Ah, the journey with this project continues. If you are new to reading my blog, you may not be aware of this artistic endeavor so I will summarize it a bit for those of you who fall into this category.
In February of last year, one of the online groups that I participate within, a member suggested we do an art idea journal after seeing so many varieties of paper art techniques displayed within some of the previous swaps and mingles held there. Regardless to say, interest in participating in this sprang up quickly and by the time the poll was over, 17 participants signed up to join in. A Yahoo group was established for communication, which has been wonderful over the course of the last year and a half! Discussions were held and from those discussions, two groups were formed. One was a group who desired to send loose pages for a journal to be bound by the artist when the swap ended and another group desired a lightweight bound journal to actually be sent out. Some participants, amazingly to me, signed up for both groups!!!! {I don't know how they did it as many keep participating in swaps and challenges and a variety of personal creating while involved! which AMAZED me even more!}
After the participants for each group was listed, documents were created that listed the participants and their personal information for future contacting, a rotation was established, and each participant set out to creating their own Art Idea Journal to be sent.
{You can find some pages that I created for mine in my archives: they'd either be in Feb. or March of 2005} In March, we embarked on this journey. Journals began being mailed, artists created within the pages and filled in the sign in sheets and signed their artwork. Communication was, and still is, vital to this process. Posts were made by each participant when a participant's journal was mailed, to whom, and when received. Rarely, did the moderators of the group have to step in and make inquiries or suggest a journal be sent on. One member was so kind as to set up a database where each participant could document who's journal they had in their possession, to whom it was mailed, and when; as well, an accumulative list for all the journals that participant has worked in. This greatly assists each and every one of us and all participants were excellent about using it! Fear that a journal would be lost in the mail was the greatest challenge but I am happy to report that to date, no journals have been misplaced. {Lord, I hope I don't jinx that!}
Anyways.... {geesh, I use that word a lot! LOL!I assure you that it is a "learned behavior"' anyone who knows Don; knows what I am saying! :)} I recently heard that my journal is amazing! It is approximately 5"x7" or somewhere there abouts and I hear it is FAT! A lot of the ladies participating in this Round Robin, tell me it absolutely beautiful! I can say that I have seen some of the pages created within it. They were from scans that others uploaded, but I can also say, that the scans shared within that group, in no way compare to actually holding any one of these journals within your own hands. Each and everyone is unique in some small way, even if some of the artwork featured within was created 17 times!!!
Well, I am happy to say that the participant who mails to me recently received a journal. After she is finished with her artwork, it will be on its way to me! That means I'll soon have a journal to play in and after that....... I'll only have 3 more to create in!! Oh, Happy days......... {This also means my own journal is closer to making its way HOME! I'm so exited to actually see it and hold it within my hands!!!!}
Oh, and for those of you blog readers who aren't familiar with swaps, Lisa Vollrath of www.lisavollrath.com has written an excellent tutorial on mail art which will help you with the idea of what a swap is. However, it is important to note that the swap hostess may establish her own rules, be certain to following them carefully and to the letter!
A "Mingle" is another form of a mail art swap, except the participants of the group are paired up to exchange artwork. I hope this information helps someone. To find swaps to participate in there are a variety of groups on Yahoo, MSN, and Google's eGroups that accept new members in a variety of categories. You're certain to find something that suits your interests, crafts, and hobbies. If you cannot find a group that works for you, why not invite some of your friends and begin your own? I assure you, you will love it!!!!
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