MailArt is simply the techniques, methods and materials that transform ordinary correspondence into dazzling art!  Sometimes this mail is exchanged for the purposes of sharing artwork, and sometimes it is the decorating of envelopes and packages that would otherwise travel more anonymously.  A subset of MailArt is Faux Postage. 

Postcard (above) w/Hand Carvings by Janis Doucette Sexton

Most of my MailArt is postcards featuring hand-carved images.  I will create a new carving, which has often evolved over weeks or even months, and when it is finished, I want to share it with the world!  So I pull out a RAK* (Random Act of Kindness) address list and start addressing.  My postcards are usually card stock (67-110 lb.), 4 1/4" x 5 1/2", or a quarter of a sheet of 8 1/2" x 11" paper.  I decorate one side, then address and decorate the other side.  This size card is delivered by the post office for the postcard rate (which I'm not even going to bother to post because it will change again too quickly!).

I have also posted many collages  in this size.  I haven't had any problems, but I have been concerned that a not-perfectly-glued edge will come up and jam a Very Expensive Postal Machine and I will be in Serious Trouble, so I've taken to putting them into clear envelopes.  That means I have to send them first-class, but this way I can Sleep At Night.

When I collage, or if I want a more-random background, I decorate the entire 81/2" x 11" sheet of cardstock before cutting to postcard size.  Then I go back and add a focal point for each one.

The postcard size is good for a glimpse of whatever you're working on lately.  Exploring blue? Mix  some on a postcard in several different media and mail it away.  Dreaming of far-away places?  Get out a catalog or magazine, collage an exotic landscape and send it to someone who will understand that armchair travel is a valid reality.  Paint a picture, fingerprint yourself, draw with crayons, allow yourself to create one silly small-scale artwork and cheer yourself and someone else.

This is nice  to send internationally, also.  It's an inexpensive way to share art.

*The idea of a RAK is less that it's a random recipient than that the inspiration to send is spontaneous and there is no expectation of a return reply.  It sure brightens a day to open your mailbox and find a RAK!