Postcrossing Blog

Recently, on another of those random browsing sessions (which we like to call “research”), I stumbled upon some fantastic postcards! At first glance they looked like perfectly normal, vintage postcards… but upon further inspection you start noticing the suspiciously out of place aliens, robots and all kinds of terrific spaceships and creatures!

Whoa! Isn’t it amazing? I can totally picture Darth Vader having some ice-cream while levitating his journal! :D After marveling at his Flickr gallery for a while, I decided to ask Italian illustrator Franco Brambilla about his fantastic creations. He replied promptly and was happy to give us some insight into his geek postcards:

Can you explain to us in your own words what your project “Invading the Vintage” is about? And what inspired you to do it?

“Invading the vintage” is an art project that I started in 2007… mainly for fun and because I wanted to create some nerd art. :) Cute aliens invade grandparents postcards! I’m an Italian illustrator in love with sci-fi. I have been illustrating science-fiction books since 1998 for a big Italian publisher. I also love vintage postcards, I have a little collection of Italian and world vintage postcards from the 50/60/70s.

Invading the vintage meshes 3D models (which I have to do for work) with my postcards and the result is quite funny and surreal. After a while I started to invade postcards with characters and ships from TV shows and movies, and also sci-fi movies from when I was a kid in the 70s.

I can see that you sort of specialize in drawing science-fiction themes and geek art. Was this a deliberate move in your career or did it just sort of happen?

I started for fun but I was already a specialized sci-fi illustrator. My 3D artworks are quite different from “Invading the vintage” and usually have a different audience. “Invading the vintage” is quite popular in the internet and I’m not tired to create some more. Geeks and nerds like me love them, I found out I’m not the only one who started to personalize childhood sci-fi myths… geek art is a reality! :)

Are you a big fan of science-fiction? And if so, do you have any favorite series of your own?

I love sci-fi in any form, my favourite shows are the British Space 1999 and UFO, but also Star Wars and Star trek.

Which kind of science-fiction items do you prefer drawing? Are some more fun to draw than others?

Aliens and robots are the best, I love to put them in 60's postcards interacting with people… the result is so retro futuristic!

Where do you find your vintage postcards? Are you a collector?

I’m an amateur, not a serious collector, but I have 400/500 postcards… I usually buy them in street markets but my friends also give me more from around the world to be invaded.

Thank you Franco, that was lovely!

Franco’s postcards are available worldwide on his Zazzle.com shop. If you’re in Europe, you might want to purchase them through his UK, DE, FR or ES shops.

David (aka david2051) is passionate about giving, be it through micro-lending or by sponsoring children in poor countries. He likes to share his Postcrossing cards with his sponsored kids, and says they love to receive them! :)

Here is what he had to say to our interview questions:

How did you come across Postcrossing? What got you hooked?

My very close friend Ryan told me about Postcrossing and the wonderful postcards he had received and it sounded like fun so I thought I’d give it a try.

I was so surprised when, shortly before going on a vacation to New York City, I received Ryan’s address for an official card! I had a great time finding a postcard for him and then mailing it from the United Nations post office with UN postage.

Do you have any other interesting hobbies? What are you passionate about?

I’ve been interested for some time in doing my part to help fight poverty. For several years I was very involved in microlending on Kiva.org and I co-captain the Postcrossing team on Kiva, along with Ana and Paulo. As a team of 100 members, we’ve made 946 loans in 66 different countries. It would be great for more postcrossers to give it a try!

In the last few years though I’ve gotten very involved in child sponsorship through Children International. A small monthly donation helps provide medical and dental care, clothing, shoes and supplies for school, some tutoring and after school classes as well as access to safe playgrounds, sports and financial literacy programs, libraries and computer labs. In addition you can exchange letters and of course postcards and photos with your child and their family. I now sponsor six children in five countries: Ecuador, Guatemala, Chile, Zambia and the Philippines. In addition I belong to three sponsorship groups (where up to 12 people sponsor one child) for kids in Zambia, Mexico and Colombia.

This collage shows all my kids plus two children sponsored by my friends.

For me one of the most satisfying aspects of sponsoring is being able to provide assistance beyond the monthly support. Whether through individual donations or fundraising efforts, this can include anything from assistance in shopping for food, clothing or birthday and Christmas gifts to digging a well to provide safe drinking water, from helping a single mother establish a small restaurant or cafe…

…to paying off a pedicab loan so a father can retain an additional 35% of his daily income or putting a new roof on a home to keep out the typhoon rains.

Of course I wanted to share Postcrossing with my sponsored kids too! I asked on my profile if anyone would want to send postcards to my sponsored kids, as an official card or for swaps or just as extra cards, and the postcrossing community has really come through. Since July of 2012 I’ve received well over 200 cards for my kids! Several people have sent envelopes containing one card for each child, and some people have sent them cards more than once. It’s just amazing how kind and thoughtful the members of Postcrossing are!

I think this is a fantastic way to widen the horizons of these kids, to share views, greetings and words of encouragement from countries all over the world; it really inspires them to learn more about the world and set bigger goals. When my kids write me letters they always express so much appreciation for the cards and sometimes they include messages back to the senders as well.

There is a wonderful community of Children International sponsors and I blog about my sponsorship experience and the postcard I’ve received for my kids so many sponsors have learned about Postcrossing at the same time many postcrossers have learned about child sponsorship. I think we all benefit and the two go so well together since the sponsorship experience revolves around exchanging letters and cards with these wonderful kids.

Show us your mailbox, your mailman/mailwoman, your postoffice or the place where you post or keep your postcards!

This postcard shows our old post office, sadly no longer used as such, but it’s still a major landmark of downtown Evansville.

This is my mail slot. I can’t wait for the mail to arrive each day! I couldn’t believe I got 6 official cards today! :-)

Show and tell us about your favorite received postcard to date, and what makes it special.

Oh, I’m sorry, I can’t pick just one…

This one means so much to me as I love Seattle and gnomes! It just brings back so many good memories!

The card below is a favorite because of the immigrant story the image of the steamship RMS Majestic can tell us if we take the time to see it. I like to do family research, so I thought it was fascinating to read about a family researcher whose grandmother brought her children here on this steamship, and the postcard image is actually the cover or jacket for her ticket to a new life in America.

And this is a wonderful handpainted card. It’s such an honor to receive a card that took so much effort and love to make. I think this shows how postcrossing brings out the very best in people.

But there are so many awesome viewcards too…

What is it your favorite part of the Postcrossing process?

All of it! When I get a new address I love reading the profile, learning about the recipient’s location, and viewing their favorites to find the perfect card or making one for them. When I receive a card I also read the sender’s profile and study their favorites to get to know them better. I love to study the location depicted on the card and usually look up as much as I can online and place the links I find in the comments and I love the beautiful stamps. Whether meeting nice people in a brief exchange or becoming penpals and cherished friends, it’s all a wonderful experience.

Many of you know that Postcrossing has its own forum, but perhaps the newest members haven’t noticed it was there… so we decided to properly introduce it to you on a blog post!

In the early days of Postcrossing, the community felt the need for a place to share ideas and contact with other members directly… and so the forum was added to the project, where it has been ever since. The forum is kept running by mundoo, soilian, geminiscp, jetske and swan, as well as many other volunteers who help guide the members in their own local communities.

In the forum, postcrossers share experiences, ask questions, organize meetings, play postcard games, look for special postcards, talk about their favourite artists and postcard series… among many other things!

To get the new members started, here are some of our favorite threads or sub-forums:

• This postcard made my day
• Bingo!
• Where to get postcards?
• Upcoming meetups
• How do you store your postcards?
• All about UNESCO sites and postcards
• Postcard and stamp art
• Lotteries
• Local community pages (where you can write in your own language)
• Amazing coincidence
• Postal Information and stamps

This is just a very small sample… the forum has over a million posts! So if you’re interested in exploring them, head over there! :)

Please note that you’ll have to open a new account to start using the forum, since it is a separate website – your regular Postcrossing login and password will not work there.

PS – Do you have any favorite threads? Share it in the comments!

The other day, while randomly browsing the internet for inspiration, I chanced upon this Tumblr, where I noticed all the beautifully decorated postcards… which upon further inspection, proved to be actual Postcrossing cards!

Look how pretty they are:

My jaw dropped at all the detail on the back… from the stickers, to the decoration tapes, to the carefully chosen stamps… even the address labels and Postcard ID bubbles were pretty! :) After much oohing and aahing, I decided I had to get in touch – and luckily Amiko (aka amiko_h) who comes from Japan, kindly agreed to do a mini-interview about her art! :)

Here’s what she had to say:

Can you tell us a little bit about your decoration process? What inspires you? Where do you start?

Firstly I choose a postcard for the recipient after checking his/her favorite or wishlist. Then I pick up the main theme such as color or motif. Sometimes I connect the theme with the postcard image, sometimes I pick up the other motif from the recipient’s favorites, or sometimes I just connect the theme with the stamp I want to use at the time. At this selection phase, you should also remember your taste. Enjoy yourself. Actually I never use my dislikes.

Next I choose material from my collection, and try this or that combination on the card for the color and total layout including message area. Usually it takes me the most amount of time to fix the layout. When you have the feeling of interlocking pieces, go on to finish it!

Which materials do you use to decorate your postcards?

Mainly I use washi tapes and ready-made stickers for my decoration. Sometimes I put in some cut-out from origami, my hand-made stickers, scraps from magazines and use my hand-carved rubber stamps. Of course, you should remember beautiful postal stamps! I am apt to buy on impulse those small material as well as postcards whenever I find them…

What are the member’s reactions when they receive your postcards? Do they appreciate the extra effort?

There is either some appreciation or nothing. Half and half. But it doesn’t matter so much either way… I think the decoration is just decoration. And I myself enjoy the process more than anything! :)

I think the most important thing in Postcrossing and penpaling is a kind of hospitality. I always consider the recipient as my guests or friends I haven’t met yet. Without any decoration, people would be happy when they get warm message and consideration.

Happy Postcrossing!

And finally, can you show us your workstation… where the magic happens?

Thank you Amiko, that was lovely! Though now I’m sure I’ll have dreams of stickers and washi tapes…

Do you decorate your postcards too? Leave some tips on the comments – we’re always looking for inspiration! :)

This is a very exciting day: it’s the day we finally reveal to you exactly how many postcards the German postcrossers sent last December … and therefore, how much money they raised on the “Postcards for a good cause” campaign!

Are you ready? Think of a number and then scroll down to find out!

Postcrossers in Germany sent 78450 postcards during December, raising a neat total of 7845 euros for Stiftung Lesen! Hurray! :D

Usually December is a slower month in the project, with many people choosing to send their holiday cards instead… but the Germans had none of that and sent a lot of Postcrossing postcards too! And of course, if you’ve registered a card from Germany sent during December, you were also part of this effort! :)

So congratulations to all the postcrossers and a big thank you to Deutsche Post, for making this possible! What an amazing achievement, we couldn’t be more proud of this community!

We’re still sorting out the prizes and will be in touch with the winners via email later this month.