son of security envelopes.

pictured here are some of the envelopes sent in by jake. the zigzags are new to me but so is the envelope in the front, which is covered in overlapping numbers. such designs bring up an interesting (to me) dilemma. when i first set out on this project, i was drawn to the abstract nature of the designs inside envelopes and wanted to highlight their beauty. but patterns like this (or some beautiful ones that say 'air mail' in various languages, 'thank you' or other similar messages) challenge the parameters of the project in my mind. they are not disqualified for being corporate, and yet they present recognizable symbols which are at odds with my initial vision for the project. i do recognize this distinction as being purely aesthetic and not at all ideological, so it seems wrong to punish these plucky envelopes simply for being more populist. the solution i have come up with, is to retain these designs for a second, later release of sets with words and symbols on them. to me, this makes them an even more special, rarefied collection and will hopefully give this project and eventual second wind. thank you for suffering my struggles, folks.



but back to questions of corporate interference in artistic life...i have received more than a few envelopes with tiling logos inside them. not to say that i am ungrateful for the contributions i have received, they just find a way of slipping in. some have come in large contributions, masterfully camouflaging themselves in bulk; some sport logos so simple as to look abstract when tiled; and some just look cool to begin with (the uk passport office logo jumps to mind). but even more insidious (and something i have just decided to incorporate into my project) is colour branding. that orange in the stack above is associated with come british company; a certain courier service has its own purple (which i quite like); there is a burgundy associated with another company (which i can't remember - sorry, your branding is less effective. i remember the colour but not you). and i bet there are even more branded colours that i haven't noticed. it's pretty tricky stuff. and it worked. i really wanted this project to promote the idea of (mostly) nameless designers and their subtle effects on our lives. instead, some stock patterns have been given a new colour that was, in some instances, agreed upon by rooms upon rooms of people. i guess being a corporate shill is much more inescapable than i had originally understood. at least this sneaky corporate intervention has provided my project a wider colour palette. sigh.



in cheerier, more forward-moving news, you may notice a recipe box in this last photo. this is where i am housing my burgeoning security envelope swatch collection. i hope to use this to scan patterns for online dissemination, scrutinize new submissions against the current collection and maybe even do things i have yet to think of. the future is now.

bride of security envelopes.

are you sick of this stuff yet? please let me know, dear reader, if you do become ill from my minute ramblings. i will take your feedback into account. although i may ignore it, at least i can progress to knowing ignorance. but i digress.

above is a collection of inside out security envelopes sent to me by laura. a few people reported doing this as a way of reusing all the junk envelopes they receive. they are awfully pretty, too. so pretty, in fact, that i am reluctant to cut them up and turn them into buttons. so far, i have only cut one up - the new pattern in the bunch which i have nicknamed 'edelweiss'. other than that, i am hoping i collect enough of the other patterns to be able to retain the remaining insideouters for future use. they seem like they take some amount of effort to make, too. i tried just turning and envelope inside out myself. this was misguided and i didn't get very far. upon closer inspection of laura's contributions, it seems clear that the envelopes must be loosened apart at the seams and then reglued back together inside out. another reason i don't want to cut them all up. this project of reuse, however, is something i plan to adopt into my future on a personal level - it seems to work especially well with all the 'reply to' envelopes that companies send out because their sticky part hasn't even been used yet. and if this project of mine grows to the place i am hoping, i think i can use many of laura's contributions (the patterns other have sent in) to package press releases. what could be better?

security envelopes and general homecoming activity.

above are pictured the envelope contributions from paul paoletti. he was one of the magical beings who reported working a high-snail-mail day job at a law firm and sent me an absolute heap of stuff (don't worry undisclosed law firm, your stellar employee never told me who you were and removed all trace of your business from said contributions). pictured above are only the ones i didn't have yet. paul and i actually exchanged emails from only a few miles apart when i was staying with friends in philadelphia. we never did make it to the mutter museum, paul, and i can hardly believe it.

in more torontonian news, i went for my first walk along my little slice of queen street yesterday - all the way from my place to the workroom. i visited the good catch general store (which is now all stocked with neck warmers for your blustery toronto needs). the place is as amazing as ever and little leon is running around now. i also noticed that studio brilliantine has relocated to our end of queen. welcome to the edge of toronto, guys. it's okay here. the workroom is also still in great form with a whole new row of fabric shelving for those textile hounds among us. i was a bit exhausted when i got there and probably need to go back to peruse the bolts at my leisure but the new stuff looks great.



this evening, by contrast, was spent indoors. our friends jen and mike stopped by and even gave us welcome home gifts. maple cookies, canadian club whiskey, sweetie pie tea from tealish and some pipes and junk for aitor. i felt fully welcomed home by this evening.

i also got t fulfill my dream of getting jen to 'make threes' (picking sets of three from the multitudes of security envelope patterns). jen has a knack for/obsession with matching so i knew she'd do a good job. mostly, it was just nice to be back home and working on the living room floor again.

security envelopes glut and reporting.

okay, it has become clear to me that this blog is going to have to spend a while documenting the contributions of envelopes that are currently pouring into my apartment from all over the world. when i got home on monday night, i was greeted by a veritable heap of care packages. i am now slowly going through the process of looking through the treasures and documenting them properly. the envelopes pictured above were sent in by jane ashby, a british illustrator/animator who confessed to amassing envelopes for years in the hopes that she would use them in her own work. she had yet to get around to using them and sent me a big stash, including (but not limited to) the new-to-me patterns pictured above. i am very happy to announce the first orange in my collection (but not the last; i have been doing some peeking through other contributions). i am also really excited by the basket weave and zig zags, which i had also never seen before. i'm going to be buttoning like mad in the coming weeks. thank you very much, jane, for parting with your collection.

oh man, does this mean i am going to be writing ninety posts about ninety contributors? i just feel so thankful and beholden to you all. i just hope to do your gifts justice.

home! toronto. but how can this be?

it is true.

we are home.

but what is home after being away for almost six months? it's a big empty place for one thing. and little ribbon (my cat) was waiting to at the door to love me and hate aitor. ahhh...comfort.

we got in late last night after getting the a-ok from randy and all the other lovely people at b&b collision in royal oak michigan. i highly recommend their services. randy really went above and beyond to work out some residual issues from our drunk driver attack in chicago (which remains unresolved, by the way).

the driving was dicey (and even treacherous through london) but the skies cleared and we made it back to toronto and arrived at the comedy bar just as catch23 was letting out. it was like a parade of favorite people - graham , ken, textbook, anne, dusty, mark, alana, kayla, brendan, peter, pat, other pat, mack...it was just what i needed and wanted. and gary has done an amazing job with the space. there's a big sign made of lights and a fake fireplace with a remote control!

i can't believe we are home.

oh yes, and aitor welcomed a new boar's head into his life, a belated birthday gift from his cowgirl friend heidi who always does things like that better than i.

first snow, and what to do with it.

well, we have been away from home for almost six months and (other than a very light dusting last night) this is the first snow we have seen. it's hard to look back on our baking august in the arizona desert and imagine that we are now here in detroit with this sort of view out the window. it's not bad yet. i just hope the weather doesn't conspire against us in light of our return home tomorrow.



things here are not so bad, though. stephanie came over and we have been packing/crafting/chatting for most of the blustery day. we also got to talking (as does happen) about security envelopes. stephanie brought me over a collection she had been saving for my current project and shared with me the competitive desire to find something new for me. stephanie is not alone in this feeling. i have also been receiving emails to this affect and lish backed her up, too. i am coming to realize that i will have to really document my contributions and let people know the rarities they have found. i can't wait to see the heap of envelopes that await me at home!

detroit urban craft fair, the third.

today was so hectic and full of madness (and snow) that i didn't get a lot of pictures from the fair. that said, i did manage to snap those magical gems above of my across-the-way neighbour, owly shadow puppets, when the lighting rig was lowered during load-in. it was like they planned that fixture to illuminate her shadow theatre perfectly.

the fair was as wonderful as always and left me totally weak and exhausted.

congratulations, detroit folks. you always do such a fantastic job with your events.

oh yes, this year's fair also featured a big hairy monster full of goodies that could be extracted for a dollar. here it is moving in: