Security envelopes: collected...recycled...sent

[Katerina Nikoltsou (MomKat)]

Security envelopes come with bills and bank statements...

but are recycled and go out for "window" mail art :-)

Where to place the postage in the above batch, August, 2016?

Smaller postage stamps...dancing, opa!

Also...cut-up "security" added in "Photo-based" mail art collages, February, 2016:

and to be sent?

This one went to mysterious Eduardo Munez 2.2016:

Time to MOVE 'em...who wants them?

Lots 'n lots of security envelopes (lots 'n lots of bills?)

[Katerina Nikoltsou (MomKat)]

Greek postage stamps are not self-stick yet, and when the security envelope is turned inside-out,

there is often slippery cellophane, and "HELLas" postage does not stick :-(

can't be UHU glued or scotchtaped...according to postal clerk dictates...

I always wonder if they arrive  with "postage due"?

Me likey "stamp collecting..with mail art attached"!

[Richard Canard]

21.08.16 Dare Ms, Katerina N. & Mister Bradford, ...sophisticated, refined  thoughts & notions surrounding recycling & mail art  ( & inasmuch as there are no rules in mail art, the postage stamp can still go in the upper right hand corner [window or not] ) ---plus a homage reference to Anna Banana.........perhaps one day stamp collecting will re-emerge as a serious hobby for the next generation as long as it has "mail art" attached. Sincelery, Richard C. 

[Katerina Nikoltsou (MomKat)]

Fascinating info, Bradford, thanks for sharing.

I can't throw away anything! 'Like selvage from stamps too...

'First inspired to collect security and reuse by mail art from Anna Banana.

see blog:

 Anna Banana weaves those envelopes from bills, bank statements, etc 

[Bradford]

I've collected security print for years, but was unaware of others harvesting the intriguing variety of security print until Cascadia Art Post's "Security Flap" series.  There is so much out there that I'm sure less than 1% escapes the garbage man's attention.  Stamp selvage is perhaps slightly more regarded and saved/reused, but odd folks like me have been saving it for decades.  Even on those bleak days when I receive no mail, there is always the chance of finding a useful envelope or often several that once contained a broker's statement or notice from a government agency bearing a security print pattern that I've never seen before.  It makes for a nice consolation prize for those "no mail" days.  Sundays are especially good as with no mail service, the only reason for going to the post office is to reap the harvest of post office box mail others have retrieved and discarded before leaving.

I also save window envelopes even those without the security print with the idea of repurposing, but Katerina has gone hog wild in a creative frenzy I find admirable.

The "turning" of covers (envelopes) is a phenomenon of North American Confederate States postal history (1861-1865) in that the scarcity of paper stationery forced resourcefulness on the part of those who wished to send letters.  There are many examples of envelopes turned inside out and returned to the sender with an enclosed reply letter.  Add to that the crafting of old broadsides, forms, and even wallpaper into envelopes and the visual interest soars.