Can you print with rubber bands?

Yes! The trick is to wrap them around a little wooden block. I have been making rubber band prints since 2020.  Yesterday we had a demo and printmaking at the San Francisco Correspondence Coop. 

Photos courtesy Ryan Tamares

Can Mail Art Save a Language?

Wymysorys is a language with less than 100 speakers and classified as critically endangered by UNESCO. The language is spoken in Wilamowice where a group of locals are working to preserve it.  Wilamowice is a town with about 3,000 people in Southern Poland.  

Wymysorys belongs to the Germanic Language Family. But it is not German.  It is believed its origins come from Western Europe when a mix of Flemish and German speaking settlers moved east during the 13^thCentury. Wymysorys’s speakers are ethnically and culturally Polish. For centuries the speakers did not identify themselves as Germans. After World War II they were allowed to remain in Poland but the use of Wymysorys was officially discouraged.
 
My latest series of mail art preserves some Wymysorys vocabulary.  I have included words like brif (letter) mark (stamp), pöstkiöt (postcard) and briftröejer (mail carrier). This might be the first time the language has ever been used in mail art. But no, mail art cannot save a critically endangered language.

Eggs in the Mail

On the way to Hungary for a mail art call.....🥚📬

Year of the Horse

To celebrate the Year of the Horse my new series of mail art uses hand-carved, rubber stamps and was inspired by some of the world’s oldest known horse art. These are on their way to mailboxes around the world.

Día de los Muertos Mail Art

This year’s hand-carved rubber stamped series of mail art for Day of the Dead that is on its way to mailboxes all over the world.

Year of the Snake 🐍

 
To celebrate the Year of the Snake my latest series of mail art used hand-carved, rubber stamps.  Of course, it’s the endangered and beautiful San Francisco Garter Snake (Thamnophis sirtalis tetrataenia).  Let’s hope the snake can bring us peace and harmony and rid us of all those unwanted pests. Happy New Year!  

Caffeinated Mail Art

 

Can you make art without coffee?   I did not want to take any chances so my first set of mail art for 2025 is Caffeinated Mail Art!

Books, Books and more Books

 

I always like doing book-themed work and my latest series is using various ink and book-shaped rubber stamps. 

While still keeping myself informed, I also have cut way back on news, especially the mainstream, compliant, corporate media.  I have stopped watching almost all TV news.  And the good news is more time to read books.  BOOKS!   Keeping reading and stay sane.

Lead the Way!

 

Monday was Labor Day, and I spent the holiday working. My task was to print over 100 postcards with hand carved rubber stamps reminding everyone to vote for freedom, democracy, sanity and our future.   Vote Kamala Harris!   This batch was dropped off at the post office yesterday.

Via Sea Turtle Mail

Inspired by the new sea turtle postage stamps from the USPS, I started carving some rubber stamps and the results are now on the way.

Forest Mandala

 

Forest Mandala mixed media on paper, 14”x16”

 

The series continues and now you can imagine looking up into the treetops.

A Fragile Planet

Fragile Planet, mixed media on paper, 14”x16”

 
The latest in my new series that includes layers of rubber stamping and ink.   Prints, etc, are available of this image on Society 6.

Working on a new series....

Rose, (approx. 10"x10", ink on paper)

Harriet Tubman

As soon as I saw the USPS’s new series of Underground Railroad stamps, I knew I had to make some mail art. 

Читаю заборонені книги — I Read Banned Books

A sheet of artist stamps on the way to Ukraine for an artist call for an upcoming exhibit.

 

Yosemite Falls

 Yosemite Falls inspired my latest hand-carved rubber stamps for a new mail art series to celebrate the holidays.   

KART

Just received issue #127 of the assembly zine KART from David Dellafiora in Australia.  It includes my Ukrainian sunflower rubber stamp series.  

Making your own Souvenirs

 A new hand carved rubber stamp for some San Francisco, Victorian postcards.

Ukrainian Sunflowers

My latest series of mail art.  Sunflowers done with hand-carved rubber stamps.

Inspired by Embroidery

Sending out a series of 50 hand embroidered postcards would be overwhelming.   But what happens when you carve rubber stamps inspired by Ukrainian folk art?  This latest mail art series is on its way around the world.