JOURNAL
documenting
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discovering joyful things
More mail-art from the old herbal
"My gardens sweet, enclosed with walles strong, embarked with benches to sytt and take my rest. The Knotts so enknotted, it cannot be exprest. With arbours and alys so pleasant and so dulce, the pestylant ayers with flavours to repulse." ~ Thomas Cavendish (1532)
(More botanical mail out here and here)
Mail-art from the old herbal
When I was a teenager I read this book by Mary Stewart, and became instantly fascinated by the world of herbs and the mysteries of folklore and medicine surrounding them. By day, I planted and tended a herb garden at our home. By night (by candlelight because we had no electricity) I studied reference books about herbalism.
When I had a pimple, I tried pressing the petal of a calendula flower to it to make the pimple disappear (no joy). When I had a headache, I made a tincture of feverfew and drank it (it tasted so disgusting that it definitely distracted me from the headache). I found some glycerine capsules at the local pharmacy and filled them with crushed herbs to 'medicate' members of my family when they were sick. Don't worry, I was smart enough to research which herbs were safe for consumption and in what manner, before I did all this. I just wasn't smart enough to speak to an actual herbalist, who might have been a little better at achieving the health and beauty results I hoped to achieve.
My favourite two books for discovering new herbs to plant were a small-and-simple guide called "The Pocket Encyclopedia of Herbs," alongside "Complete Herbal," which was written by Nicholas Culpeper in 1653. I love the descriptions and language in Culpeper. About borage, the herb at the top of this post, for example, he said "The leaves and roots are to very good purpose used in putrid fevers to defend the heart, and to resist and to expel the poison or venom of other creatures." Also, he assigned every herb a place in the astrological charts (borage is under Jupiter), and was sometimes (unintentionally) very funny.
And it's these books that bring us (finally! I can hear you cheering!) to the point of this post.
After having a lot of fun painting antique botanical prints for my mail-art recently, I have decided to extend the theme, and paint some of my old friends from these two books. On the back of the envelope, I've shared a tiny tidbit about the herb for the recipient's reading pleasure (or not). Something like this...
ΔΔ "Venus governs it. Ladies' mantle is very proper for inflamed wounds, and to stay bleeding, vomitings, fluxes of all sorts, bruises by falls, and ruptures: and such women or maids as have over great flagging breasts, causing them to grow less and hard..." Culpeper, 1653
ΔΔ "It is a strange coincidence that the leaves can be used for wiping fingers after eating crabs, to wipe away the smell. Crabs, chrysanthemums, wine and the moon are the four autumn joys of our scholars, artists and poets." Chiang Yee, The Silent Traveller in London
ΔΔ "The name of this herb conjures up biblical images of aromatic resins and healing oils... has a strange 'masculine' fragrance -- the kind of musky scent that gives depth to perfumes." The Pocket Encyclopedia of Herbs
ΔΔ "The leaves of mallows, and the roots boiled in wine and water, or in broth with parsley or fennel roots, open the body, and are very convenient in agues, or other distempers of the body, to apply the leaves warmed to the belly." Culpeper, 1653
All your thoughtful words
During the past month or so I have been chipping away at the photography for my new book (which is going by the working title Snail Mail Revolution, by the way, but that might change). I want the book to be really beautiful, something that you will want to hold and touch and browse through slowly. It is really important to me to avoid having something that looks like a glorified stationery catalogue.
When I put a call out to you guys to tell me what you loved about snail-mail, what you felt made it so very special, your responses were absolutely amazing. Thank you!
Thank you
Thank you
Thank you
Thank you!
So many of you encapsulated PERFECTLY how I felt about this ancient and evergreen way of staying in touch (take a look at this wonderful quote from Selise, for example). People loved snail-mail because it was so intensely personal, a direct conversation between two people, thoughts written by hand, their rethinking exposed in crossed-out words and margin notes. And because it was slow, a return to mindfulness and patience and the art of waiting for something worth waiting for. Many people loved that letters were tangible, something they could touch and smell and see. There was more said, so much more, and it was beautiful. But you will have to wait for the book to read it all!
All your thoughtful words really helped me when it came to planning the photography, and I was really keen to capture the essence of what you were saying. To my mind, the photographs needed to evoke some kind of emotion, to tell a story. The sense of occasion that comes, for example, with opening and reading a letter from someone you love. Or the thoughtfulness that goes along with sitting down to write a letter. Do you know what I'm trying to say? Is this making sense?
If you follow me on Instagram, you'll have seen the images on this post popping up during the past couple of weeks. They are outtakes and behind-the-scenes shots of what I've been trying to create. I hope you like them. I'm really happy with how this book is all coming together!
Antique botanical mail-art
Ever since I created the wild strawberry mail-art for my Secret Pen Pal Scavenger Hunt pen-pal, Corey, I've been majorly drawn to painting antique botanical-style mail-art. I had more fun with this series than I have had in a long time. The only problem being the photographs: it would appear that I had too much coffee the morning I took them, because some of these pictures are inexcusably blurry. I didn't even notice until I came to edit them and by that time, the letters were well on their journeys around the world, so there was no way of re-taking the photographs. Anyway if you can overlook the bad photography, here's the mail.
ps. If you'd like to see the contents of my mail to my secret pen-pal, she has created a beautiful blog-post about it here. (Oh my gosh I'm so embarrassed about that revolting black bag-of-horrors that before it left Melbourne contained pretty, pressed flowers from my garden. Note to self: don't send organics in the mail in summer).
ps. have you heard about my new letter-writing and mail-art e-course?
Over four weeks, I will guide you through multiple methods of making beautiful mail-art and creative, handmade stationery; teach you the art of writing and storytelling; help you forge personal connections in your letters and find pen-pals if you want them; and share time-management tips so even the busiest people can enjoy sending and receiving letters. Register your place or find out more information right here.
Mid-century mail-art
Maybe there was something in the pinot noir that week but I was really feeling a mid-century vibe when I painted up all these little packages. Polariods and UFOs. Weirdly-tinted poodles and monstera deliciosa. Vintage suitcases, 60s sitcom opening credits-style cartoons, and Liza Minnelli. I don't know. But I had a lot of fun, and I hope the recipients do, too!
I couldn't believe it when Eti (the plants and books) told me she had never received a personally-written piece of mail in her whole life. What even?!? I felt terrible for her, and so happy that I could rectify that situation. (Also embarrassed, because I felt like her first letter should be SO MUCH better than the one I had written).
The letter to Eduardo (the UFO) was for a snail-mail themed film project that is going right now. The filmmakers are collecting as many letters as they possibly can to be used in the film. If you want to add your mail to the mix, get in quick: it has to reach its UK destination by 21 March (that's one week!). All the details are here if this is up your alley.
ps. have you heard about my new letter-writing and mail-art e-course?
Over four weeks, I will guide you through multiple methods of making beautiful mail-art and creative, handmade stationery; teach you the art of writing and storytelling; help you forge personal connections in your letters and find pen-pals if you want them; and share time-management tips so even the busiest people can enjoy sending and receiving letters. Register your place or find out more information right here.
Wild strawberries
This was the outside of the mail I sent for the Secret Pen Pal Scavenger Hunt. Sadly, it hasn't arrived at its destination yet. I feel pretty bad about that. I hope it gets there very soon!
Do you need a reason to write a letter?
Just popping back in for a moment to let you know about an exciting, not-for-profit campaign that's running right now, to inspire people to start writing more letters. It's called Write_On, and everyone who gets involved makes a promise to write 30 letters in 30 days, during the month of April. It's a fun kind of group event, with everyone supporting each other and swapping ideas and sharing inspiration.
The idea started with Tess Darrow, founder of letterpress company Egg Press. “As the owner of a greeting-card company, I wanted to experience, first-hand, the benefits of a regular practice of writing cards,” she told me. “Letter writing is something that I enjoy, but often forget to do.”
The timeline went something like this.
April 2014: Tess set herself the challenge of writing 30 letters in 30 days, and some of her colleagues at Egg Press and at another letterpress company Hello!Lucky decided to join her. They invited the broader community to take part, and in the end they gave away 2000 free "kits" of letterpress cards to help people get started
April 2015: Word spread about Write_On and thousands more people joined in. Also joined by Sakura of America (makers of the gelly roll pen!), Tess and her friends sent out more than 5000 free letter-writing kits
April 2016: It's almost time! This year, they plan to send out 10,000 free kits to help encourage another 10,000 people to write letters to the people they love (or like or appreciate), but they need our help to make it happen.
They've launched a campaign on Indiegogo to raise the money to do this, and so much more. Depending on how much money they raise, here are the very exciting goals (in ascending order):
* with $15,000 raised, they'll send out all 10,000 kits, shipped internationally if needed * with $20,000 raised, they'll also support and equip 20 retailers around the US to host letter-writing events * with $40,000 raised, they'll do all of the above, plus bring Write_On to five schools to inspire the next generation, including supplying writing materials, and * with $60,000 raised, they'll reach more schools, keep things running all year round, and even go global!
As with all these sorts of crowd-funding campaigns, there are perks for every level of support. That's everything from stationery to tote bags and, because the organisers are talented letterpress artists, everything is super beautiful. Personally I am going a little bit crazy for the letter-writing-prompts calendar I've shared below. It is such an amazing idea!
Today I ordered groceries online and then they got knocked back because there wasn't enough money in our account, which is not only embarrassing but also annoying because I really wanted to make Lebanese bread pizzas tonight. My point being I can't afford to donate yet BUT there are three days left of this fundraiser (people! only three days left!!) and assuming the pay comes in on time, I am definitely going to support this wonderful campaign that is inspiring people all over the world to pick up a pen and write to someone.
"By donating, you're contributing to our goal of shifting Write_On from a passion project to a cultural movement" they say on the campaign page.
Which is rather special, don't you think?
Image credit: all images from the Write_On Indiegogo campaign page
Mail art - 9 new ones
So far none of these packages have come back to me, so fingers crossed they made it to their destinations!
I especially enjoyed making the mail for Emmy. She is in her first year away at college and her mother asked me to write to her - Emmy's mother said the two of them read my blog, and that was just the nicest thing to hear. Such a lovely mental picture it gave me! Hugs to you Emmy, and Emmy's mum!
Lauren's and Akira's mail-art envelopes were experiments in leaving more white space (or in this case brown space) in the pictures. I kind of like them, but then there is something about covering the whole envelope with paint and incorporating the address more fully into the illustration that I do enjoy.
I actually think the mail for Barbara, that last one, is my favourite, even though no matter how hard I try, I can never draw hands. Despite the wonky hands I still feel like I got the "comfort factor" I was going for right.
Spent last night making more zines and envelopes at the Snail Mail Social Club, so I'll be making and sending more mail soon!
ps. have you heard about my new letter-writing and mail-art e-course?
Over four weeks, I will guide you through multiple methods of making beautiful mail-art and creative, handmade stationery; teach you the art of writing and storytelling; help you forge personal connections in your letters and find pen-pals if you want them; and share time-management tips so even the busiest people can enjoy sending and receiving letters. Register your place or find out more information right here.
News eek!
“Snail-mail will always be a personal gesture. It can’t help it. Think about it. Someone’s hand held the pen that wrote those words. Their finger ran along the flap on the back of the envelope, sealing it down. And then you hold that same letter in your hands, days later. After it has passed through a couple of post offices, a mail room and the gloved hand of a postie. Stark, blank-eyed words on a screen have got nothing on that.” - Selise McLaggan (loverssaintsandsailors.com)
Drumroll please... I finished the first draft of my snail-mail book last night! Just popping in to share that news because, as it turns out, I'm quite proud!
There will be loads more edits and reworks and a photoshoot to go yet, so it won't be out any time soon, but finishing an ENTIRE draft of a book is still something to celebrate, I think.
Back soon! Naomi xo
ps. I will be scattering "quotes about snail-mail" like the fantastic one from Selise above throughout the book, so if you still want to contribute, please feel free (I'd love it!). The details are here
Image credit: photo is by Joanna Kosinska, licensed for unlimited use under Creative Commons
Mail art - a lot of cat stamps and other lessons in mail-art
A lesson I learned over the New Year* was that when making mail, measure each package up before wrapping it in kraft paper... because if it is even a just couple of millimetres over the standard size, the price goes up. A LOT. Thankfully I had several sheets of 70c cat stamps left over from when I purchased stamps for my father's birthday invitation mail-art (because I am not the brightest and purchased enough for every person invited rather than every household. Duh).
You can't see them in these pictures, but the backs of these parcels are literally covered in cat stamps. Here is a picture that Elaine shared on her Instagram, of all the cat stamps on the back.
For only the second time ever, I had a couple of the parcels in this set returned. The castle above came back, with notes from the postie written on the left to the tune of "ADDRESS UNCLEAR. WHAT COUNTRY?" This made me groan slightly, since, if you live in Australia, an address in North Gosford, NSW, is quite evidently also in Australia. But then to be fair, I had run out of Airmail stickers when I photographed these, and later put all the stickers on at the post office. Because this was the only local letter, I also accidentally put an Airmail sticker on it too, so I guess that could have caused some confusion.
Look how pretty and clean the letter looked (above) when I first sent it to Melina! And this is what it looked like when I popped it back into the mail last week...
Then a few days later the letter to Ashley also came back. There were no marks on the envelope and the stamps hadn't been cancelled, so I don't know what was going on there. I thought maybe they didn't see the country so I drew a box around "United States" to draw attention to it, and slipped it back into the box. Time will tell if Ashley gets her mail!
Meanwhile, when I ran out of cat stamps, I busted out all the other leftover stamps I could find and made the "building blocks" mail-art below, which I think is one of my favourites, ever.
*Actually I think I might have "learned" that lesson before, and even shared it on here, but clearly nothing much sinks in. Is there a moratorium on how long you can blame "baby brain" for just being really absent-minded?
ps. have you heard about my new letter-writing and mail-art e-course?
Over four weeks, I will guide you through multiple methods of making beautiful mail-art and creative, handmade stationery; teach you the art of writing and storytelling; help you forge personal connections in your letters and find pen-pals if you want them; and share time-management tips so even the busiest people can enjoy sending and receiving letters. Register your place or find out more information right here.