Go Make Something » Mail Art

Plastic Bottle Mailgrams

Lisa Vollrath — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 08:26:21 +0000

Originally posted on March 10, 2004.
Revised on August 20, 2008.

In many online groups, mailings to test the post office are quite popular. People will mail all manner of unwrapped items to each other, just to see if the post office will send them through. In my first naked mail experience, I sent these plastic bottle mailgrams filled with altered art goodies to some folks on Alterations. I’m sorry to say that the clerk at my post office didn’t even blink when I started placing these bottles on the counter—a week earlier, a lady had come in with an armload of baby bottles she was mailing out as birth announcements. However, the guy in line next to me liked them so much, he flagged me down in the parking lot to ask what kind of bottles I used so he could go home and assemble some himself.

Here’s how I put them together:

Start with a clean, dry plastic bottle. I used individual size water bottles that are clear, but any plastic drink bottle in any color will do. Lay the bottle on its side, and use a utility knife to make a lengthwise slit down the side of the bottle. Try to cut about as long as your address labels will be, or maybe a little shorter.

Since I was mailing to other artsy types, I filled mine with collage goodies. I started by gathering up a small pile of pretty papers and text pages. I rolled them up in a tube small enough to slide into the top of the bottle, making sure there was something pretty on the outside of the roll, since it will show through the bottle and create sort of a lining.

The roll expanded inside the bottle. I persuaded the papers around so the start of the roll lined up with the slit in the bottle, using a popsicle stick.

I wanted to include one piece of finished artwork—in this case, a domino pendant on a cord. I packaged the pendant in a small plastic bag, then slipped it through the slit, and inside the roll of papers, pushing as far as I could with my fingers.

I used the stick to move the plastic bag around to the center of the bottle. I continued adding items this way: a small envelope of cigar bands, some miniature playing cards, even an ATC. The ATC did have to bend just a little to fit inside the bottle.

For a more recent project, I had to add things like notes and address labels to the inside of the bottle. I just added these through the top, rolling them up and angling them into empty spaces inside the bottle.

Small items like beads, sequins, rhinestones, brads and clips can go in last. It’s nice to add smaller items that are loose, so the bottle rattles.

When the bottle was full, I glued the top shut with a little EcoGlue, which is pretty much a permanent sort of closure. I’ve done these in the past without glue, and just applied a strip of metal tape around the cap to hold it in transit, and they always stayed on just fine.

To seal the slit in the bottle, I started by covering it with a strip of clear tape.

I covered up the taped slit with an address label, and another strip of packing tape.

I applied a small return address label with a strip of tape wrapping all the way around the bottle.

The nice lady at the post office really wanted to stamp my first set of bottles First Class, but the tape resisted the ink. I went ahead and wrote First Class in red Sharpie, and taped it onto the bottle. Maybe it’s time for me to just get a First Class rubber stamp…

What To Do With Artistamps

Lisa Vollrath — Mon, 14 Nov 2005 23:28:16 +0000

Now that I’m selling faux postage stamps, and have also taught everyone how to make their own, I’m getting emails asking me what to do with them—so here’s my illustrated answer:

The first thing you can do with them is collect them. There are at least a bazillion people online who make and trade artistamps. I have a rather lovely collection of them from Jane Dickinson, who sends me her stamp issues on envelopes, just like real first day covers. I package my faux postage at Ten Two Studios in sheet protectors, ready to be slipped into a binder, for those who are into collecting rather than using their stamps.

Where’s the fun in that, right? OK, here’s how I’ve used them lately:

Most faux postage stamps are small enough to use on cards. I like to use them in multiples, like I did on the Day of the Dead card shown at right. Doing them in blocks of four, or in strips of three across a wide, short card looks interesting. This is a good way to make an interesting card without spending all afternoon on it.

Faux postage stamps are also generally small enough to use on tags. Mine tend to be exactly the right size for regular shipping tags. I like using them like this because it appears that I intentionally created a little piece of framed artwork just for the tag. I get just enough tag around the outside to tie the two pieces together.

The tag at left was made in about five minutes—I just swiped it with some Distress Ink, stamped with a script stamp, and then glued my stamp in place. This is a great way to make quick gift tags or bookmarks. You could line these up and do multiples of them in no time at all—and if you’re using one of my faux postage sheets, each stamp can be different, so nobody gets exactly the same tag.

Since I mentioned gift tags, there’s a really simple one shown at right, done with a scrap of cardstock, a single stamp, and a piece of gold elastic cord. I like doing little handmade touches like this on gifts. One year, I wrapped all my gifts in white butcher paper, wrapped them with red ribbons, and then did simple handmade gift tags. Everybody commented on how lovely their gifts looked.

One of the most common uses of faux postage is as envelope decoration. I tend to keep mine far away from the real postage stamps on an envelope, simply because I don’t want to spend all the time decorating one, and then have it returned to sender because my post office doesn’t understand the faux stamp. (My local post office has a history of being confused by mail art.) However, I know quite a few stamp artists who intentionally place their stamps in such a way that they’ll be cancelled along with the real stamps.

When I was designing my sheet of Madonna stamps, I didn’t realize that the post office had issued a Madonna stamp for Christmas. I really like the way they look together, so this is what my holiday mail looks like. I’ve edged the envelope with chalk inkpads, then stamped some music to one side. Over the top goes a single faux postage stamp, and then I address right above and just to the right. On a couple of my envelopes, I’ve also stamped the word JOY in the lower right corner. This makes the envelope fun and festive, but still doesn’t confuse my local mail carrier. Sometimes, they get a little snippy when artwork gets too close to the postage stamp, makes the addresses more difficult to read, or covers too much of the bottom of the envelope. When in doubt, take it in to the post office and get an opinion before you decorate envelopes for your entire mailing list.

Last, but not least, here’s a deco cover I finished this morning. This could just as well be a card. I simply mounted the faux postage stamp on a piece of decorative paper, and then mounted it again on a piece of corrugated paper that’s been edged with a little chalk ink. The whole thing has been glued to a paint sample card. The whole thing was glued to a piece of folded cardstock to make the cover of the deco.

Beyond all these little pieces, faux postage can be used as a piece of ephemera in collage or altered book work. Below is an example of a layout I did in a Flat Stanley round robin, using my own faux postage designs.

Metal Flashing Mail Art

Lisa Vollrath — Tue, 10 Feb 2004 23:23:53 +0000

Artist Lynn Dewart turned me on to using metal flashing from the hardware store as an art material. I had always struggled with sharp edges, but Lynn cut hers using dull scissors, creating a safe for the fingers edge. Since I learned this, I’ve been going nuts making metal stuff! Flashing is cheap, comes in all different sizes, and is readily available. Plus, I needed a roll to line the door of my hot water heater cabinet anyway.

At right is a set of metal envelopes I made for Graceful Altered Envelope swap on Alterations. The purpose of this swap was to make envelope art without actually filling the envelope with anything important, so I used the following method for making permanently sealed envelopes.

Materials:

Metal flashing

Old, dull scissors

Metal ruler

Envelope template (try Red Castle, Mirkwoood or By Donovan for free printable templates)

Metal tape from the duct section of the hardware store

E6000 Adhesive

Masking tape

Collage materials of your choice

Instructions:

Tape your envelope template to your roll of flashing, and cut around it. I tend to do my big cuts first to get the piece off the roll, and then do detail cuts afterward.

Now that the envelope has been cut away from the roll, clean up your cut lines and do any detail cutting. My envelope template had for little triangular notches, and these were easier to cut when off the roll.

Place a metal ruler on the fold line of the bottom flap. Gently fold flap upward while pressing down on ruler. Slide the ruler out, and remove the pattern. Press flap down as far as it will go.

Flatten crease with a mallet. I generally do any mallet work on my garage floor, because it’s a smooth surface that I can’t hurt too much.

Using the same method as above, fold the side flaps of the envelope inward. (Remember those notches I cut? Those told me where the fold lines for the remaining flaps were.) Flatten crease with a mallet. Fold the final flap down, and flatten crease with a mallet.

Once all your creases have been flattened, apply metal tape over the cut edges on the back side of the envelope, and burnish with your thumbnail. I found that my envelope still wanted to pop open, even after working with the mallet, so I glued my flap closed and weighted it until it was dry.

Decorate your envelope. On mine, I did some layering with acetate, then burned the edges of my adress and return address and applied them. I heated my envelope and sprinkled it with embossing powder—this is best done in small sections rather than trying the whole envelope. I work on a ceramic tile when doing this type of work, to protect my work surface from prolonged heating. I also stencilled on the metal, using a Sharpie. Metal flashing will also accept paint, though if you’re doing anything detailed, it’s best to use metal paints.

At right is a metal ATC I made for a non-paper swap on the ATC Hub.

Materials:

Metal flashing

Old, dull scissors

ATC template (I used a die-cut playing card that was the right size)

Masking tape

Collage materials of your choice

Tape the ATC template to your flashing, and cut it out. (When I’m mass producing blank metal ATCs, I trace my template lightly in pencil, and do a whole row of them, side to side.)

Decorate it! For my card, I used a piece of origami mesh applied with a glue stick. Over that is an acetate print of a geisha photo done on a black and white laser printer. The peace symbol is stamped with Brilliance ink, and then embossed with orange embossing powder. Be sure to use tongs or a mit, or to lay your card on a tile when you’re using a heat tool on it, because a piece this small heats up very quickly.

About Artistamps

Lisa Vollrath — Sat, 10 Jan 2004 23:21:32 +0000

Since I have a long-standing love/hate relationship with my local post office anyway, I’d like to talk about an art form that is near and dear to my heart: artistamps.

Artistamps go by many different names: faux postage, postoids, cinderellas. All of these terms basically describe an artist-created stamp that is not used as real postage. These stamps are created simply as an art form unto themselves, and are often used to decorate pieces of mail art, envelopes, or used in collage or altered books. Occasionally, the goal is to place them on an envelope so they are canceled just as real stamps are. However, one of the rules of artistamps is that artists must not attempt to defraud the post office by substituting their own artwork for the real thing.

Stamp artists create their work in a variety of ways. Some stamps are made with computer graphics programs, some are rubber stamped or collaged. There are even lines of rubber stamps available that are faux postage designs, to simply stamp and color. Stamps can be created in sheets, individuals, or mimic the commemorative issues designed by the post office. All of this is up to the individual artist.

Possibly the strangest and most wonderful aspect of artistamps is the tendency of some artists to create entire countries as the basis for their stamp designs. Many artistamp web sites come complete with country documentation that varies from etherial to serious to downright hilarious. Two excellent examples of this phenomenon are Arky of Toast and The Poca Post, both of which showcase beautiful stamp designs and creative support materials on their web sites.

Want to get started making your own artistamps? Here’s a blank postoid just waiting to be decorated. I’ll warn you now: once you get started, you won’t be able to stop. This particular type of mail art is extremely addictive. Fortunately, there are many places to swap stamps with other artists. One of the best is the Artistamp group at Yahoo!, which is also a great place to learn more about this fascinating art form.

What On Earth Is Mail Art?

Lisa Vollrath — Fri, 09 Jan 2004 23:20:04 +0000

Updated on July 27, 2010

As a rampant mail artist, I hear this question often: “What on Earth is mail art?”. Don’t over-think it; mail art describes a variety of art forms that are meant to be sent or exchanged through the mail. Generally, this includes art forms such as artistamps, envelope art, postcards, copy art, and increasingly, artist trading cards.

Mail art can be exchanged between artists, sent to random strangers, or created for a mail art call which requests all items be sent to a single location for display in exchange for documentation. Documentation can be as simple as a list of participating artists and the location where the exhibit was held, or can consist of copies of works contributed.

A few of the rules of the mail art culture:

No money is to exchange hands.
Mail art is freely given, with no expectation of anything in return.
No judgements are made about the artwork. It just is what it is.
Once the envelope is dropped into the mail, forget about it.

There are several places online where mail art is being practiced in various forms:

Postcrossing is a good place to practice random mail art. Once you’ve registered, request postcard ID, and a random name and address will appear. Mail something to that person, and eventually, someone will mail something to you.

Swap-bot has all sorts of random mail art exchanges going on, along with swaps of all types. This is a good place for beginners to get started.

In the past, Nervousness.org was perhaps the most prolific place to engage in various types of mail art exchanges. Although the site is still active through its forums, it is a shadow of what it once was. I miss the old Nervousness.

Art Forty-Two was started by some former Nervousness members. Although the site is small, it has been growing steadily. It’s relatively easy to either join a mail art swap or host one there.

For international mail art calls, try Global Mail Art Calls or join the International Union of Mail-Artists (IUOMA) on Ning.