What do you put in Envelope?

[Lynne Larkin]

I have been trading ATC's for about 9 years and a few years ago started to 'decorate' the envelopes  after reading about mail art. . Not sure what to put in a Mail Art envie?? message, ephemera, note, all/nothing? I also have traded a few collaged postcards with other ATC artists who do other size art Should I concentrate on Postcards which solves this problem? Any help/suggestions

[Carien van Hest]

ATC stands for Artist Trading Card. Google it and then send me one. Will add an ATC in the next mail to you!

[Bonniediva]

I try to surprise people! 

[Vel Crowe]

what does one put in an Envelope?

*short poems

*bookmarks

*blue ribbons from obscure outdated country fairs

*little collages

*lines of paper dollies

*photographs

*feathers

* cut-out figures

*funny or frightening or fascinating news stories cut out of newspapers

*sheets of Avery Labels

*stickers

*paper dolls with paper wardrobes

*cool flyers

*pictures of animals

*recipes

*books of matches

*temporary tattoos

*zines, mags, pamphlets

*playing cards

*tarot cards

*business cards

*trading cards

*the funny papers

*the odd letter or note

[DeeDee Maguire]

SWEET!

[Ray Haley]

Dumb question of the day: What is "ATC" or "ATC artist?" Every niche has its acronyms and I know a few different sets of them, unfortunately, not knowing and not asking makes me uninformed and unable to contribute to the best of my ability. Grateful for any assistance!

Ray Haley

[Carien van Hest]

ATC is short for Artist Trading Card. See this group: https://iuoma-network.ning.com/group/atcrebels

[DeeDee Maguire]

Hi Lynne

Would you please let me know what  an "ATC" artist is?

As far as Mail Art-if it is some one I know well with whom I correspond regularly I'll write a letter and place it inside a single fold card (that I also decorate in the same theme as the envelope

Hope this helps! Looking forward to learning about "ATC"!

with kind regards

DeeDee

[Predrag Petrovic]

here's the self-explanatory link to that topic of ATCs :

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artist_trading_cards

[DeeDee Maguire]

Thanks for responding Cerien and Predrag! 
Good to know--there are so many acronyms these days!

Plus---I was taught that there is no such thing as a "dumb question"

cheers

deedee

[Mim Golub Scalin]

Hi

just a little but of personal history and fun about ATCs

I didn’t know what they were when I first saw “ATC” on a

2000 or 2001 site called PostcardX. 
It was explained to me and I LOVED the idea. 
I was teaching art at university again

after a 15 year break in another career and wanted 

Some interesting project for my students. And introduced them to ATCs

as a way to help them not be perfect and to work collaboratively. 
They loved it. I still have samples from several years. 
and I myself traded cards for years. 
then one year, while in an art residency in Paris, I noticed the name of the occupant 

in a studio down the hall from ours-it was the Zurich studio, and the name on the door

was M. Vançi Stirnemann. the guy who started the whole thing. We met. Shared some wine.

And I heard the story from him. I was like a crazed fan. Like he was a big celebrity. And to me he was. 
some where I have photos of us. I have a big smile on my face in all of the photos. 
I still think he was super amazing for coming up with the idea of ATCs.