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Postal letterboxing for beginners

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Swap Coordinator:TangleCrafts (contact)
Swap categories: Boxes  Handmade  Mail Art 
Number of people in swap:6
Location:International
Type:Type 3: Package or craft
Last day to signup/drop:November 2, 2009
Date items must be sent by:November 30, 2009
Number of swap partners:1
Description:

I'm new to postal letterboxing myself, so I thought this would be a good swap to help us all dip our toes in the water (but I will be arranging a chain/round robin swap later, if you would rather have more partners). In this swap we will each only have one partner, which will give us the opportunity to create our own postal letterbox - which can potentially be used again in future swaps.

For this swap, you will create a postal letterbox.
Your postal letterbox could be a re-purposed (large) matchbox, or a playing card box, or any other kind of box that all of the following will fit inside of:

  • a logbook (at least 8 pages, size to suit your box)
  • a hand-carved rubber stamp (this can be carved from an eraser or lino)

In addition, you will need:

  • a hand-carved signature stamp (to stamp the log book of the letterbox that you receive, before returning to sender)
  • a personal journal (this is kept by you, & only seen by you. This is where you will record any postal letterbox stamps that you receive. It can be any format you like.)

Optional:

  • you can include a small ink pad in your postal letterbox, but I think it is safe to assume that the recipient will have their own
  • the stamp included in your letterbox can be mounted or unmounted - it will probably not last so long unmounted & be a bit fiddlier to use, but mounting could add considerably to the weight of your package

I will be adding some resources/links in the group forum about letterboxing in general, about carving your log/signature stamp, & also about basic bookbinding, but feel free to add comments/questions below!

How it works
When your partner is assigned, you will send them your postal letterbox. They will rate you based on the letterbox they receive, and - after stamping the logbook with their signature stamp, & taking an imprint of the letterbox stamp in their personal journal, they will return your letterbox to you. (There is no way to rate the return of your letterbox, unless you & your partner set up a private swap.)

When you sign up to this swap, although you will only be assigned 1 partner, you will mail to 2 people:
* You will mail your own letterbox to your partner and
* You will return the letterbox you receive to the sender (after stamping its logbook etc).

Discussion

TAnn 11/ 2/2009 #

I am confused already sorry if this is a stupid question.

In the list it says handcarved stamp twice, once for the box and one to use. And 2 logbooks. Does this mean we will have 2 boxes on the go at once, and do the stamps need to be the same????

TangleCrafts 11/ 2/2009 #

Let me see if I can simplify this...

Letterboxers (people who 'do' letterboxing) have their own personal journal. In this journal they make a print from the stamp that they find in a letterbox. This is 'proof' that they have found a particular letterbox. In the log book that is in the letterbox, they stamp their own personal signature stamp. This is so that there is a record in the letterbox of everybody who has found it.

The letterboxer is the only person who handles their own personal journal & signature stamp. The log book and (separate) stamp travel with the postal letterbox.

The stamp that is in the letterbox & the signature stamp can be of the same design or different; it's up to you. The signature stamp is like your personal 'autograph', while the stamp in the letterbox might be more generic (or not).

Does that help...?

TAnn 11/ 3/2009 #

That really helps thank you, but now I have missed the sign up cos my internet wouldn't connect this morning. Oh well, I'll get in the next one, if we have another beginners swap.

theersatzrabbit 11/ 6/2009 #

I'm a little confused too, I know we make two stamps, but about how big should they be? I made a great signature stamp last night, but I'm not sure if it will be too big or not! Also, should the stamps look like postage stamps? or can they be in any style?

theersatzrabbit 11/ 6/2009 #

Oh yeah, and can you also write a little message in the logbook you receive? or just put your stamp there?

TangleCrafts 11/10/2009 #

Sorry for delay in reply, Robin. Well, the log books in the postal letterboxes will vary in size (probably), so I would advise not making your stamp too big. I would guess the average logbook page size would be between 1/8th & 1/4 letter-size. I would make your signature stamp 1.5-2" or smaller.

The stamps themselves don't have to look like postage stamps - they can be any style you like. As far as I'm concerned, you're more than welcome to add a message as well as the stamp, but the message is optional - the stamp is what the swap is about :-).

I'm planning to lay out my pages so that 2/3 of each page is a space to be stamped, and 1/3 has a couple of lines to fill in with name, date, location etc of the person who stamps the logbook.

Hope that helps. I didn't want to set strictures on the size of the log book, but I can see that it would be easier in terms of knowing what size stamp to carve :-S. I'll bear that in mind with the next swap!

theersatzrabbit 11/12/2009 #

Awesome thanks! That makes more sense :)

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