional, rectangular envelopes and you will be ok.

Third bullet point -- NO PLASTIC. Got it.

Fourth bullet point - no buttons - I assume this means even decorative ones - and my son who spent a lot of time shoveling shredded mail out of machines that were bigger than his house - says he is not a fan of anything other than sturdy paper.

Fifth bullet point - while I enjoy enclosures - it's best to keep our envelopes as flat and bump-free as possible.

Sixth bullet point - yup - they would like those addresses to be horizontal - on the landscape orientation of the envelope.

A square envelope is non-machineable - and they now cost $1.12

*****

A nonmachinable mailpiece is a mailpiece that must be sorted outside of the standard, automated mail process. Because it is more expensive to processes these mailpieces, a surcharge applies to them.

The nonmachinable surcharge is added to First-Class Mail® with any of the following criteria:

• For pieces more than 4-1/4 inches high or 6 inches long, the thickness is less than 0.009 inch
• The length divided by height is less than 1.3 or more than 2.5 (length is the dimension parallel to the address)
• It is poly-bagged, poly-wrapped, enclosed in any plastic material, or has an exterior surface made of a material that is not paper
• It has clasps, strings, buttons, or similar closure devices
• It is too rigid or contains items such as pens, keys or coins that cause the thickness of the mailpiece to be uneven
• It has a delivery address parallel to the shorter dimension of the mailpiece

***

LINK to the page that I copy/pasted 

Today's regular post is below.

William Schaff - secret note - weather reporting

 

I ran across William Schaff's IG a while back and have mixed feelings about linking to him. His work is edgier than what I usually post. His mail art is an aside to what he usually produces and it looks like he does make a living off his art. Recently, these popped up up and I am posting them as examples of non-USPS friendly mail. While the Charlie Brown envelope is very legible - it might not be scanner-friendly. 

He is very good at drawing bodies to go with the stamps that feature heads and skulls. As much as I love the compositions - my banner days are over. 

***

This is for people who have been wondering what kind of people figured out that we could have a coordinated effort of watching the weather and then predicting the weather.

LINK to a secret note and early weather reporting

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/secret-note-victorian-dress?utm_source=Atlas+Obscura+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=06175cc5ad-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2024_01_18&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-06175cc5ad-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D&mc_cid=06175cc5ad&mc_eid=4ac0f9a8f0

From Sharon to Mary in Jan - messy mandalas

 

Thanks, Mary, for sending a picture of your Nov mailing from Sharon. It's beautiful - hopefully I'll remember do some uncials and add dots. And dashes or lines. It's a very nice combo.

***

LINK to mindful messy mandalas

Remember the link to the website in England with Crafts for Wellbeing? I clicked around to see if there were any ideas that looked like fun - and messy mandalas have *jean* written all over them. I like to take the letters in names and turn them into patterns.

March Exchange Sign-up - Flowers from Rachael

 How ironic that yesterday's blog post was celebrating that I had not lapsed into chaos and today (Feb 19) I discover that this post is empty - and all the Jan posts are in order. So, I could post one of the Feb envelopes which is in the folder - but then it would be out of order. Or - I could play the Pinterest game and find something random - that has already been posted. <1 minute spent at Pinterest> Bingo.

This is a screen shot. I tried to find it on the blog to get the original photo - and I am pretty sure it's from Rachael - but why can't I find it. Grrrrr. I think I might steal the idea for my March envelopes.

Warning to anyone who has the same idea - my address is really short - and the success of this design has a lot to do with the compact address. I need to choose my design ideas based on length of address - as well as length of name.

Time to sign up for the March exchange:

Sign up is Mar 1-4 -- and I email the lists on the 5th.

Please send the info in the following format to me at

ptenvelopes(at)aol(dot)com

Your Name

123 Your Address

City/State/ZIP

your email

(2 lists) (birthday)

You may offer to be on 2 lists - if I need extra names to make the lists come out even

You may mention that you have a March birthday - birthday themed envelopes are optional

Details on how the exchange works are here:

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

JAN Rabbit+grid to Jessica

 Jessica's envelopes tend to be in their own category due to the length of both names. Grids are one of my go-to design principles. I did manage to do all the Jan envelopes in an orderly fashion. The goals were to stick to one style/color of envelope and go through all my markers and weed out the dry ones and also use up sheets of stamps to eliminate orphans. The next goal was to photograph all of them and get them posted  in consecutive days so that I have a handle on what has been posted. 

Now I'm thinking about a celebration to celebrate that I didn't lapse into chaos. I will refrain, because all of this happened during the blizzard followed by cold spell - so being house bound is probably 75% of the reason I didn't get distracted and wander off into chaos. 

Or perhaps, I have reformed. Time will tell. Tomorrow we will start on the envelopes that arrived in January.

***

Real time comment: One of the exchangers emailed me and said they liked the envelope I sent - and I couldn't remember what it looked like - and I can't find a photo of it - so there will be no celebration. Maybe March will be better.

JAN Rabbit stamps to Janet and Mary

Correction - yesterday I said I thought the lettering idea had come from Cathy - but it came from Rachael. I fixed the post at 3:25 pm.

 These two are the same style as the one to Cathy - and had lots more colors to work with since I had a few of last year's Year of the Rabbit to use up. I'm looking forward to some dragons for this year. This style of lettering is pretty versatile - I'll probably keep it in the stack of ideas that get to live near the top of the piles.

Real time comment: some of the blurbs on the Jan envelopes are short - and there aren't many add-ons. But, we'll just have to deal with it - because that's what we've been learning over the past several decades: not everything turns out the way we were thinking it would. Some days I'm chatty and some days I'm not.

Did I ever tell the story about picking up my first child at a little Mother's Morning Out drop off program? The kids were 2 years old - so every mom would pick up their child, literally - when the kids came running to be reunited - and then we would chit chat for a bit - while holding the toddlers. One mom picked up a little boy and asked him: Did you bite anybody?

The rest of the mom's were startled - and also speechless. The 2-year old boy could feel several sets of eyes boring a hole through him and the silence was awkward - so he shrugged and said: Sometimes I bite and sometimes I don't.

When I made that comment in the first paragraph - it unearthed the story. I just read an interesting article on memory. It's NYTimes - so it might pop up as one free article per month - otherwise it's behind a firewall. If you want to read .

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/02/04/magazine/charan-ranganath-interview.html?campaign_id=190&emc=edit_ufn_20240218&instance_id=115502&nl=from-the-times&regi_id=73964244&segment_id=158554&te=1&user_id=2c9533d03031c47a74b8d465fb2a92af

JAN Peanuts stamps to Cathy, JeanR and Kate

After I was weary from doing the medieval versals, I had 3 Peanuts stamps left and tried this style that arrived on an envelope from Rachael. It was lots of fun - although it was hard to execute using markers. 

Jean's is ho-hum - and Kate's took forever to do - and was disappointing. As I was scrutinizing the way Charles Schultz drew shoelaces, I was wishing I had just stuck with medieval versals. <sigh>

The amount of time it took to do the lettering on Jean's was absurd. I am mesmerized by outlining (on the name) but is it a good use of time? I can see how much better it is - but nobody else sees the *before*. And then each stroke on the address was a scritchy-scratchy back and forth maneuver that took so much time - and the effect isn't commensurate with the time it took.

The problem with Kate's is: the shoes are way too small. I should have made them bigger and overlapping. Grrrrr.

And some of them should have been tipped up and shown the bottom of the shoe. The success of lifting ideas off the stamp is to do it right. Don't dumb it down.

Grrrr

As a wise person once said: There's never enough time to do it right - but always time to do it over. If I happen to find another sheet of Peanut's stamps - I might. buy them and do this one over.

 

JAN versals to Patty, Paula and Juliana

I have some pages from a book that might have been a Dover book. I put the individual pages into plastic sleeves and used them in classes - and they have been lost in the stacks for a while. There was a time when I really enjoyed reproducing illuminated letters so it was interesting to try them again. My envelopes were too thin to stand up to wet media so I went with Pima Microns and ZIGs. Pigmas are actually pretty good.

The juxtaposition of Peanuts and medieval versals is silly. 

The Q I was looking at when I did Juliana's had that odd border thing going up and I wish I would have left it off.  Or better idea with my 20-20 hindsight - would have been to have it turn a corner and border the envelope.

 

JAN to Sharon and Gloria - Inspired by Mary

 

I just found a new feature where I can make the background on photos of the envelopes disappear - so now I have to decide if I like that feature. The possibility of me remembering how I did it is slim.

These two were inspired by one of Mary's envelope that ran in mid January. I'll repost it below so we can all laugh at how weirdly regimented I was with my rectangles. I gridded everything off. On Sharon's I used the dark blue for the background which was a mistake. So, I tried a second time - on Gloria's and I like the black background - but I wish I had not been so grid-like.

Also - I need some better pinks and light blues. I should have used the gray from Sharon's on Gloria's. The whole point of these was to go through all my markers and toss the dry ones. Plus, the medium blue on the monster is more teal. It's interesting how the very subtle variations in colors can have so much impact.

Here is Mary's - the looser rectangles are a lot more fun.

JAN to Sharon, Sharen, Lynne, Maggie - BMX biker

 

We'll take a break from versals and look at the last 4 I did - at the end of the list of 20. I had run out of steam and had weather, seasonal health bugs and travel to manage. It's all just a foggy memory. Note to self: be wildly happy and grateful about the *nothing going on* at the moment. 

These are ho-hum - but the colors are nice.

Too bad I can't make myself remember that Maggie's name simply does not work in pointed brush - or perhaps I need to try harder.....

***

Here's another video about someone in Des Moines. We were in the same dorm at Drake. She was a couple years ahead of me. Later, our paths crossed when she was the principal of my kids' middle school. She's 71 or 72 (I think) in this video which is a couple years old - and she's still prominent in the BMX bike racing circles.

https://www.pbs.org/video/episode-bmx-grandma-ekb3gi/

Here's an amusing Drake t-shirt and Iowa t-shirt.

Well - that's an overstatement - but, I do appreciate the simplicity of most of it.

JAN - Snoopy to Susan and Leslie

This was my favorite - of the versal/Peanut series - although it has jumped ahead. I actually did it last - but, I have to stick with the order in which I photographed the envelopes because that's how my fool proof system works. I thought I would do the same S for Sharon and Sharen - but I liked the creature enough that if I do it again, I want the background to be gold and the creature to be in colors.

The other Snoopy stamp went to Leslie - and it's not very exciting.

I did enjoy doing the names and addresses in a style that looked a little bit like Charles Schultz's lettering.

 

JAN - versals & Peanuts to Irene and Christy

After I did the yellow and purple Schroder designs - I decided to do PigPen - my favorite Peanut. I liked the colors and looked for something without knot work. Irene's I should be a super fun letter. I was still not warmed up - so I should probably give these two another try. 

I seldom do a C that pleases me. Sometimes I think I should just use circle templates and stop trying to do them by hand.

After I had this post done - I added some colored pencil to make the letters closer to Pigpen's outfit - which is a definite improvement.

Real time comment: I just photographed the Feb envelopes - and when I blocked the addresses - I completely forgot that I had done the blocking this way in Jan. Now I can't decide which I like better. 

JAN Peanuts and versals to Troy and Amy

These are literally the first two I did in January. I had taken Dec off and was excited to get back to my desk. I was going to avoid the oft-made mistake of not having particular stamps in mind. It seemed like using up the Peanuts stamps would be a good idea. As much as I love them, I didn't have any good ideas so I did the thing where you ponder - what is the least likely style to combine with Peanuts? Juxtapose the unexpected. Medieval versals seemed like a very odd combo. There will be a bunch more coming up - all I can say is that I had fun. I'm fine with how they worked out - but not wowed. These are 7th and 8th century versals. 

I also tried a different way of blocking out addresses. I copied the city/state/zip and put it over the street address. The knot-work is a lot harder than it looks and the bottom part of Amy's is messed up. If I decide to do more knot-work, I'll need to practice some more.

Troy's really grew on me. Those big dots are so contemporary. Maybe I should work on some other letters that would look like that one. My sample pages never have more than 4 or 5 letters in the same style.

 

DEC from Kate and Sharon

A real time memo to the exchangers: my envelopes are going in the mail today. Many of them have clear addresses. A few do not - so I repeated the address on the back. I ran out of time to enclose notes - and many of them should have had *deeply regret* messages - I'll reserve my nit-picking for the blog posts. I did manage to get out nibs and ink and gouache - so that was a big step. Not that the results were impressive - but at least it happened. 

A very pretty card and envelope from Kate. The collage has stitched details - and back in December Kate and I emailed about what she was going to be making - and then I was delighted when it arrived - but - I've forgotten exactly what it was. Forgive me for not digging back to figure it out - but, I have only one Dec envelope left to post - and I am determined to get it done today - so that I can put 2023 to bed.

You know what? I'm going to go ahead and put the last one in this post. That way I don't have to look for an add-on. This is from Sharon and there was a bonus envelope inside with a snowflake done with a pointed nib as well as a very pretty card.

 

Tomorrow - we'll start the envelopes I sent out in January. 

 

DEC from Leslie and Juliana - Oregon Trail

 

Leslie's reindeer is fun - and the spot of red - and the snow globe are nicely coordinating elements.

Juliana's penmanship is lovely - and that snow globe on the cancel is one of the clearest images I've ever seen on a cancel. So many of them are weird inky blobs that I can't decipher.

***

I had mixed feelings about mentioning this book - but after watching the video yesterday that included the very detailed miniature wooden wagon - I decided to talk about it. The Oregon Trail: A New American Journey by Rinker Buck.

Two middle aged brothers decide to travel the Oregon Trail from Missouri to Oregon - in an actual covered wagon pulled by mules. Antics ensue. Who knew that there are still large chunks of the trail to follow that have not been paved. And it wasn't just a single set of ruts in the ground. There were many places where the road fanned out and there were multiple trails that would eventually come back together. 

I choose books like this with the idea that they will put me to sleep - but this one really grabbed my attention and I'd find myself staying awake to find out what happened next. There were also plenty of details included from the journals that the actual pioneers kept when they were on their journeys. What people endured back in the day is far different than the images we have from movies and TV shows.

What the brothers endured is a combination of comical and "Oh.My.Gosh - even I would have had better sense than that." But, it made for some good storytellin'. When I researched the author - he's been an adventurous guy since he was 15 and flew across the US with another brother - in a Piper Cub with some maps, but no radio and a compass that barely worked. Yikes. 

Here is a very good review of the book - 

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/24/books/review-in-the-oregon-trail-two-brothers-take-an-1800s-style-road-trip.html

While I think this story might be interesting to kids - I don't think many parents would approve of the very salty language. It might be fine for teenagers - and probably depends on the teenagers.

DEC from Paula - Wyoming miniature maker

 

I was happy to hear from Paula in December and then she signed up for the exchange in January. I am writing this before any of the January mail has arrived. It's a day after the second blizzard within a week (in January) and it is 7-below. The card is a purchased card - so this is a good example of getting some envelope inspiration from a card. The *dotty* strings and the *dotty* stamp are also an excellent combo.

***

Here is a 25 minute video from Wyoming PBS about a 91 year old guy who makes miniatures as well as other items. The subject matter is what you would expect from a guy in Wyoming - so maybe not all that interesting to some of us. The part that is worth watching is his attitude about his skill at making things and how he delves into the projects. Then he talks about teaching people how to make some of the things he makes. And I don't want to spoil the punchline - but - it does dovetail with my opinion on the value of making things with your hands (which are connected to your eyes and brain).

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

DEC from Mary - Bobble-head guy

 

I wonder what kind of markers Mary used. They must be alcohol markers because they don't show the layers. It's a really nice effect with the stamp. This is another idea that would be fun to appropriate. She ran off one of her own illustrations for her cards (below) which is adorable. 

This is the 14th birthday for the blog. Instead of a.n.o.t.h.e.r mushy thank you to the people who read, comment, exchange, etc - I will post a fun little video about a guy from my neighborhood.  I'm pretty sure that MrWilson has a bobblehead of himself made by this guy - if I figure out where it is - I'll post it. It was a gift from people he worked with.

***

https://www.pbs.org/video/the-bobblehead-guy-gq6gm1/?fbclid=IwAR1Axmsi4iwpTiPtOca16lzGbD9DDbEjuqphfbsLzD8OSFSbXmRNq0S12E4 

I suppose if you have a lot of time to kill, you could watch the other videos in this series. Also, I do not know if the videos stay up indefinitely. If this link does not work - I'll find something else to drop in.

Dec env from Cathy - Korean street food + odds and ends

Some nice stamping and what's-its-name lettering from Cathy. Her card has a mid-century feel. I approve of the easy to read address.

***

Another batch of videos showing people making things. They are edible and considered street food in Korea. I sent this to a friend who had lived in Korea in the early 70s and asked if she saw street food like this and she said she had not seen anything remotely like this. I'm beginning to have mixed feelings about food being turned into art. While I understand the temptation - it seems like the statistics on food insecurity should nudge things in a different direction.

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

And here are some very random photos that were hiding and I couldn't find them on the blog - but that doesn't mean they aren't there.

Lauren's is inspired by illuminated versals. I did more in January that are nothing like this.