Postal Swap Extravaganza

As I have mentioned previously, (Craftivities! March 27, 2009,) I have recently become fascinated with mail art. It started with handmade postcards after joining sendsomething.net. It's only gotten worse since then. Now I have become addicted to Swap-Bot.com (username: gata) and my outgoing mail has progressed from simple and inexpensive postcards into ATCs (Artist Trading Cards), zines, and other artsy fartsy mediums. My reintroduction into artsy mail has revived a forgotten passion for drawing – or, more accurately, doodling.

But more importantly and consumingly, I have fallen hard for Artist Trading Cards. I was somewhat familiar with ATCs before I ever heard of Swap-Bot - as I had seen the little gimicky canvases and drawing pads for sale at art supply stores - but I had never made one myself. To clarify, ATCs are tiny pieces of art, in any appropriate medium, that fit a very specific (and tiny) size criteria: 2.5” x 3.5.” Essentially, they are the size of a standard baseball card - hence the name, “Artist Trading Card.” For one of my first Swap-Bot swaps I joined a swap for a 'Your Choice ATC Swap' just to try it out. (Often the swaps have “themes” or guidelines that are supposed to be followed by the creator/sender, so open themes allow for unrestricted creativity ... somewhat.) Having been working mostly with salvaged wire as of late, I rolled with that.

“Japanese Maple” - Salvaged black wire constitute the tree body, red coated electrical wire is used for leaves; a broken gold jewelry charm is shooting through the open space trailed by a blaze of curvy copper wire; a cloud and rain drops are made of delicate steel wire. The background is colored and textured with a blend of india ink and white fabric paint.

Since my initial stab at the whole ATC thing, I've sent out several of them in a very short amount of time. For the most part I have stayed with my multi-media reused/repurposed/salvaged materials theme that I do enjoy so very much. It's not until very recently that I have begun digging out the watercolor paint and drawing paper that has been hiding in my craft stash for too long and creating more “traditional” art pieces. I choose use over waste any day; and from years of pursing art as a hobby and academically, I certainly have acquired an assortment of artsy craft supplies that are begging to be transformed into something useful... or at least into something aesthetically interesting.

So, now I bless you sweet darlings with some lovely examples of my upcycled ATCs:

My initial ATCs were a simple blend of cropped old prints of mine from a 2005 college printmaking course. Per assignment expectations, I had to make several prints of each plate. Even after giving away a number of them, I still have many that are just stashed and hidden away with my art junk, which is of no use to anybody.

“The Trail to the Valley” - A copper plate line etching, spruced up with some colored pencils (wood free pencils that I scored from S.C.R.A.P!), and copper wire (from Free Geek). For most ATCs like this I have pasted the image onto a piece of thin cardboard (like from food packaging) to make the piece more like a “card” and not just a flimsy piece of tiny paper.

“Tranquil Conductivity” - An aquatint print (a copper plate etched with acids – fun stuff!), blue color pencil, copper wire.

“Rogue Mountain Copper Mine” - An aquatint print (sourced from the same print as “Tranquil Conductivity”), color pencil, copper wire. Edges were burned with a flame to add to that whole pollution symbolism, you get it?

“Entertainment – Adult” - Made specifically for a swap partner in Hawaii that said she liked high heels and the color purple. The theme of the swap was “Yellow Pages.” Materials are an aquatint print (the same as for the above two example ATCs), color pencil, and phonebook ads.

For all the ATCs I've sent I have made a point to put on the back of each: a title, the materials used, and a plug for my ajunkjunkie blog. If you're here reading this because of an ATC I sent, then I have to say, “GO YOU! YOU'RE AWESOME!” and, “Thanks for visiting.” This photo isn't the back of the “Entertainment - Adult” ATC, but it is the backside of an ATC I made for the same swap. For this piece I used solely the Yellowpages – and as you can see, that included the backside too! A little OCD, I know.

“Baby Mama v 2.0” - This is 2.0 because the original I'm hoarding for myself. This image is sourced from an older photograph of my mom (as the baby) and her mom (awww, I know, right?). 2.0 is a line etching print colored with pencil, and stitched onto a cardboard backing with copper wire – no glue! Cool, huh?

“Long Wave” - A copper plate line etching, color pencil, copper wire.

“Fault Striations” - A copper plate line etching (same print as “Long Wave” is sourced from), color pencil, steel wire (from a twist tie used for food packaging).

After awhile I grew restless with using my own prints and expanded into a medium that I have always loved: multimedia collage.

This matching trio were for the same swap, but each went to a different swap partner. The theme guideline was to use only pink and orange materials. The background for each is an artsy altered photo from my high school photography collection, brightened up with a neon pink highlighter. Repurposed pink lace from an old garment is stretched across the ATC and stitched in place with dainty copper wire.

“Lady Catcher” - the ladybug body is an old sweater scrap, felt, embroidery floss, and orange coated electrical wire is threaded through the ATC as the antennae and legs.

“Snail Trap” - The snail shell is made from a broken metal earring (found outside) wrapped in craft pipe-cleaners, held onto the ATC back with copper wire. A decorative orange feather was added because I found it in my craft stash and it was the right color...!

“Spider Net” - The head and body are two spare buttons pinked-up with some fabric paint, and a orange coated wire added. The legs are made of copper wire that are threaded through the ATC and used to secure the buttons in place.

“Chance” - This was a paper collage using freeby Easter Seals stickers, garden catalog photos, a child's X-Man valentine (Thanks, Candice!), and a Get-out-of-jail-free-card from a Monopoly game – that game card had been in my craft stash for too many years! I used ribbon from S.C.R.A.P to frame the edges.

“From the Crème of Roses” - This is a collaged ATC where I used 3 craft “extras” that someone from sendsomething.net mailed to me anonymously from Canada: a photograph of a snowy landscape, a poem with a beautiful illustration of a woman, and the label off a can of creamed corn. Yum. I used a Mexican bingo card (salvaged from S.C.R.A.P.) for the rose image, which is threaded onto the ATC using copper wire. The paper images are fixed onto a cardboard back that I had painted with acrylic enamel paints (salvaged from Metro Household Hazardous Waste here in Portland, Oregon - sometimes people get rid of perfectly good stuff and thank goodness I am here to use it!).

“Tsunami Mommy” - A multimedia piece made up of paper scrap (from envelopes, i.e. “envies,” that I have been making to mail out my ATCs), acrylic enamel painted on cardboard, straw ribbon stitched onto the ATC using copper wire, and decorative silk ribbon.

“Elemental Cupcake” - This is sort of a ridiculous ATC that I made for a “Cupcake” themed swap. I used silver fabric scrap and stitched it onto the cardboard backing using copperwire and stuffed it with quilting stuffing to make it puff out. The cup for the cupcake is made from tinfoil, the sprinkles are from gift packaging I had kept and some more tinfoil. Gold rick rack frames the edges. The “eat me.” is written with a silver paint pen.

“Scrapy Nighmares” - One of my favorites. It uses more mail art sent from the anonymous sender – including the illustration of the Mr. Cheez Whiz character. For this ATC I also used book illustrations from a children's book (salvaged from my apartment building's “free pile”), tin foil, craft cord, straw ribbon, and mesh paper.

“Katrina's Dream” - An ATC made for a swap themed “Unique Me!” that was supposed to say something about who I am. A Mexican bingo playing card is attached with copper wire to a gold spray painted cardboard base. The world is covered in green mesh paper (given to me as an “extra” from another swapper) and attached with repurposed steel wire. Text is sourced from both the phone book and a page from a book given to me by my anonymous Canadian sender.

The text in the World says, “My mother was there warning me. I swear it.”

There are several sorts of swaps that are available to participate in on Swap-Bot. I have found, however, that I don't much enjoy the swaps where I feel restricted on what I can send. If I can't make it, I don't want to be in the swap. I don't mind swap challenges, or fun themes, but there has to be room for some creativity. It's a nice incentive to create when I know that someone else is going to be receiving my handmade item. Swapping mail art has certainly exploded into a temporary obsession for me, not quite a fun and healthy hobby. But - give me a week and I'll be on to something new anyway.

Swim away, swim away, to Australia, all the way:

This is my little fishy, but he's getting mailed off tomorrow to another continent! He's hand sewn using purple yarn and embroidery floss. The felt base is embellished with a couple googly eyes and a lacy floral decal I removed from an obsolete tank-top of mine.

P.S. I've got some new F.G. Glam to show off. Alas, this post is long enough. Another day then!