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Blog > Mailart 365

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Send one postcard every day for a year. Sounds like fun? A group of Postcrossing fans decided to do just this, but to make it a little more interesting they will make a piece of art every day to send through the post over the course of the year!

The project is called Mailart 365 and was started by Andytgeezer from the UK. Andy is into all things mail and was already featured on this blog for his other project, My REAL wall.

But who better to tell you about Mailart 365 than Andy himself? Here’s what he has to share with you about his new project:

"Since taking up Postcrossing 2 years ago, I found that occasionally, I would get some awesome handmade artworks from other members. This sparked my interest in the mailart movement and I’ve since become heavily involved in the global mailart movement, sending and receiving postcard sized artworks.

I realised recently that I send so much of it and get so much fun out of making mailart, that I wanted to challenge myself to a year of mailart, and Mailart365 was born.

I’ve seen many people take on 365 challenges on the internet. The idea of a 365 is that you make something every day for a year and this is often so big a challenge that many people give up. I decided that the best way to keep myself motivated was to invite a few more mailartists to join me, so I blogged about it, not expecting anybody to join in. Today, only 2 months in (we started on December 1st, 2010 so that it wouldn’t be a new years resolution) Mailart365 has 50 members actively posting to the blog at www.mailart365.com.

Mailart 365 badge

The blog has room for 100 members in total, and if any postcrossing member wanted to join they’d be more than welcome to start any time, as long as they are committed to producing, on average, 1 piece of mailart a day for a year. It’s easy to apply to join us, just drop into the website at www.mailart365.com and go to the “Get involved” link at the top of the page.

I personally read every application and will email participants with instructions on how to get started and how to post to the blog. Everyone is in charge of posting their own cards onto the site and I’ll email full instructions on signing up.

We’ve formed a lovely vibrant and supportive community of mailartists, sending to each other and outside of the group too. It’s been a really wonderful experience. Many of us are Postcrossing users too, and are overjoyed when we see people that are willing to receive mailart and handmade cards and will usually make postcards that completely fit the profile.

Since discovering mailart, I’ve discovered artistic skills I never thought I had. I work as a science teacher and was always rubbish at art as a school so grew up thinking that was it, I’m a scientist and nothing more. The beauty of mailart though is that nobody judges your artwork against set rules to give you a grade. You are totally free to express yourself, and when it’s sent the person receiving it will appreciate your art. It beats getting a bill in the post any day!

In addition, criticism is very rare in mailart. As a way to learn and build your confidence as an artist it’s perfect!

However, before anyone decides to embark on Mailart365, I have to warn you – It is a tough challenge, I’m already seeing that I have had to sacrifice some other things to make sure I get my daily artwork done, and often find myself up late at night to complete the artwork for the day, but it’s always worth it!"

If you really love mailart, this is your perfect challenge! And even if you don’t plan to participate, don’t forget to check out their website for their work.

16 comments so far

maryhassound, United States of America

Yeah yeah! I'm a part of this, :) Check me out on the sidebar of the website: Maryhassound... I'm definitely having fun with it!

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Luziaceleste, Brazil

Very cool! I love these tips we get from portcrossing!!!

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Zmrzlina, United States of America

Thank you for featuring MailArt365! Two of my MailArt365 have been received, and liked, by Postcrossing members, http://www.postcrossing.com/postcards/US-930152 and http://www.postcrossing.com/postcards/US-968560 . I am PostMuse on MailArt365 :-)

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middlebassnative, United States of America

I'm part of the project, too, and what I most love is that rather than running short of ideas, the dailiness triggers more and more ideas. Please come join us if you're interested! We're all friendly and few of us had connected before Andy put this party together.

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mcfloozy, United States of America

I'm really enjoying the MailArt365 group. It's so full of creative inspiration. If you'd like to receive MailArt, please put that on your profile.

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FloridaGirl, United States of America

I read the article and went to the website. They are so creative and I really enjoyed looking at the cards that have been made and mailed. I'll go back again at times and look. I'm glad there was this article. Great Job Mailartists!!!

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CamJP, Australia

Awesome Mailartists - this is really bonza! Maybe when my kids grow up and leave home I could try something like this.... not right now anyway, but there's always the future! Well done

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HeidiB, United Kingdom

What a fabulous idea. I would love to take part but I'm not creative enough and I sadly don't have the time at the moment.

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lucymonty, United Kingdom

I'd love to participate but I don't have time to make something new every day :-( Great idea though! I'll add MailArt to my wishlist!

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ashraf, United States of America

How funny...
I saw that we got mentioned here thru facebook...
kinda surprising since i haven't seen a lot of post-crossers who even want our work.

Maybe things will change now & more post-crossers won't be so offended when we 365ers send out custom art !!!

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andytgeezer, United Kingdom

Thanks for all the comments and for all of your who came on over to the blog to cheer us on and join in the fun!

I'm sure that we'll be seeing a whole lot more unique little bits of art on Postcrossing this year, and hope that some members will be inspired to send (and receive) more of these little packages of fun!

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andytgeezer, United Kingdom

Camjp, LucyMonty there's no time like the present! Don't leave til tomorrow what you can easily do today - you'll find you're more creative than you think, and the beauty of a postcard is that it's only 6x4 inches, so you can't use the time or resources excuse! They don't take long, and before you know it you can have a really beautiful thing that you made yourself! Please please try it out, it's so much easier once you start!

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Cardiffgal, United States of America

Thank you for posting about this great project. I know I am not capable of such a commitment and I admire those you are doing it. Maybe I will start wit mailartforaweek!

I will add mailart gladly accepted to my postcrossing profile and will hope for some to arrive in my mailbox soon.

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Serenosaur, United States of America

I joined MailArt 365 expecting to fall behind quite quickly, but really one postcard a day (or a few on the weekends) isn't bad at all! It really isn't a huge time commitment, and I can make mail art while watching TV or chatting with friends on the phone. And it's a great break from studying! I encourage everyone to try it!

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andytgeezer, United Kingdom

I bet there are many Postcrossing users who send one a day. I wonder if anyone wants to set up a Postcrossing 365 or if one is already going?

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sunny2000usausa, United States of America

I would be happy to receive any MailArt 365 and show it off. Please consider me as a fan.

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