Secret word of the Day: VACATION!

my other boyfriend.

So this weekend I’m off to LA, to have a bit of a vacation. That’s a rare commodity (luxury, really…) in my world, but this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity came up and I couldn’t possibly miss out. Please excuse me as I share with you.

The Baron (referred to in yesterday’s post as “the ever patient and always understanding one”…) is whisking me away to the southlands to see The Pee Wee Herman Show. This is pretty much a dream come true for me: imagine — not only will Pee Wee be there, but Miss Yvonne and Mailman Mike! Could a girl get any happier?

(Perhaps, if one of those Tiffany’s necklaces from yesterday’s post appeared magically, out of thin air…)

All that to say that there won’t be any new postings for the next couple of days; after all, that’s part of what a vacation is all about. But I promise, I’ll be back next week with more tidbits and treats. Here’s a teaser: Red Letter Day will get a preview of the beautiful Valentine’s broadside from Fixed Orifice Press!
–JH

Valentine’s Day doth approach…

the windows at Tiffany's, part one...

As you can imagine, this window display pretty much stopped me in my tracks.

I mean, honestly.

It’s almost as if the window display designer at Tiffany’s got inside my head, rummaged around, and couldn’t find anything in there except thoughts of Crane’s classic laid envelopes, red Stabilo felt tip pens, the occasional piece of See’s Candy (chew-y), and a teeny tiny wondering as to whether or not I should carry an umbrella tomorrow (it’s been raining quite a bit here. Notice that the umbrella is not a priority.)

My other, ever-patient half waited on the sidewalk while photo after photo was taken. “How often does something like this happen?” I wondered outloud. “A window display of pink envelopes? And cancellation marks?! What do you think about those mailboxes?”

“Did you even notice the jewelry?” he asked with a sardonic smile.

part 2...

All this must mean that Valentine’s Day is nearly upon us. Instead of buying into all the fanatic couple-based heart’s day brew ha-ha, I usually opt to get involved in projects that involve large groups of people a.k.a Valentine’s Day postcard swaps. There’s something about sending out a mailing of pink and red and a touch-of-doily that takes me right back to the third grade.

Remember?

You’d get to decorate a manila envelope — all glitter glue and felt-tipped pen. Then on the big day, there would be cards or letters delivered by a “junior postman”; in my gradeschool classes, this was usually an honor bestowed on one of the well-behaved, overachieving kids in class.

There was always that secret hope that someone you were crush-y over had a crush on you too, or that a mystery card from a secret admirer would be mixed in with the ones from friends and teachers. Sometimes it worked out that way. Sometimes it didn’t. As an adult, I send out Valentine’s cards as a way of sending that feeling to someone who might not necessarily be expecting it. After all, everyone deserves to get a card on Valentine’s Day, right?

...and part 3.

Here are some tips for making your mail art valentine(s) smiling all 365 days of the year:

–If you’re in the mood to send something charming and unexpected, visit the World’s Smallest Post Office. Leah Redmond hand creates each and every single one of her exquisite missives. I will say no more; just click through to her site. You will not be sad, I promise.

–Instant love: Paper Source’s vinyl airmail envelope pencil case. Delicious! As if I could love my pens and pencils anymore…

–and if you’re going out to a fancy dinner to celebrate Valentine’s, perhaps your server/charming wait-person would like a Valentine. A bank note folded into the shape of a heart is the perfect thank-you!

–JH

Thing-A-Day: 02.01.10

TAD: 02.01.10

Today’s the first day of “Thing A Day”, so as per the “rules” of the game, I did something quick.

I’ve decided that I’m going to implement some guidelines of my own, just to keep me from going crazy, spending too much time over-thinking, or getting overwhelmed.

–I’ll be doing my month’s worth of work in a day-by-day Moleskin; easier to carry around in my bag. I’m sort of working in reverse in my book, so I’ll be date-stamping at the top corner of each page, just to keep track of each day’s work.

–each week will be themed, to keep some sort of consistency going.

• wk 1: text
• wk 2: color
• wk 3: narrative
• wk 4: form and/or shape

I’ll keep everyone posted!

–JH

I will always love you, Pilot V…

Kitchen table: still life, with pens

You know what I love, more than fresh baked chocolate cookies or cute puppies or a really crackin’ pair of foxy heels?

Pens.

That’s right. Some of you know precisely what I’m talking about, because you’re part of my gang.

Why do pens top my list? Do I really have to explain it? Pens won’t come back to haunt you in the summer time (swimsuit season) reminding you of the (delicious, not fat-free) eggnog you had at Christmas. Pens definitely will not chew on your sexy stilettos (puppy teeth marks are impossible to get out of suede). A good pen is like an old friend: you can pick up exactly where you left off, with no need to explain where you went, or for how long, or even why. And like any true, stand-up friend, you always wish the two of you could spend more time together, and wonder what makes that friendship so easy, so effortless…

It has recently come to my attention that one of my best friends, the disposable Pilot V-Pen, is going to be retired.

How sad does this make me?

Pretty darn sad.

The Pilot V was one of my first loves, discovered in the wilds of a Tokyo twenty-four hour office supply store. I thought I had died and gone to some sort of heaven: jet-lagged and unable to sleep, I stumbled into an emporium of highlighters, envelopes, and glue — two floors of office supplies in the heart of Shinjuku. At that time, the Pilot V seemed like just another disposable fountain pen in a sea of many, but I decided it might be fun to give it a try.

The next afternoon was spent sitting in a Harajuku cafe writing postcards to friends back home — I was hooked on the Pilot V. Here was a pen that cost about three dollars, wrote smoothly, and had a range of nib sizes (S/M/L): everything a girl like me needed. I went back to the store and bought half a dozen more, intent on giving them to other fountain pen acolytes when I returned stateside. Since that first trip, I’ve never looked back.

But now, there is sadness. Sure, sure, there’s a “replacement” pen (also made by Pilot), and my spies tell me it is a fine and mighty replacement. The new kid on the block is named “Pilot Varsity” (what’s not to love about the name?!); it comes in a few different colors (purple, turquoise) and has a jazzy design (stripes). I’m sure it writes fantastically and is easy to hold and can program my DVD player for me. I bet it’s wonderful.

letters from Japan, circa 1954

My heart is still broken.

My coping strategies? Well, I went ahead and ordered all the Pilot Vs I can get my hands on and cleaned out all of my local sources. Even though I know hoarding pens is not the most reasonable solution, I can’t help myself. I plan on sharing these precious pens with folks that I know will love and appreciate them, folks who will use them and write letters and create beautiful mail art. I’ll pass on something that I love, even though it means saying goodbye to one of my favorite and most trusted friends.

Sigh.

You can order a range of pens/notebooks/office goods from these companies; they specialize in Japanese office supplies!

– Tokyo Pen Shop

– Jet Pens

– if you’re interested in talking/learning about pens of all types and kinds, you might find Stylo Forum interesting…

–JH

PS: thanks to catwrangler for giving me the tip about the Pilot V’s disappearing act…

Have you heard about Thing-A-Day? (a.k.a: my alternative to new year’s resolutions)

the words of Ben Franklin

01 24 10

So.

The new year is off and running; did you make a new year’s resolution?

Neither did I.

Folks always ask, and I always tell them the same thing: “Well, they’re not necessarily bad, but…” Making a commitment to exercise more or lose 10 pounds or grow my own backyard vegetables never seems to work out — after all, it’s three hundred and sixty five days that I’d have to commit to a specific, unchanging goal. If there’s one thing I know about myself, it’s that I like variety. Lots and lots of it.

So that means I’m back to square one.

If you’re anything like me, there’s hope. “Thing-A-Day” may be the project for you. Starting today, January 25^th, individuals are welcome to register at the Thing-A-Day website; the concept behind the project is simple. For the month of February, every day, create one thing and post it to the website. Your “thing” can take any shape or form, the important part is to be “doing”.

I think Thing-A-Day is a great idea, and not just for all the obvious reasons. A part of me responds to the more intangible promises the project offers, which is something I don’t get with my new year’s resolutions: a sense that I can actually “do it”, see the project through to the end, because the end is easily in sight. Twenty eight days is far more manageable than three hundred and sixty five, right? In my mind, a new year’s resolution is an interminable amount of time, in which I expect that I will invariably stop doing whatever it was I promised myself that I would do. After that, I spend an untold amount of time feeling terrible/guilty/obligated to the amorphous goal which I initially set unreasonably high for myself at the very beginning.

So that means I’m back to square one, yet again.

There are a couple of big plus-marks in my book, in regards to Thing-A-Day. It’s a short, yet finite amount of time (28 days — the shortest month!), I can create art in a concise manner each day (it’s good practice to work faster), and it keeps me honest with myself (“C’mon Jennie, making something today isn’t really that big of a deal…”).

So that’s why I went ahead and signed up. After all, it’s just a month. Twenty eight days. There are twenty four hours in each of those days. I can certainly carve out a small niche of time each and every day, in order to make something; I’ll consider it a small personal victory for Art. And at the end of the month, I’ll have a kick-ass collection of groupings, almost like snapshots of my daily thought process. A timeline for the month, if you will.

At least that’s what I’m hoping it will look like.

–JH

PS: the Thing-A-Day website is here.

PPS: take a look at some of Kerri Smith’s awesome work from last year

National Handwriting Day — January 23rd!

vintage nibs and inkwell

Break out those fountain pens, fancy stationery sets, perfectly sharpened HB pencils. Take a moment to write a holoalphabetic sentence such as “The five boxing wizards jump quickly” or “Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs” — these are also known as pangrams (sentences which incorporate all 26 letters of the alphabet). Write your chosen sentence not once or twice, but several times, and once you’ve done that, look over the sum total of your work. Do your J’s swoop? W’s dive below the baseline? Perhaps your penmanship looks similar to a doctor’s prescription, as opposed to the handsome script of your third (fourth?) grade teacher, the one who first introduced you to the idea of cursive writing. Each of these quirks make up your handwriting, a tool utilized every day and often taken for granted. Consider your handwriting to be a personal seal, almost like a fingerprint of sorts; your handwriting is unique to you. No one else can copy the way that you write. (Forgery — now that’s something altogether different…)

Many people consider Platt Rogers Spencer to be the grandfather of “fancy” lettering. This was a man obsessed with penmanship; as per WikiPedia: “Platt was passionately fond of writing and, because paper was difficult to obtain at the time, Spencer wrote on birch tree bark, sand, ice, snow, the fly-leaves of his mother’s Bible and, by permission of a cobbler, the leather in his shop”. In 1840, Spencer realized the need for a penmanship style which could be written both elegantly and efficiently, for use in matters of business and commerce. Over time, the Spencerian method of penmanship was adopted in school systems and became synonymous with standardized writing.

Take a look at your sentences one more time. Do you like your handwriting?

Many people are dissatisfied with one aspect or another of their handwriting. There are penmanship fixes, and they are usually pretty simple. For example:

–Chicken scrawl? S-l-o-w down a bit. The tendency to rush through a written message means that the end result will often look messy. As you write, pay attention to what you are writing and give it your full concentration. I know, I know: it sounds silly. But really, I promise — it will help.

–Perhaps there’s ink all over the page, or strange smears in all the wrong places. Adjusting the way that you sit or the angle of your writing hand may be the answer. Sometimes folks don’t even realize that they are gripping a writing pen too tightly or leaning forward at an awkward angle. Changing these routines may be the solution.

In the book “Script and Scribble” by Kitty Burns Florey, it is mentioned that Spencer’s last request was for his pen, and he passed away with it clutched in his hand. One can only wonder what his final written message was (I’m sure it is recorded somewhere…) but we can be certain that it was written in an immaculate hand.

Some further reading:

–”Spencer’s New Standard Writing“; scans of an original penmanship lesson book from 1884

–”Teach Yourself Better Handwriting” by Rosemary Sassoon

–”Handwriting in America” by Tamara Plakins Thornton

Want to try your hand at Spencerian script? John Neal Booksellers has all the tools, equipment, and instructional books that you would ever want or need

Happy Handwriting Day — go out there and write something beautiful!

–JH



Art’s Birthday, comin’ right up!

Well, I have sent out the Art’s Birthday postcards; if you made it onto my mailing list, be on the lookout! Half of the group of 48 was sent out on Tuesday — the other half was sent out this (Thursday) morning. I braved an all-day downpour and made it to my local post office, just as they were about ready to lock the door! Thankfully, I managed to sweet-talk my way in — whew. (“No really, I’ll just be a second I promise…I just have to check my PO box, and put these in the bin. Really. I super-promise.”) After depositing the aforementioned cards into the mailbox, I ran back out into the rain, crossing my fingers that public transit would be good to me. It must’ve been my lucky day. A bus appeared out of (seemingly) nowhere, and in a jiffy, I was on my way home again.

Tomorrow will bring about more stamp-affixing and envelope licking, but for now I’m going to call it a night. I’ve posted a few more photos of the project on Flickr; you are welcome to take a look over there!

–JH

PS: our next post will be comprised of various titles and page numbers; it will be a veritable “what’s what” of postal lit!

mailing away Art's Birthday...

Happy Birthday to Art!

You may or may not have known, but today is Art’s birthday.

You remember, you’ve met Art before: the last time you snatched up a fountain pen, inked a rubber stamp, or folded a snazzy envelope…that’s Art.

The idea of Art’s Birthday was introduced by Robert Filliou in 1963. The idea goes something like this: 1,000,000 years ago, there was no art. (!) But one day, on the 17th of January to be precise, Art was born. (!!) According to Filliou, it happened when someone dropped a dry sponge into a bucket of water. (!!!) And thus a new holiday was born. Art’s birthday is celebrated in a wide variety of ways throughout the world; there are accounts of musical/noise recordings, get-togethers in which artists build/exchange “gifts” to/for Art, or all-night birthday parties/celebrations.

Mail artists feel a special affinity for Art’s Birthday; Filliou and Fluxus artist George Brecht introduced the term “Eternal Network” to the art world (circa 1965), and mail artists have adopted this phrase for their own usage. Filliou himself believed that art didn’t have to express itself as an object (i.e. a painting/sculpture/tangible something-or-other). He saw art as a form of play that could even occur as unrealized notions, which is a view which stays with us today, stronger than ever.

One of the important ideas attached to the Eternal Network, (or “La Fête Permanente”/ The Constant Festival as it is also known) is that “the artist must be aware that he is part of a larger social network, part of the “Constant Festival” which surrounds him everywhere and elsewhere in the world.” For mail artists, this notion is always at work — creating, sending, and receiving in return are the gears that keep postal machinery running and mailboxes full.

Filliou went on the travel the world, as well as conduct interactive art experiments and events. His constant study of Zen Buddhism led him to incorporate many of it’s core beliefs into both film and art works. In 1987, after creating his final piece (Time is a Nutshell), Robert Filliou passed away.

We are left with a yearly celebration, a time to consider how important this thing named “art” is to us. Take a moment to create, to reflect, to share. How do you live with your art/works? What promises do you make to Art, and yourself?

Making is doing. Creating is learning. Art is all around us, in big things and tiny glimpses.

–JH

Will you be joining us?

Everyone loves parties, right?

Do we ever really need a reason to get together, eat cake off of frilly napkins, laugh and meet new folks, listen to bippy music from an unknown iPod playlist? Better still if everyone in the room shares a common interest such as…oh, I don’t know…postage stamps or airmail envelopes…

That’s why I’m hoping that you will join me in celebrating the grand debut of “Good Mail Day” here in the bay area. While Carolee and I plan on having a few more signings lined up in November and December, this will definitely be a night to remember: party favors and faux postage and cookies shaped like envelopes! Both of us would be charmed to have you; additional lovers of marvelous missives and creators of colorful correspondence are welcome also!

Details:

Your charming hostesses: Jennie Hinchcliff and Carolee Gilligan Wheeler

Where: SF Center for the Book, 300 De Haro Street, SF CA 94103

When: this Friday, October 9th; 6pm – 9pm

PS: bring your copies of “Good Mail Day” for us to sign, if you’re so inclined! (Sadly, we will not have copies for sale at the event; our first press run is currently sold out!)

Hope to see you there!

–JH

This is my kind of work…

Off they go to the UK, Argentina, Spain, and other far-flung destinations. I spent an hour stuffing envelopes, writing “hello hello” ’s, and attaching the perfect postage to each and every missive. The result was a happy, satisfied feeling: the ker-chunk of mail going into the box, the idea that within a couple of days (or a week), someone would be the recipient of something a bit unexpected…

–JH