“For love is sufficient unto love.” —Kahlil Gibran
And the Self-sufficient Love Letter is sufficient unto the Post Office…
Finally finished this for my friend Kat Tan-Conte, graphic designer, artist, all-around superhuman and the voice behind the blog Zero The One.
I photographed the pieces of red stitching on paper, straightened them up a bit, and then cut and pasted them into place in Gimp. A little bit of cleaning up—I don’t know how to do it properly, it’s very, very rough!—and then had the file printed in color to see what it would look like.
Anyway, the idea is to write your letter of Love (or other Demons) on the blank side, and then fold the sheet along certain lines so that the letter becomes its own envelope. Affixing the postage stamp (none of your soulless postage meter impressions, go and buy an amazing stamp!) to the letter also seals it. Voila! A non-Post-Office approved aerogramme that saves on paper. Love, and nothing but love—red, curly, er, cloyingly ornate—in the mail. ;D
No idea when Kat will release the zine in which you can find the template for the SSLL, but as soon as it’s out I will be sure to let you know!
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I love Japanese origami envelopes – used some ideas in my own art … this is a great interpretation! =D
Okay this is starting to get embarrassing, I am going to try really hard not to gush over yet another one of your enjoyable postings. But I can’t. This is genius. This is another gem. How can you let something so close to your heart be set free?
Ah, thanks, your enthusiasm makes me want to reassure you: try to remember that the blog is a distillation of only the things I want you to see. I’m not quite so densely creative, lucky if I’m 5% as creative as my blog makes me look.
I’m not posting the embroidered piece, the pictures above are of a scanned and laser-printed composite that I did. Stationery, in other words. Though it’s interesting you should gush over the value of the original…I was just thinking, “I make things like this, and then find that they have no place in my home. What does one actually DO with pieces of embroidered paper? Frame them? I have no wall space to hang them. So wrap them i plastic and hide them away in a box someplace?” They seem so precious, and yet they are entirely useless, in themselves. Too precious to be lived with. I prefer the end project, the printed stationery, more. Funny, that.
I suppose the value in the original is in its birthmarks. However since all of us are a work in progress, any separation we experience (or initiate) with our original work signifies growth. I cannot deny the joy of that. I suppose my question to you had more to do with a deeper question I was asking of myself. I know this because as I try to explain it I start to go in circles and I’m getting a bit dizzy from chasing my own tail.
But I do want to say this…You can tell me you are not as creative as you seem a thousand more times and I’ll still not believe you. I love your work and I really love your words and for that I need no reassurance
. If it is an illusion then it’s a pretty darn good one.
All artists carefully craft out an image of themselves but very few, if any, can get away with faking it for long. After twenty years of image pushing, I like to think I can spot a fake. I consider you to be the genuine article and there is just no use in talking me out it! Wink and smile.
Reblogged this on wake up and smell the coffee.
It’s brilliant and lovely!
Thank you! The idea’s not mine, Japanese origami has several of these fancy ways to fold up letters.
Oooooh! So cute!
Thanks!
I love this idea!
There’s something about aerogrammes that I’ve always loved…something magical about a letter that travels naked, or an envelope that is also the message… so glad you like it!