Cleo's moving in time

The timeless butterscotch of a Cleo envelope arrived in my postbox more than a week ago. I am still limping along with my mail art and that's the only reason I have taken so long to post it for you all to enjoy! The baggage tag on the envelope makes me say the word, 'shuffleboard'.  I have never even seen the game played but it's a word my father said and I think my grandmother played it. I'm sure someone from Grand View played shuffleboard once in the lapses of time.

The next thing I feel like doing is to fetch a big atlas, to open its musty pages and to find Wernersville.  Somehow Wernersville I can't believe it exists on Google maps.  It belongs on a dog-eared page of an atlas.

Claire has approached this project with forensic care.  Her appreciation for the context of what I imagine is her new home is palpable and generous.  The imagery is exotic in its nostalgia.

I can see as I lift back the corner of Cleo's card that inside is Cleo's studio.  I can't bear to tear the 'Our New Home' tape, it won't wiggle off, but it looks extraordinary!

Below I think I have damaged a gathering… I didn't mean to but you never really know how far to unwrap.  It's all exquisite and hugely appreciated!

Gathering 19 from the Queen of Ephemera - Claire Dinsmore (AKA) Cleo

An envelope from Cleo is something to savour.  Before you even slide the letter opener under the opening, there is the colour to celebrate, an aesthetic triumph every time. I'm never sure if Claire makes each element of her mailings herself or whether she finds some things and makes others. I know she collects washi tape but does she make her own too?  If she doesn't she should invent a way to do that.  People would buy it.

We don't have wax paper in the UK, but of course, as an American I know about it.  Claire uses its earthy semi-transparence with flair. As a lover of the play between seeing through and hiding, the wrapped contents of the envelope was a perfect beginning to this gift.  Claire's mailings feel like gifts. 

So I scanned and scanned to give you sense of the treats I received and how each one is thoroughly considered, stands on its own but interactes with other components. In the end I am sure that you will agree that Claire is the queen of ephemera, but only in the most positive way....  I like this definition: 

'collectable items that were originally expected to have only short-term usefulness or popularity' - obviously whether expected or not, Claire's mail art has lasting impact and popularity!

Gathering 19 - for Rebecca Nov 02 2014

Washi Tape Samples

Washi Tape Samples

Claire (AKA Cleo) also wrote me a note thanking me for something I had sent some time ago and apologising - APOLOGISING.  No need, Claire.  I am delighted and inspired.  Thank's for thinking of me and including me in you gatherings mailing!

If the move was a good as the mail art…

I had a message from Claire asking if I'd received a change of address card from her.  I'd read about these, but alas, had not been the recipient…

A Dinsmore envelope shouts DINSMORE in a quiet, tranquil, cat-storke of a way. When it arrived I was delighted and expectant.

I commented in an earlier blog about how each element of a Dinsmore composition is 'just right'.  This time I notice the graphic choices, particularly, as well. 

 I have to admit to usually being too excited to tell my fortune to take careful note of the wrapping of the miracle fish.  It really is rather curious that this dolphinesque creature can do just that… but for the moment I will look at it through the wrapper and deny myself the joy of having the tail curl, the body flip in my palm.

Having never been to Pittsburgh, I can only guess at this landscape.  I can't quite place it, but somethings pulls on my own East Coast heartstrings. 

In the same way that when a Stephanie Blake arrives, I can't quite bring myself to open the packet, in this case, stickers!  The opaque not knowing is perhaps better than the finding out.

As ever with Claire's packaging, I can't help but covet.  I'm sure WE don't have stamps like those and I certainly can't make them (Like BF) and that washi tape...

Many, many thanks, Claire.  I am working on an obsessive project for my mail art friends that is taking much more time than first anticipated… but yours is on deck. 

My love of wax paper in a Claire Dinsmore envelope knows no bounds!

The first thing I notice is the crinkle, then a translucency. It says 'I come from another era where lady botanists wore bustles and had well appointed writing desks.' It says 'get out your envelope opener if you dare.'  I notice how perfectly Claire does taupe, beige, light brown and accents of nature.  Even the stamps are exactly right.

Inside more evocations of a bygone era.  When exactly is it?  I'm sure Claire knows.  She conjures with such precision. Claire doesn't know what I am reading but it is set in Egypt, in the past.  Perhaps it's her. 

 Par, parler! corset, parlage, and some asemics.  Inside more neutral goodies.

Thank you Claire! You've spurred me on to tidy my disgusting studio so I can place your haptic, beautiful envelope and its contents somewhere special.