crosshatches, stripes and points between.

that up there is the pattern used in the security envelopes that come from hydro quebec. i had never seen it before and was very excited when i got a whole stash from sarah in ottawa. although, i was informed that my brother-in-commonlaw must have an unopened stack of them somewhere in his montreal apartment. but that's another story, entirely.



these ones come from kara in california. i have found that at this point, going through north american submissions has been all about picking out subtle differences. i think all those patterns are new to me and yet they are similar to many i already have. it's picky work to look through them all for differences but i am excited about how these similar patterns might eventually look together en masse.

in other security roundup news, i have been meaning to share the work of henrietta swift, which i found through notcot. although her security project is only prototypical, she still demonstrates a particularly british respect for such subtle design work...and for envelopes.

on the road again...even if it's only queen west.

look at the two new display racks that have been loaned to me indefinitely by the inimitable jola at the good catch general store. i have been loading them up and imagining them in multiple uses for some upcoming fairs.

speaking of which, i really should be doing some holiday shopping roundups right about now. there are a few places you can find me over the next month.

1. expozine
aitor and i go this weekend to montreal's biggest, hugest and craziest exposition of zines and indie culture. i will be there with my entire zine catalogues as well the trampoline hall zine and an ample collection of buttons.

2. craftland
though i will not actually be able to attend, the month-long handmade department store, craftland, opens its doors to the masses of providence, rhode island a week from friday. the sweetie pie press is well represented there with our full catalogue of artist sets up for purchase.

3. sassy little craft show
for two days at the victory cafe's upsatirs bar, crafters intermingle with cocktails for your shopping/drinking delight. i've done these shows before and always have a great time. plus, it's the only show i am doing in the annex (this is all toronto, by the way).

4. city of craft
i will soon start into my shameless campaign of city of craft promotion. in the name of full disclosure, this is the annual fair i co-coordinate. on top of my own presence there, aitor will be there, too, as well as an amazing roster of other fine vendors. like, really stupendous. i will leave you with an image from tara bursey who always bests me with her conceptual buttons. if i weren't so allergic to garlic and onions, i'd be wishing i thought of this first...

security down under.

today's collection of contributions are all from oceania.

first off, manu sent in the beautiful palette pictured above from australia. i have to admit, that the purple and brown diamond weaves in this collection were ones i had seen in this collection and was hoping to receive. this grouping seems to harmonize so perfectly together.





next is a kiwi collection from miss millie (who also included some unrequired but very appreciated gifts). i especially like the wavy ones on the far right which are also new to my collection. millie also pointed out the ubiquity of the small blobby dots pattern in new zealand. in fact, it seems pervasive throughout australia, too. how can it be that i have come to amass such specific knowledge in my brain?



finally, a meticulous collection from autralian paper hound, kate. this collection held a lot of little surprises like that diamond spiral pattern (which i had seen before but had not yet come into my life) and the squiggly plaid. i had recently found a similar pattern in my home (yes, my place is so choatic that things like this are still unearthed) and thought they were the same. as it turns out they are quite different.

although i am not able to make any definite proclamations yet, my one-of-each jar now hold 150 buttons - and that's before even counting any of these new designs from the other end of the commonwealth. when i set out on this project, i was hoping to identify 100 patterns. now it seems that 200 would not be at all out the question. of course, there is still much squinty scrutinizing to do. there are myriad slight variations in the crosshatch/loose weave patterns alone. and don't even get me started on the stripes. i am expecting a little something in mail that should help with this process, though...

i will just leave it at that for the moment.

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.