Posting and saving information about mail art and artists. It doesn't seem like it will be around in another generation or two. Like so many interesting art forms which evolve or devolve with technology. I used to collect postcards and write letters to pen pals from all over the world. At that time I was making mail art and finding interesting things which could be sent in the mail to friends. I haven't created any mail art in awhile. I liked learning the limitations and finding what could be done to work around them or find a new idea to work with them. Like a puzzle.

MailArt 365 - Twitter - Facebook - Flickr

International Union of Mail Artists

The site for the Envelope Collective is gone and so is a page which had been on Wikipedia.

The Envelope Collective is an ongoing collaborative art project that uses mail as a medium. The Envelope Collective was founded by Garrett Miller and Adam Morse on November 3, 2005. Anyone can send anything to the Envelope Collective; people from all over the world have sent in everything from boxes of Kraft Mac and Cheese to handmade paper envelopes.

Source for the post below: Lisa Vollrath

The Art is in the Mail

The simplest definition of mail art is that it is any art that's created with the intention of sending it through the mail. Mail art can include postcards, faux postage, decorated envelopes, friendship books, and the ever popular naked mail. If you have to mail it to complete the creative experience, it's mail art!

Mail Art Culture

When it comes to the making of mail art, there are very few rules. However, most mail art projects have these similarities:

• No money exchanges hands. In general, mail art is exchanged between artists, not bought and sold. There aren't usually fees involved to participate in mail art projects.
• Mail art is given freely, without the expectation of something in return.
• No judgements are made about the artwork or its quality. You get what you get.
• Once the envelope has been dropped into the mail, forget about it.

Postcards

Postcards are probably the most popular form of mail art. Handmade, altered, or trash postcards are often exchanged between mail artists, either one on one, or in organized swaps or exchanges. Perhaps postcards are so popular because they are already a type of mail, and are so easily sent, without packaging, and with minimal postage.

Postcards are often used in mail art exhibitions, with are organized through mail art calls. The project organizer puts together a theme and a venue for display, and posts the call to creative groups focused on mail art. Interested artists mail in a postcard, to be included in the exhibition. Sometimes, they receive another postcard in return, or a visual listing of the pieces in the exhibition, known as documentation.

One of the most well-known postcard projects is Post Secret. Since 2005, the project organizer has asked readers to mail him an anonymous postcard with a secret written on it, to be posted on the Post Secret blog. Hundreds of postcards have been sent in and posted, and the project has spawned several books.

Postcrossing is a site designed for those interested in sending and receiving postcards. Rather than matching senders and receivers, the site is set up so that your postcard is assigned a number, and when your card is received and logged by the recipient, your name is put into the queue to receive the next postcard sent.

Artistamps

Artistamps go by several different names: faux postage, postoids, or cinderellas. These terms are used to describe an artist-created stamp that is not used as real postage. In fact, one of the rules of using artistamps is that they must not be substituted for real postage, or used in any way that attempts to defraud the Post Office.

Faux postage stamps are created in a variety of ways, but the most popular method to create them is using a computer for design and layout, and then either printing on paper that is pre-perforated, or perforating the printed sheets afterward. Stamps can be created in sheets or individually, or even to mimic the commemorative issues put out by the Post Office.

Decorated Envelopes

The tradition of sending decorated envelopes has long been practiced by mail artists. The envelopes themselves have evolved into their own form of mail art, often sent through the mail with little or nothing in them. Integrating the sender and recipient addresses, and the postage required to send the envelope, is often an integral part of the envelope's design.

One of the longest running decorated envelope project is The Graceful Envelope, sponsored by the Washington Calligraphers Guild. Each year since 1995, artists have decorated envelopes according to the annual theme. The best envelopes selected in several categories are put on display in Washington, DC.

Naked Mail

Sometimes known as extreme mail art, naked mail is the sending of odd items through the mail without any packaging. In my years as a mail artist, I've received beach balls, flip-flops, a plastic severed hand, a giant plastic crayon bank, a large pink piggy bank, baby bottles, and liter and two-liter bottles filled with all manner of items.

One of the objects of naked mail is to surprise postal employees. Taking the items to the post office window to be weighed and have postage attached, and receiving the naked mail items from your regular postal carrier are part of the naked mail experience.

One of my favorite types of naked mail is the plastic bottle mailgram. A clear plastic bottle is filled with items the recipient might enjoy, and mailed without packaging. Instructions for making plastic bottle mailgrams that fill easily, and will pass through most US post offices are posted here at Go Make Something.

Artist Trading Cards

Artist trading cards, or ATCs, are small-format artworks exchanged between artists. Unlike other types of mail art, artist trading cards do have a few rules. They must be created on a 2-1/2" x 3-1/2" surface, and must fit into a trading card sleeve, which is a clear pocket designed to hold baseball trading cards.

Although artist trading cards originated as a way for artists to meet face-to-face to exchange work, with the rise of the Internet came endless numbers of groups where artists can exchange cards by mail. One of the largest groups online focused on exchanging artist trading cards is ATCsForAll, where you'll find dozens of open swaps at any given time, and thousands of people willing to do a one-on-one exchange.

Trashpo

Trashpo is short for trash poetry, a concept that originated with visual poet Jim Leftwich. In 2005, Leftwich dumped a wastebasket onto a scanner, and posted photos of the random poetry this created. Trashpo is a form of visual poetry, based on random, found arrangements of letters, words, and images. In its very broadest sense, trashpo is art made from garbage.

The trashpo community has its own words to describe the types of work this concept has spawned, and they are as unique as the artists who create them. For example:

• Cerealism is trashpo made from cereal boxes.
• Listpo is list poetry made using found lists, like shopping lists.
• Scannerbed composition is a method of creating trashpo by dumping trash on a scanner and scanning it.

IUOMA

The International Union of Mail Artists (IUOMA) was founded in 1988 by Dutch artist Ruud Janssen. IUOMA has been the center of the online mail art universe for many years, moving from site to site, but keeping many of the same core members and ideals. There are currently over 3,500 members online, and the web site is one of the largest repositories of mail art calls and images of mail art. New members are welcomed heartily, and there is no charge to join or participate in the many projects going at any given time.

Mail Art on the Internet

Examples of various types of mail art are abundant online, but seem to move around and disappear quickly. This collection of sites represents the links I was able to capture the last time this page was updated:

• Mail Me Art is a mail art documentation project. Viewers send mail art, and the recipient blogs what has been received. The project has spawned several exhibitions.
• The Mail Art Pool on Flickr has gone silent in recent years, but people are still adding their photos to the pool.
• The Electronic Museum of Mail Art has several galleries of mail art, including a small collection of artistamps by various artists.
• Com`post Mail Art displays the work of German artists who have participated in mail art projects for over 20 year. There isn't much text to describe the collections, but there are lots of photos.
• 1000 Journals was an art journal project that happened by mail. The project's originator sent out 1000 blank journals, and they were passed around using an online queue system. The project is finished, but the photos of journals remain posted.
• Mail Art Projects is a blog maintained by 100 members of IUOMA. It posts mail art calls from all over the world.

Think of a fanzine you might have written. (Maybe you even did write one). After all the issues, the community you may have found, the new things you learned as you published about your favourite TV show, celebrity, type of fruit, grocery store chain, etc. How would you finish it all, a final goodbye?

I thought this was such a great creative writing idea. Writing sort of a eulogy for your creative passion once its wound down. Maybe you ran out of things to say. Maybe you got tired of it. Maybe your opinion about the whole thing changed. Maybe it got to be too expensive. There are lots of reasons a small, self publication, a fanzine, would close down. Would that be part of your final issue, or would you leave it for people to guess at? Leave them wanting more?

You might make a final grand statement, an epic summary of everything you have found and learned. I think I'd try to do that then change my mind when I couldn't make it short enough, or be sure I hadn't forgotten something and then want to write another final issue.

Of course, if you've never written a fanzine this could be your one and only. The one and only fanzine about wilted lettuce... giraffes... bicycle lanes... the evolution of Sunday shopping... there really is no end to the range of ideas and topics. They don't even have to take themselves very seriously.

Ezine, blog or just plain everyday website, how do you know which is which and what makes it one or the other?

From the Dmoz category descriptions:

Ezine: An e-zine is the electronic form of a magazine, delivered via the Internet through the web, by e-mail, as a PDF file, or some other commonly accepted electronic form. It shares many of the characteristics of a paper magazine. It will have a regular publishing schedule: daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, yearly, etc.

It can accept submissions, which are then approved and edited by an editor or a staff using an agreed upon editorial process. Or it could be produced by a small group of writers.

An e-zine will typically publish only a small selection of the work submitted to it, setting a tone for the zine.

Weblog: A weblog (blog) is a cross between an online journal and an ezine. Weblogs must have links to other websites, they also need a commentary on the sites. Blog entries must be dated.

Weblogs are personal surfing diaries -- daily or weekly lists of links that the writer thinks are interesting.

"Personalized news isn't about going to excite and getting words that match your keyword. It's about going to a person you trust. Personalized." -- Sabren

Weblogs come in two major flavors: Weblogs, which are more link-oriented, keeping track of news in a particular topic area; and online journals, which emphasize more of the writer's own thoughts, opinions, and daily life. Both need to be updated on a fairly regular basis in order to be included here (at least three times a week).

Zines and Websites don't seem to have a description, or any one category. Instead they are listed by subject matter.

I think that leaves ThatGrrl.ca: WordCraft as an ezine then. But, I don't accept submissions or work with any other writers. As of this moment I also don't have it sorted into it's own section on the site. I created 3 index pages: Inspiration and Creativity, Internet and Publishing and Business and Home Office. But, there is no one page I could say is WordCraft itself. I still have Writing Prompts, Quotations and my Author Blab pages up too. But, they are all seperate, joined in a sidebar but not on any one page I could refer to as a seperate identity from the site in general.

Originally posted to Backwash - Bonnie Burton: How to be a Zine Queen

Making your zine isn't as hard to do as you may think. If you know how to use a scissors, glue and a copy machine, you're half way there. Think of a zine as part scrapbook, part journal. You will want to make your homemade publication interesting to read and fun to look at. But before you start production, here are a few tips to begin the process.

Read other zines Any happy zinester will tell you that before burying yourself in paper, read the zines that are out there now. Do you want your zine to have a different theme each month, or do you want it to be a random mish-mash of ideas and pictures? Perhaps you'd like your zine to be on a certain subject all the time. There's no rule saying you have to make your zine a certain way. After all, it's YOUR zine. But a becoming an avid zine reader, could help you decide what kind of zine is missing from the rest. For example, if you want to do a zine dedicated to snowglobe collecting, make sure there isn't one out there already.

But let's say you want to do a zine on something like Barbie - if there are tons of zines with your theme, try taking a different approach, such as writing articles on weird Barbie art or women who have plastic surgery done so they can look exactly like Barbie. Chances are, if you've been wanting to do a zine, you already have an idea of what you want to do.

Find your stuff When you decide what theme you want to do it's time to gather your stuff. By stuff, I mean comics, poems, essays, articles, photos, illustrations and whatever else you need to put together your first issue. Please keep in mind that you should be gathering art and illustrations that are copyright-free. Don't just take art from magazines and paste them in. The best way to illustrate your zine is to draw the pictures yourself, get a artistic friend to do it, or buy a few clip art books from the local book or art supplies store. You don't have to draw like a pro to get the job done. In fact, some of the more popular zines have art that could make your little sister's scribbles on the fridge look like masterpieces.

Just be creative and take a few chances. Your stick people drawings may be the highlight of the zine! The same courtesy goes for articles, essays, poems and other writing. Don't copy someone else's work to put in your zine. Get their permission first if you can call, write or email them. There's really no need to copy someone else's work. If you can't write and draw everything yourself, get some of your pals to contribute. Gathering stuff for your zine is also a great way to meet people. Put a notice on your community bulletin board or post a flyer in your favorite coffee house, asking for submissions for your zine. You'll be surprised how many talented people have something to offer!

Also think about advertising. I suggest waiting for a few issues before asking people to pay you money to advertise in your zine. This way you can concentrate more on what you want your zine to look like, than how much money you want to make from it. You might want to put in free ads of places you like to shop at or other people's zines, but be sure you ask them if this is okay first.

Put it all together Once you've collected all the stuff you want to put in the zine, start organizing it on paper. You can make your zine as large or small as you like. Some zines are the size of greeting cards while others can be the normal size of a paper. Again it's all up to you, but keep in mind that if you plan on mailing out your zine, the smaller, the better.

Before you paste the pictures and articles on the paper, organize them in different ways. See how placing a photo in the middle of a blank page attracts the eye differently than when it's surrounded with words. Look at other zines and see how they put their articles together with illustrations. Take some chances. Experiment with different typefaces. Use your own handwriting with a few headlines, or get on a computer and chose a funky font other than Times New Roman or Courier. This is your time to have fun with the design and layout of your zine.

Once you paste (or tape) your content into the zine, you will want to make copies. The cheapest way to do this is find a friend that works in an office or copier place, like Kinkos. Or ask your roommates/spouse/neighbor off a few copies of your zine at work. Sometimes, you can offer to put free advertising in your zine, for places that will make free copies. There's always a way to get free access to a copy machine if you put your mind to it. This is important to think about since most of the times a single copy of a one-sided page can cost ten cents or more. This can add up to be a lot of money if you have a big enough zine. So be careful.

After making copies of your zine, you will have to decide how you want to bind the pages together. Most zines are stapled together because it's fast and cheap. But if you plan on only making a few copies for family and friends, you can get a three-hole puncher and bind your zine together with brads or fancy ribbon.

Send it out Now's the time to distribute your zine. You can send copies to friends or family members, or try sending out a few to people you admire. Most people love getting fun stuff in the mail and new zines are no exception. Try sending a copy of your zine to a magazine that reviews zines such as The Zine Guide. There are also plenty of Web sites that review, distribute and trade zines. So do a few searches online to see what's out there.

Enjoy it One of the best things about doing your own zine is knowing that you have complete control over what goes in it. You are the editor, so you can make the decisions. If you want to do an entire issue devoted to Troll dolls, do it! If you want to dedicate an issue to your pet cat, Crackers, then do it! Have fun with it and try new things. The more you work on your zine, the more you'll learn…and entertain your readers in the meantime!

Welcome to DIY publishing -- now get out there and make a zine already. Sheesh.