today's outgoing mail

i find it oddly satisfying applying my vintage (uncanceled) US postage stamps to envelopes and packages, sent to mail artists and penpals near and far.

mail art kit

my trusty red paper suitcases have been part of my craft show displays, hold various odds and ends, and every so often double as my traveling artist kit. sometimes i hold my acrylic inks, oil pastels and brushes, but this time for Jennie's Correspondence Co-Op (more about this later!), i put together a mail art kit, chock full of rubber stamps, gluesticks and japanese washi tape. you can't see my gluesticks since they are buried underneath all the tape and rubber stamps.

paper treasures: recent finds from the vintage paper fair

i had a great time meeting up with fellow LWA member and penpal Anna L. and her husband at the vintage paper fair. It was Anna's first time at the fair and we took out time browsing through postcards and ephemera. sometimes it is hard to read the intricate cursive, decipher the muddled postmarks, carefully hold the tattered edge of a letter. we peered at match box labels, falling apart stamp albums and atlases. right now most of my precious finds are in a box, but i'd like to frame more of the envelopes - except with slanted walls of an attic room means it's kind of tricky.

i have more finds then this, but my camera ran out of battery when i was taking photos.



at one point i looked down on the floor and spotted treasure in the form of a box filled with tons of airmail envelopes. 25 cents each or 3 for 50 cents! the sleepy old gentleman laughed when he saw us immediately plop down on the floor. i began shuffling the pile frantically. anna almost couldn't keep up with me, but i know she had lots of good finds, too.







in the end, we had a great time at the show and met up with Jennie H. of Good Mail Day Book & Red Letter Day Zine for coffee and waffle sandwiches at Dash Cafe. We played show and tell with our finds and it was a good beginning after a long semester at school.

i've also written a short blog post at the Letter Writers Alliance blog about my experiences at the SF Vintage Paper Fair. Check it out here

studio

it has been quite awhile since i've taken pictures of my little attic bedroom/studio/chaotic mess. i bought a lot of cute kraft boxes from daiso last year and i love filling them up with small stuff like manila tags, postage stamps and other art supplies. clearly, i'm not the most organized person and it shows! i have piles of stuff, but i like to work in organized chaos.






the other thing i like to have is my inspiration clothesline - i clip on magazine tear outs, random ephemera, photos and postcards and other things that inspire me.




a box full of assorted envelopes


more supplies are inside the red paper suitcases. the suitcases are getting a bit worn, but they are in still good condition. a favorite find from Flax.

end of the semester & goals

these past few weeks have gone by so quickly. it's been a long, tiring semester. i'm pretty happy for the most part, though as the semester went on i've been dreading my drafting and sketching class.

not all of my projects were a success but the one that i am particularly proud of is my pie time restaurant menu.



we worked on a restaurant concept and executed a menu, plus items that added to the overall identity of the place. I decided my restaurant would be a retro inspired pie diner. the menu turned out to be mounted on foamboard that was covered in polka dot wrapping paper. i attached string in the back so it could hang as a sign.


business cards in tart molds

i also designed a booklet on John Baskerville, a type founder and printer. You might know his typeface Baskerville.

Open publication - Free publishing - More baskerville

all in all it was a busy, stressful semester, but i still had fun and became closer friends with my fellow graphic design students. there are so many things i need to do, but most of all i need an internship!