Snail Mail class @ CHAW

Thanks to another guest blogger, Alayna Rasile-Digrindakis (pictured, left), for shopping with us, detailing the class she offered, and generally being one of SCRAP-DC's biggest cheerleaders!
Why do I correspond through the mail?
So my best friend in Montana can come home from work to flowers blooming out of her mailbox.
So my lust is tangible for the boy living two thousand miles away.
So I can gush out things I would never have the composure to say out loud.So I can be mysterious. So my words and thoughts last for longer. So I can have art hanging at "galleries" all across the globe.

There are ten million ways to send snail mail -- and just as many reasons why it is a delicious way to communicate with lovers, with strangers, and with everyone in-between.

Most of all, it's an excuse to be creative -- and to share beautiful things with folks who will be tickled -- and likely reciprocate!

Last week at Capitol Hill Arts Workshop (CHAW), I facilitated a workshop on "The Art of Snail Mail” as part of their 40th anniversary 40 free workshop extravaganza. The material inspiration for the evening of craft came primarily from SCRAP-DC -- where I filled my backpack with as many envelopes, stickers, pretty paper, pom-poms, pictures, and various goodies as it could hold.

Here are the numbers:

Nine of us crafted for two hours, made over twenty pieces of mail, and spent a grand total of three dollars on materials!

 

My biggest piece of advice for stealing hearts through the mail is to be creative and unconventional with the form that the mail takes.Here are some ideas:

• Scrolls - sent in toilet paper rolls.
• Puzzles - write a letter on the back of an image, chop it up, stuff it in an envelope, and let the recipient interact with it.
• Backwards writing - it's easier than you’d think, and the reader has to read it in the mirror. Impressive!
• Small multiples - a series of photos, index cards, or tiny pieces of paper -- having a stack of paper to read (or pictures to flip through) is very satisfying
• Plastic Easter eggs - yep! The Post Office will send them -- just make sure you put enough postage on ‘em.
• Collages - anything is possible with Mod Podge.

The workshop was great! Thanks to SCRAP for so many great materials -- and thanks to the participants for so much enthusiasm and creative genius.

I encourage y’all to make some beautiful mail -- you have nothing to lose (except for the 45-cent stamp), and it will bring enormous smiles not only to the recipient -- but to the postal workers along the journey.

- Alayna Rasile-Digrindakis