Enveloping the Word: Book and Magazine Page Envelopes

 I took a page from an old, oversized art book showing photographs of a modern art piece and, using a template, cut out an envelope. I used a black fine-point Sharpie to outline some shapes and added tiny marks around them. I had a good time listening to a Russian army band rendition of Bach's Passacaglia and Fugue in C Minor [one of my all time favorite Bach pieces in any instrumentation] while I was working. After I folded the envelope, I added a few little embellishments and called it good.

The cut page from the art book.

I enjoy taking pages from discarded art books and various magazines and making envelopes out of them. I use the envelopes to send letters to my grandchildren and other relatives and friends. They always know they have a letter from me when they see the envelope in the box.

An envelope made from a magazine page with a few embellishments.

This is not great art, but it is my art. It is not as avant-garde as Ray Johnson's mail art and his New York Correspondance [sic] School members. I wish I had known about the growing mail art community in the early 1960s when I was an art student, before life took me in a different direction. I believe my first art teacher and mentor, Floyd V. Cornaby, would have loved it. It was much cheaper to mail letters back then, too! First-class postage in 1965 was five cents.

Commit Acts of Art Every Day!

Enveloping the Word: February 1st to the 10th

 "Not every act of art creates something special, but it does create something. It is the act of art that is important, not the result." Michael L. Goodman

I am selective about the postcard and letter trades I sign up for each month. I rarely, very close to never, join trades that involve stuffing selected items in an envelope, and I usually join only a couple of trades a month. But my first week and a half of February this year started off with five swaps on Swap-bot: a chunk-o-cardboard trade with three partners, a collaged envelope trade, a handmade postcard, a U.S. National Park postcard trade, and a Movie/TV listing the filmography of Betty White on the message side of a purchased card.

I prefer swaps that require the sender to create a postcard or envelope with original artwork. Most swap hosts don't like handmade cards because some swappers slap a few stickers on a card and call it good. So, the majority of the swaps require a purchased card with a written message on the back fulfilling a prompt chosen by the host. I have not mustered the courage or found the time to host a swap of my own.

Here are a few of the early February swaps:

The Collage Envelope

The Three Chunk-o-Cardboard Postcards

Since this swapper has a collection of bicycles, I added a different flourish to the back.

Enveloping the Word: January, Part 2

 "Not every act of art creates something special, but it creates something. It is the act of art that is important, not the result." Michael L. Goodman

A few more envelopes: pen and ink and folded magazine pages:

Commit Acts of Art Every Day!

Enveloping the Word: January

" Not every act of art creates something special, but it does create something. It is the act of art that is important, not the result."  Michael L. Goodman

I finished my eighty-two Christmas card envelopes a few days before Christmas. I mailed the cards to overseas addresses in early December. The ones going out of state were next, followed by those within my state. I saved the envelopes for cards to friends and relatives in my city for last. I have a friendly acquaintance with a clerk at the post office who takes my city cards and letters, hand cancels them, and puts them in the next day's delivery. This saves two or three days of delivery time.

I have made a multitude of "chunk-o-cardboard" postcards for swapping on swap-bot. The chunks do not have to be decorated, but it is against my nature not to decorate the cardboard with some little flourish before I send it off to find its way in the world.

My art in December and January has been making envelopes from Southwestern art magazine pages and decorating letters with pen and ink. Here are some samples.

 

I need to develop a new design for the inked envelopes, even though they are fun to do. February inspires some possibilities. We will see what happens.

Commit Acts of Art Every Day!