What are your favorite medium(s) to use when creating your mail art/handmade cards?

I personally love ink (microns, dip, and fountain pens) and alcohol markers. I also use watercolor paints for a good bit of my cards as well.

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Thanks for this interesting topic @anon97511891.
First of all I like using rubber stamps! Paper snippets for collages are also great. As I volunteer in a historical printing office from time to time I can use old printing presses as well.

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Oh wow, I would love to see an example of mail art with the old printing presses!

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I worked with some presses in high school for some graphic arts classes, and I am not sure if they would be at all similar to the presses you use. However, that is neat that you have the chance to use them for personal card making.

We have different presses, but maybe you used the well-known Boston Jobbing press? They are quite common for simple printing exercises.

@Speicher3 Yeah, the classroom had one of those. I had fun with them, well, when I wasn’t modifying some negatives in the darkroom for classmates. I liked working in the darkroom the most back then. I haven’t worked with presses or in a darkroom since graduating from high school, sadly.

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Oh, you even learned how to work with negatives in a darkroom? That’s great! :+1:

I love to knit cards. I love knitting different patterns and so I can try a new pattern on a smaller scale.

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I’ve sort of wanted to try that since seeing a picture of a knitted card, but I’m curious about the logistics. Do you sew yours to a paper/cardboard backing for the message? And then send in an envelope?

I punch holes around the edges of a cardboard and then sew the knitted piece onto the cardboard. You can easily send those cards without envelope :slight_smile: But as they are heavier than normal cards, I use the postage for letters, not for cards.
Here you can see a card that I sent my parents during the lockdown :laughing: :mask:

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I haven’t made a knitted postcard for some time now but I’m sure to take it up again if we manage to open a tag for it! :smiley:

This was my very first knitted postcard, definitely not as nice as @taebbig’s, this was just a test, my other knitted cards were neater but I don’t have photos of them :laughing:
I also sewed them on cardboard. This particular card was sent without envelope and to Russia if memory serves me right, made the journey without incident but it did take a long time to arrive…

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@taebbig @Feuerstuhl

I need to share this with my mother-in-law. She is a knitter and a weaver, and I think she’ll get a kick out of these cards. I wonder if she’ll start mailing me more cards after seeing this.

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I love using 20 different colors of sharpies, stickers, washi tape and writing my messages in different styles from most other people- peace from DJ

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Mostly paper and cardstock, but I did some with fabric too. Oh… and colourful pens (for handlettering).

I admired your beautiful knitted cards several times in the past. Maybe we can swap sometime (maybe for a sewn card in return?)

Here’s a card I’ve sewn for @reisegern. But I’m still very slow doing this, I need to remember all the steps (else the fabric won’t look nice :smiley: )

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@Cassiopheia That sewn card looks amazing!

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Knitted and fabric postcards, wow! How nice! :heart_eyes: I have to try this someday.

I wish I had time to create more. I like to use printed cardstocks, my envelope punch board, precision press, stickers, brushpens, heat embossing, glossy accent.
I got a Silhouette Portrait 2 weeks ago now and learn how to use it. I bought it first to do my own sticker and die cuts, and to use it for school too to make task cards for my pupils.

Oh wow, I’m loving these knitted and fabric cards! And they really travel okay?

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I’ve not send that many (only 3 so far), but they all arrived in pefect condition. And I received some sewn cards and they were fine, too!

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Yes, they do. I received one knitted and one crocheted card, and they both arrived just fine.

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I recently bought some watercolor pens and have started painting cards.

For those of you who paint or draw, how do you seal them? The watercolor definitely needs something to protect it.