Whatever next?And what about Dr. Jules Montenier? – he’s actually real! Not like that phoney Barry Scott from the Cillit Bang ads – he’s just an actor called Neil!
More from Companion magazine 1952…
Archives for category: ephemera
Poof!
2
From Companion Magazine May 1952
Here are a few more mail art pieces made during the summer and sent around the world…
This first one is called “Fragments of John Dee” A faux transparency of a section from John Dee’s ‘Mysteriorum Liber Tertius’ (published 1582), wrapped in newsprint with printed astrological symbols sewn to black core board. Again, wrapped in newsprint printed with a reproduction of Dee’s ‘The Holy Table’ on one side and an extract from his symbolic representation of the universe. The envelope is based upon a Japanese design (more of which in another post) and is printed with fake distress and a variety of Dee’s symbols and glyphs. Approx 120x110mm
This next one is a mixed media piece entitled “Voynich Voyages” (100 x76mm) that uses balsa wood, inkjet prints, handmade paper, hairy twine, organic matter, watch cogs and lots of wax. The envelope is a variation on the Japanese design used previously, made from tea and coffee stained cartridge paper. This was old stuff that had been around for a while and was looking tatty and has been put to good use…
The next one is also a mixed media piece entitled “Psycho Negativity” (140 x80mm) that uses greyboard, acrylic paint, PVA, string and threads, a 35mm colour negative and lots of wax. The envelopes (Japanese design again!) were made from old type reference sheets I rescued from certain death a few years ago…
The last one was a small book of waxed vintage and Chinese book pages, threads, scrim, handmade paper, leaves and photographic prints. 76 x 47mm approx. Envelopes – yes, you guessed right – I must do something different next time – but made from a Primark bag inside out! Proper ‘upcycling!’
All these were made over a period of time using a variety of techniques, some of which I was not familiar with, or hadn’t done since I was a student. I purposely didn’t blog about these as they were largely unplanned and developed whilst I was working on them. It made quite a change to do something without thought for the blog, but don’t worry – I’m not about to turn my back on you!
The next one is much more elaborate and needed some planning, so I photographed the stages and have been preparing a post on the making of a mailout. That will soon be ready…
After my discovery of Adanaland earlier this year, I have been ruminating upon the lost pleasures of the mail. It is a simple concept really; that as we have become accustomed to the immediate availability of just about anything via the web, and our ordinary existence becoming ever more virtual and automated, our expectations of the ‘old mail’ have dropped accordingly.
So it’s time to show you what I’ve been doing instead of all my usual stuff: mail art.
At the end of June I joined the International Union Of Mail Artists (IUOMA) and in early July I sent out my very first offering, to Brazil, Romania and Germany.
This was a small (150x110mm), 5-station pamphlet stitched booklet, whose cover included flaps that wrapped around and formed the envelope. The bright red stitching was visible on the outside. Inside were 16 pages of unaccountable Victorian censoring and hasty editing.
The second mailout was another book form, this time featuring a concertina folded page of handmade paper enclosed in a hard case binding (115x80mm). The book was sprinkled with asemic writing and symbols and included a translucent folded marker with additional tags. Four of these were sent out to Japan, Brussels, Pittsburgh and Minnesota USA.
So far, in return for these two little offerings, I have been sent the following…
From Cristian Sima in Romania:
From Bifidus Jones, Minnesota USA:
From The Celestial Scribe in Brazil:
From Marie Wintzer, Japan:
From Guido Vermeulen in Brussels:
From Gunter Schwind in Germany:
And from Claire Dinsmore in Pittsburgh USA:
And for those of you who like the packaging just as much as the contents – check out Claire’s envelope!
I get the best mail in our street. Bar none.
Still more to come!
I don’t know where it is but I rather think I’d like to pay a visit!
These are set of stamps from the imaginary Adanaland, otherwise known as the brainchild of Alan Brignull’s Hedgehog Press, whose work can be found dotted all over the internet, but does not have a huge public profile. I bought these a little while ago off Ebay and they have been sitting in a little box on my desk for some weeks. This post is a sign that I’ve been tidying up.
From what I have found out so far, Alan has produced a fair amount of Adanaland printed ephemera, including quite a few different stamps. All printed on an Adana 5×8 of course.
I was originally attracted to these because of the asemic qualities of the lettering – some form of sanskrit perhaps? But I have, as so often is the case, become a little fixated upon the idea of these sheets – a collection, boxed or bound, some form of project or the beginning of a collection…
And the collection grows! Since I first started preparing this post, I have also purchased another sheet of Adanaland stamps, and a presentation pack too!
The sheet pays tribute to John Ryder, the publisher of “Printing for Pleasure” which is still considered to be the definitive book for amateur printers, even though it was published in 1955! (I’m still looking for a copy at a decent price!)
And the collectors set of stamps from Adanalands Overseas Dependencies issued by Popesgrove Philatelic – another Brignull enterprise – contains eight lovely examples…
Another one of these…
These oriental designs are beautifully coloured.
I’m so pleased with these – they really make me smile to think of the time and effort that has gone into producing them. Thankyou Mr. Brignull; keep us posted!
Britain’s decimal coins are 41 years old today! Surely a time to celebrate – bunting, street parties and public holidays for all! Well, not quite. Sorry we missed your fortieth, it’s just been a busy time, what with the recession and all, but we were thinking of you all the same.
This is the official wallet from 1971, complete with inner cards and coins…
Those were the days when money used to be worth something…
Take a look at these little fellows. A small collection of carte de visite by early commercial photographers.
The albumen prints are pasted onto thick board, some gilt-edged, and are richly decorated with type on the reverse:
These were produced at the time when commercial photography was becoming more widely accessible and affordable to the English middle classes, who wished to emulate the aristocracy by commissioning portraits. At Portraits in oils were rather expensive, time consuming affairs, the opportunity to commission a portrait using newly fashionable photographic processes – often having them painted over to resemble an oil painting – was just the thing…
More images of all the cards can be viewed here.
Ok, so I’ve been a little orientally fixated of late, but who can blame me? This is a bronze seal or ‘chop’ that was used to authenticate documents.
I don’t know anything about this – it’s age or where it originated. All I know is that I am fascinated by the lines and shapes:
If anyone can translate this, or has some knowledge of these types of chop, please let me know…
I successfully bought these coins on eBay recently. I’m really no numismatist, and just can’t get seem to excited about the new £5 coin, but I did get rather excited about these.
All I know about them is from their eBay description – “4x coins of Sultans of Kashmir Ibrahim shah Muhammad shah” and are probably from between 1450-1550. The split image above shows front and backs and is quite large to show the detail and patina.
Of course, I bought them because I was immediately attracted by the asemic quality of the markings, and I have already begun to draw them and incorporate these marks into other elements of my work.
I also bought this other coin in another sale (I went a little coin mad!) which dates from around 985-1014AD. It is called a ’Rajaraja Cholas – AE MASSA MN’ and there is some information about the coin here and information about the Cholas here if you are interested.
I just love the markings. I find that their intricacy and unfamiliarity is creatively inspiring; their forms being extrinsic from their original meanings. They are remarkably well-preserved and bear the erosion of hundreds of years of human handling very well.
All of these coins are tiny, none more than 20mm in diameter and all made of copper. I have not decided what I will do with these, but for now I will just keep them around and allow them to inspire and infiltrate other things…
I also bought this 1925 2 Annas coin. I’m not sure why, but something about it made me go back a couple of times.
Of course, I like the indian writing and the unusual shape, but I also like how the word ‘India’ had been fitted into the bottom corner…
This 2 Rupee coin was given to me recently by a friend on his return from India. It has none of the mystique and romance of the older coins, but looks a lot older that the one above!
Ok. I was on a spree. I also bought these 1973 Chinese rice tokens. Mrs. Lestaret has since revoked my eBay privileges!
There are 25 mint condition notes – apparently these are smallest currency/notes to be circulated. I don’t know much about these either, but have found a little information here.
Again, these are tiny – just 72mm and the detailing is superb:
Marvellous invention, eBay! Just got this tiny bottle of ink (only 45mm tall!) in it’s box (70mm tall!) for a couple of quid, complete with the special pen and instructions as indicated. The design wraps over two sides of the box to read horizontally and is also stacked vertically on the other two sides just in case some pre-war halfwit couldn’t decide which way up to put them on a shelf! It does dry an intense black though.
There is no indication of what the contents are on the actual bottle – didn’t anyone ever lose the box? It reminds me of old poison bottles…
The label (16 x 18mm) does come with a very serious warning though, and I half expected another label on the back to continue “or seven plagues of hell will descend upon you and your offspring for eternity.” Well, maybe not quite as strong as that, but the red ink and four typefaces – FOUR! – do tend to give the impression of dire consequenses for those foolhardy enough to actually the heat the markings before washing.
There is a double sided instruction sheet too, set in various weights and varieties of Gill Sans in black (and red). Double sided instructions? This is just ink, not the Hadron Collider for Pete’s sake!
I like the special instructions for inking on handkerchiefs though. It makes me sad that we don’t care this much for handkerchieves anymore…
The much-vaunted special pen is actually just a nib for dipping into the ink, but it is shiny and clean, just like it would have been when brand new.
I had a bit of a look around for any information on Cooper Dennison and Walkden Ltd, but didn’t find much – they have long since ceased trading, but their victorian ink bottles do come up at specialist auctions and seemed to have been a major brand at some point.
I have included an image of the pack it was posted in too, which was very inky (I feared the worst) but appears to be the result of an over-enthusiastic postal clerk or an inter-departmental war over post-room territory…
Did I mention that it dries an intense black?
Well, it does.
