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Post by mailartist on Feb 6, 2020 23:12:43 GMT
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Post by mailartist on Jan 8, 2020 0:11:47 GMT
The good news is that this is likely the only year in our lifetime that we'll have to worry about this. I doubt any of us will still be around in 2121!
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Post by mailartist on Jan 7, 2020 15:50:09 GMT
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Post by mailartist on Nov 20, 2019 19:37:04 GMT
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Post by mailartist on Aug 5, 2019 16:32:09 GMT
I'm still waiting on a postcard that was sent to me, from New England, in 2013. That's six years ago, but maybe there's hope that it will turn up yet?
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Post by mailartist on Jun 26, 2019 16:03:35 GMT
Guess I have been lucky then with the glue stick. I wonder if it's brand, materials or technique, as I have used this a lot. It is probably more a function of postal machinery (Think: the old American Tourister gorilla commercials). On the one hand, I have received (beautifully intact) letters/postcards that were held together with nothing more than a wish and a lick. Then again, I've gotten envelopes, with no letters inside, because the seams/seals split, and the contents were lost en route. It just seems a pity to go to all the work to write a letter and make a special envelope, and then have it not survive the postal machinery. So I always reinforce every seam and seal with at least an inch or two of Scotch tape. (When I hosted mail art exchanges, and would routinely receive about 20 envelopes of incoming cards that I would then shuffle and swap, it was not unusual for one or two of the mailing envelopes to arrive with significant damage. Some that had split were, in fact, commercial envelopes, but homemade envelopes had a far greater likelihood of arriving with problems.)
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Post by mailartist on Jun 26, 2019 13:16:50 GMT
WARNING about glue sticks!
Glue sticks are great for the initial "sticking together" of handmade envelopes, but in my experience, they too often fail in postal sorting machinery.
Word to the wise: REINFORCE EVERY SEAM/SEAL with some reliable tape (i.e., something like Scotch or postal tape. Washi tape is decorative, but often low-stick, so that can peel off as well).
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Post by mailartist on Mar 29, 2019 14:06:26 GMT
The February letter writing social didn't come about, to many things going on at the Historical Society. But, it is happening April 6th. I am putting up a fountain pen display, and the history center is providing refreshments, and the history center will put out letters from their collection.. We are trying to make it a family event, getting both parents and children involved, we'll see. Also asking people to bring any letters they feel might be of historical interest: letters from the old country, WWI and II, etc. It will be the first time so we are hoping we get some takers. You might want to include stamps/stamp collecting, as well.
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Post by mailartist on Mar 26, 2019 19:29:05 GMT
CVS devoting more shelf space to "health-care products." Probably because no health-care anything in the US sells for a piddly "$1 - $10," but many more times that. Higher prices, more profit.
Bottom line, is all . . .
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Post by mailartist on Mar 5, 2019 3:15:07 GMT
Added to cart. apparently you can seal 1500 envelopes with it Didn't know they made envelopes in pre-Shakespearean times!
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Post by mailartist on Mar 2, 2019 23:51:00 GMT
An update on Recil Troxel, the WW II vet with an upcoming Birthday who's battling cancer, about the response that he's received from the initial social media post. Another article I read stated that on February 13th the count of incoming pieces of mail was over 70,000. storyI was a little at the 70K+ assertion, but here is the news video report that shows (among other things) the mail that arrived on just one day: www.tucsonnewsnow.com/2019/02/15/oklahoma-wwii-veteran-gets-cards-after-story-goes-viral/
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Post by mailartist on Feb 3, 2019 20:43:34 GMT
Thanks for posting, roses! A beautiful story, and an easy mailing to do.
Letter heading his way tomorrow!
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Post by mailartist on Jan 10, 2019 19:05:24 GMT
Back when US postage was denomination based (say, 34 cents to mail a one ounce, first-class letter within the US), if postage increased (say, to 35 cents to mail the same letter), the post office would have to issue "make-up stamps" (in this case, 1 cent) so that an individual would have to use a 34 cent stamp, and a 1 cent stamp, to bring postage to the new, 35-cent rate. This became cumbersome, both for the post office (having to print various make-up stamps), and people, who often forgot the additional postage, and thus the post office had to return a lot of mail to the sender, postage due. Hence, the idea of a "Forever" stamp.
Essentially, a "Forever" stamp entitles you to mail a one-ounce, first-class letter at any point. For example, I could go to the post office today, and buy a Forever stamp for 50 cents (its current rate). But, when postage increases (as to 55 cents, later this month), then the Forever stamp is still good. Even if postage increases to $1.00 (for the same letter), I can still use the stamp I paid 50 cents for. "Once a Forever, always a Forever" -- regardless of what happens in terms of postage increases (or, occasionally, decreases).
There are Forever stamps for domestic letters, and for International mail. I remain fuzzy on whether things like "additional ounce" or "postcard" stamps are "Forever" as well. (Neither of these types show a numerical amount, but they don't specifically say "Forever" -- so who knows . . . )
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Post by mailartist on Nov 21, 2018 21:31:57 GMT
Katie must already be in line for the Frog stamps, I think!
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Post by mailartist on Nov 9, 2018 13:43:35 GMT
irritation at the inefficiency of search engines, . . . inappropriate images come out... That is one reason why, several years ago, I realized that I had to develop my drawing skills. Sometimes, in a letter, a picture is worth a thousand words -- and often, I am lazy and don't want to write that many. I want to refer the reader to some photo or graphic or illustration and move on with my point. For a while, I tried searching for images online, but (as with any generic search term) the results were, more often than not, completely random and pathetically unrelated (as in one search for "pictures, Grand Canyon." Don't ask me what I ended up looking at.) I found myself wasting lots of search time in pointless scrolling, and still wasn't getting the image I needed. In one letter (and for some reason I can't remember), I wanted to add a image of an injured and bandaged-up ostrich. No luck on searches for real photos, obviously. SO, I took my pen and inserted my own, rough cartoon. It looked pretty crude, but, with the surrounding text, it worked well enough to make my point. And the rest was history. A sketch here, another sketch there -- whatever I thought would help the letter I was working on -- so that, by now, I'm three years into oil painting classes -- something I would never have thought possible, were it not for flukes in search engines. Necessity may be the mother of invention, but less-then-helpful search engines may lead to rewarding, new avenues of creativity.
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