I put animal parts in res's Add N Pass (graphic photos included)

[Minneapolis Gnome]

Okay, here goes...

Without intending to, I pushed res’s Add N Pass boekie past the 1/4" maximum thickness allowed for letter rate.  It's now a "large envelope / flat" and weighs 1.8 to 1.9 ozs, so the postage is 1.20 to send it around the USA at this point.  This is because I put part of a bunny in it (a Jersey Wooly named Princess Buttercup) ...and then I put part of a sheep in it (known only to me as Sheep #53 of northern Minnesota)....the rest of what I did to the poor beautiful boekie thing didn't have that much of an impact on shipping it around as the animals did.  I've documented the horror photographically and take full responsibility...unless I can take, like, no responsibility, which might be better for me.  res has recommended that I publish the photos, which I shall do herein.

I think it was a really great booekie, layered and flexible, an ultra cool antiqued 1940-50s ish theme, with wonderful patina.

Anyway, the mailman shall have collected it by now, and it's off to Austin, TX.

Sorry again for those animal parts making it thick and increasing the postage.  I'm not very concerned about humans allergic to bunnies or sheep, though, because I washed and boiled the bits I put in the boekie long ago, so they shouldn't have any allergens left in them at this point.

Okay, on with a bit of photography and further explanation of my actions. 

Princes Buttercup used to be a horribly matted rescue bunny when I met her one winter in northern Minnesota.  I brushed her, trimmed her nails, cut out her mats and told her she was deliciously soft and terribly pretty.  Then I left her there, because I suck.  When I drove back up north the next time, a couple weeks later or so, I brushed her again, but this time some humans succeeded in convincing me to take her home.  After that I brushed her a lot, which lead to a lot of Jersey Wooley wool carefully collected in a box,which I have spun some of on a spinning wheeland so far it has resulted in a tiny ball of lace weight 100% Jersey Wooley yarn. Going with the theme of res’s Add N Pass, I stamped a vintage looking rabbit in the book, then used it as a pattern to embroider the page with Princess Buttercup yarn, which is soft and silky, like Dove chocolate.

Sheep #53 I have never met, I only know it was a sheep in northern MN which was very dirty.  It got shorn and it’s fleece, which was considered in very poor condition and unsaleable, was given to me in a bag for freebecause it’s owner heard I was learning to spin.  I washed the daylights out of it, air dried it, picked it, fluffed it, combed it and spun it into yarn.  It took forever.  I stamped a vintage looking sheep into the book, then used it as a pattern to embroider the page with Sheep #53 yarn.  I’m not that great at embroidery, but … you know…there it is.

Some word bubbles were added for someone else to perhaps find something clever to write in,a badly drawn alligator, a couple of rabbits

and a hand dyed envelope were also added for someone to put something in at some point. 

I felt like I wanted everyone to be better able to feel how soft Princess Butter cup’s fur is, so I knit a book mark with her yarn and sewed it onto the back page.  The more it is petted and stroked, the more it will fluff out, because…you know…that’s what Angora does.

And now you know that it’s not all nearly as bloody and gross as I was trying to make it out to sound like, so the jig is up for me.  

[Minneapolis Gnome]

That video is cool - what a great way to show off a completed add n pass so everyone across the globe can experience it!  

I want to thank everyone who has managed to forgive me for this blog post's shenanery for forgiving me.  It was a horrifying concept.  I've been buying cool frames at the thrift store over the past couple of weeks because I love the mail art I get so much just the way it is (no added body parts from me) that there are multiple pieces I want on my walls.

[Gü]

As a vegan I was reluctant to read, but so glad I did! Love your story and what you've done MG.

[Minneapolis Gnome]

Boy am I relieved that you aren't mad at me after all that, res!  I've felt like kind of a horrible person all day for insinuating there might be chunks of animal flesh or bone in your beautiful boekie like that, and was getting scared that neither you nor anyone else from IUOMA would ever speak to me again for being such a jerk.  

I spun both of these bits of yarn back in 2012 but recently Princess Buttercup's brushings-turned-into-yarn has been calling my name.  It's very silky and soft to pet and it was nice to touch and work with while I installed it in your gorgeous "beginner boekie".  I stayed up late but I was having such a nice time participating in your Add N Pass that I didn't want to go to bed until I was done.  

You made that boekie like a pro.  I could tell you put a lot of forethought and planning into it.  It's probably the best Add N Pass that will ever be passed to me, it's beautiful.  

[Minneapolis Gnome]

Oh, and for those interested, res's Add N Pass is being documented and dibs on who gets to work on it next are being taken in this group: http://iuoma-network.ning.com/group/thee-althoff-trans-atlantic-boo...