Postcards

In my Ebay and Etsy store (and soon to be DPW), I have some postcards for sale. As an art form, I  like postcards.They are small, people often save them vs just throwing them when they get home, and is a reminder of fun things. Many art events use postcards to contact people. I was not an active postcard person when I got started with Postcrossing. I had a few from the past tucked safely away in a box. When we were cleaning out my in-law house - a house that her folks lived built and lived in first - I found a treasure trove of 100 year old postcards. That is what started me on collecting.

So, online I found Postcrossing.com. It is computer generated and they give you a name and you mail them a postcard. When they get your postcard they log it in and then somebody gets your name. You get postcards from all over the world. You can say what things you are interested in but cannot tell them what you  want. My husband likes trains so we get a lot of railroad ones. I say Art, castles, but am open to many things. I have done it for several years. I had a break for a while and just started up again this fall. Postage adds up and while I think they start you with just sending out a few at first, I am up to where I can have 20 traveling at a time if I choose. Many swappers tend to be stamp collectors also and load your postcard up with many wonderful stamps.

With the postcrossing I have to hunt for postcards to send. People like a lot of different things. Some like the map of your area. Some like food, or sports etc. I hunt for postcards to mail out. Here postcards can be hard to find so I have made some of my own. I keep bees so I have made a few beekeeping postcards that I sell with my honey and lotion bars besides online. I did the Leinenkugel's 150th Anniversary and to the artists that were chosen they stressed that people were coming from all over the world and would want souvenirs (not so much). I made and still have a lot of postcards of Chippewa Falls. I also made postcards of my paintings. These postcards I sell when I sell my art also. I have a spindle and rack and put out my postcards so I have a cheaper item at my art booth.

What is nice about postcards in general is the size. They are small, don't take up much room. If they are 4x6" they can go in a mat and you can frame them. I can paint on them to work out an idea or get some studies done on them for future artwork. They are a handy take along size. For awhile, I was in another online group that was called Swap Bot. In that one some of the swaps featured hand made postcards. You could choose which swap you wanted to do and some of the cards are pretty creative. There are also sites online for postcard artists and sometimes postcard contests.

Anyway, whether you are collecting others, designing and printing your own, or using blank watercolor ones for studies or small paintings, postcards are something to not be overlooked. They can document history as well as show your art.