Mail Art, Slow Art, Postcards & Pens

#319

 I just did a little experiment and it worked. I couldn't use our scanner in my usual way as C was at his computer. I put this piece of Mail Art on the scanner then did some poking around on my computer and figured out how to scan wirelessly!! Woo hoo! No more waiting to scan. I'm "high-fiving" myself for this discovery.

Here's a heads up to everyone around the world.
Slow Art Day 2014 will happen on Saturday, April 12th. Check the website here to see if there is something happening in your city and then register to attend. It's so fun and it's relaxing. I'll be hosting at VMFA again, and looking forward to it. I already have people signed up. Yay, early birds.

Spurred on by seeing many of PostMuse's pens, I cleaned up some fountain pens that I have and did some testing to see which of my pens are still good. Here are some of my pens and pencils. Do you recognize any? There's a Japanese brush pen, some inexpensive Waterman pens, my favorite Muji fine point (.38) pen, and a  mechanical drawing pencil (one of several.) My new favorite, however, is not in the photo. It's a Lamy Safari, pink, fine nib fountain pen, with purple ink in it.


I had a super fun treat this morning. I was one of three judges at the Old Dominion Postcard Club exhibit and sale held today and tomorrow at John Tyler community college in Chester, VA.

Here are two of the display boards that were to be juried.  Boards had themes like Views, Greetings, Topical, etc. It's so interesting to see what people collect and treasure.

Here's the display corner and a portion of the many vendors with their cards. Check out the Facebook page of the organization here.

As a thank-you, the judges received a wonderful book - a history of motels along U.S. Highway 1 through our area - via Postcards. 
If you have any interest in postcards, mail, history, or learing about a fun hobby, check out your area for a postcard show. They're all over the world.

Pens and letter writing.

I'm inspired to show you some of my fountain pens because I've been reading the Missive Maven's blog - here, and some pen related blogs - here & here. I found Missive Maven through a comment she made on the Letter Writers Alliance site. It's all linked together! Since finding M.M., I've written to her and received mail in return, and have been compelled to find and clean my pens and start to use them again. I'm not completely forsaking my Uni-ball Vision Elite, however.

In the photo, you see two of my Waterman Phileas pens on the left. One was chosen by my colleague Rebecca, many years ago. I love the way these pens write. The middle three are student pens which I picked up in Paris. The students there still use fountain pens, how cool is this?! The slim green one is an Elysees, which was one of the first pens that C bought for me. It needs to see a pen doctor. The one on the right is a Sheaffer pen (looks like the Legacy Heritage!) that I love, because it reminds me of my father who owned one of these in the 50s (possibly the same color.) It writes very nicely and I like the way the point is part of the barrel of the pen. I have several other pens that I'll post soon, including the gorgeous Parker 51, which C dug out of his trove and I will start to use as soon as I get some ink for it. Waterman black is recommended but I have that Sheaffer blue-black that is so classic. The purple circle is the top of a tiny tin that holds 6 small cartridges of purple ink from J. Herbin. I got it in Paris and haven't used any yet.

Even if you don't have a fountain pen, write a letter! Buy a neat looking stamp and surprise someone with a handwritten note! You'll make their day.