Postcrossing Blog

We all like to look at pretty postcards in each other’s walls… but sometimes the hassle of getting the scanner out or finding the right the cable for the camera is a bit too much work, right? We definitely understand.

Enter the new Google PhotoScan, a very simple “scanning” app which promises to take care of a few of the steps for you, such as removing glare, aligning corners and cropping the extra stuff — all right there on your phone. Have a look:

It’s advertised for photos, but works really well for postcards too, of course! Five clicks and you end up with a great photo of your postcard, trimmed and ready to be uploaded to the site. Pfeww… so much easier than the scanner! 😅

If you a have a smartphone, look for it on your Android or Apple app store!

PS – Thank you Danny (aka wildernesscat) for the tip!

Remember back in July, when the Singapore Philatelic Museum asked everyone’s collaboration with Harry Potter postcards for their newest thematic exhibition? Mishelle Lim from the museum recently wrote back to let us know the responses to this call for postcards were stunning, and that they’ve received almost 100 beautiful postcards — including hand-made ones and some bearing Harry Potter stamps. Woohoo! Ten points to Gryffindor Postcrossing!

The museum is now busy replying to the submissions, but have sent back some photos of the exhibition which opened last month. Have a look:

Merlin’s beard… that looks amazing! We’re always in awe of SPM’s exhibitions — you can tell they work hard on all the details to really take the experience to the next level.

If you’re in the area or planning to visit Singapore in the next few months, “Collecting Magic: From Stamps to Wands” will be open until June 2017.

We really hope you’ve all been good boys and girls this year (and not just the children!), because Santa has most definitely been keeping an eye… Still, if you’d like to plead your case, perhaps a beautifully handwritten letter with some compliments wouldn’t hurt? 😉

We encourage everyone to keep this tradition alive, especially among the little ones. For many, this is their first time writing a letter, and it can be a magical moment of discovery and awe.

To give you a hand in this task, here’s the list of Santa’s addresses around the world:

• Australia
• Austria>
• Belarus
• Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Canada
• Denmark
• Finland
• Germany
• Ireland
• New Zealand
• Russia
• Slovakia
• Sweden
• United Kingdom
• USA

In many other countries, it’s enough to address your letters to “Santa Claus” (or his name in your language). For instance, in Portugal you mail your letters to “Pai Natal”, and you’ll get a reply.

If Santa’s address for your country isn’t listed above, check with your local post office for more details and let us know in the comments. Happy Holidays, everyone! 🎄

Advent time is here already and the holidays are inching closer by the day… so it’s time to get our yearly campaign with Deutsche Post back online, to make sure your postcards count for a good cause! This will be the fourth year we run this campaign and by now I guess most of you know how it goes, but just in case:

So if you’re in Germany, all you have to do is send postcards, as many as you can! If your December postcards are registered before the end of February 2017, you’ll be contributing to this cause.

Although only postcards sent from Germany count, there’s always a receiver in every postcard exchange — so each time a card from Germany is registered, the recipient will be indirectly contributing to this donation as well!

To make things even more interesting, there will also be some nice prizes for the participants:

• Two €50 vouchers for www.allyouneed.com.
• Three €40 vouchers for Marke Individuell.
• Three post-themed messenger bags from Deutsche Post.

Nice, right? The winners will be picked by Paulo's random number generator in early March 2017, at which point we will also announce the value raised by the German postcrossers to Stiftung Lesen here on the blog. Every year, we’ve been raising a little bit more than the previous year, and last year the total was a very impressive €8,857… but can we do even better this year? 😊

Stiftung Lesen is a German non-profit organization, working to increase literacy in the population, especially among children and adolescents. Their activities include reading clubs and projects to promote the learning of German language by refugee families in the country.

So… what are you waiting for? If you’re in Germany, get your postcards and stamps ready for December! The more cards you send, the more you’ll contribute — and the more chances you’ll have of winning a voucher, stamps or one of those nifty messenger bags! 😍

P.S. – As always, we respect your personal information and will not share it with any company without your explicit permission. The full details of this campaign can be read here (German only).

Some time ago, Audrey (aka belladomanda) from the US sent us a tip about this wonderful paper artist she had stumbled upon. Have a look:

These stunning landscapes are made by Italian artist Caterina Rossato, who lives in a quiet town north of Venice. We were mesmerised by her intricate sceneries and the way she juxtapose details from dozens of different postcards to create new imaginary worlds. Curious to know more, we reached out to Caterina who kindly agreed to reply to a few questions about her work.

Hi Caterina! Could you tell us a bit more about yourself?

My name is Caterina Rossato and I live in Bassano del Grappa, where I have my base camp. I like to move around, follow multiple projects simultaneously and suddenly fall in love with something that makes me forget what I was doing. I do not like to wait for the right moment and I hate perfection.

On weekends I like to climb mountains or go skiing on the glaciers with my partner. From this height you can see a bigger slice of the world.

How did you start doing these mini landscapes? What inspires you?

It all started with the idea of breaking down the images and put them together, then with the need to sublimate into a single image multiple points of view or all the photos taken during a trip or a day. I create images in which all possible visuals and temporal variations of an experience are concentrated. They are two-dimensional images but developed in a sculptural way, made of levels, intersections, overlaps and joints. The viewer feels a sense of familiarity and alienation at the same time. Right now I’m working on a project with CNC milling machines that will allow me to combine these fragments into a third dimension.

And on a more practical level, where do you find all these postcards?

In the case of analog collages, I buy stock of postcards from Ebay or local merchants: about 4000 – 5000 postcards every time. I always try to buy postcards from different areas and I usually change suppliers. When I compose digital collage I use hundreds of photographs taken by me in a specific landscape or I do research on the internet to find what I need, always in really high resolution.

Both analog and digital cutouts are organised in very detailed catalogs: analog clippings are divided into a filing cabinet with many drawers, digital ones go into folders and subfolders on my mac.

Are you a postcard or letter writer yourself?

For many years I’ve been writing letters and postcards to my grandmother who lives far away from me. I started because I had the need to find a personal way to communicate with her, as she’s not able to send messages by mobile phone and with age her hearing has deteriorated making talking on the phone impossible. Given that other old uncles also live in my grandmother’s building, I started to write to all of them, in order to avoid upsetting anyone… so the arrival of the mail has become a highly anticipated moment, both for me and for them.

Whenever my grandmother receives a postcard she sticks it under the calendar. I’m interested in this shared time devoted to the thought and the gaze.

Can you show us a picture of your workspace, or a mini-landscape work in progress?

Thank you Caterina, that was wonderful! 😊 You can find these and other projects of Caterina on her website, caterinarossato.com.