PFF #11 First Date

Marie's idea of a theme this week is MAIL Babies. My contribution predates the baby delivery thing by more than 9 months, or at least it should. I actually decided to post this one after looking at the Tattered and Lost EPHEMERA blog all week, looking at early illustration advertisements for Coca-Cola.

This one was a lot of fun, although I chose early Fifties for the time period, I remember the Rockola booth Jukebox selectors from the Snack Shack in my hometown when it came time to do this cover. The title was also a play on words, since the Love stamp First Day of issue was the reason I did this in the first place.

And that's two paper straws and a single cherry in a cool, refreshing glass of ice cold Coca-Cola. Who gets the Cherry?

Uneeda Biscuit Boy #1

Another fabulous marketing marvel from the folks at Nabisco. Just where did the Biscuit Boy come from? The Uneeda Biscuit was the first use of the In-Er Seal packaging. The In-Er Seal package was a combination of waxed paper and cardboard, guaranteed to get mom's biscuit and cracker purchases home to her even in a driving rainstorm. Before Uneeda Biscuit was introduced by National Biscuit Company in 1898, crackers (and biscuits) were sold unbranded and packed loosely in barrels. Mothers would give their sons a paper bag and ask them to run down to the store and get the bag filled with crackers. National Biscuit Company used this as part of their Uneeda Biscuit advertising symbol which depicts a boy carrying a pack of Uneeda Biscuits in the rain. In 2009 (after over 110 years) Nabisco discontinued the Uneeda biscuit out of concern that the product was not as profitable as other product lines. What a shame. After discovering all there is to know about Uneeda, Ineeda Biscuit. Uneeda was also one of the first product names that used a compound, made up word.

This paper is once again a piece that came from the only biscuit factory in town, and the building, or at least the first two stories, still stands.

Gold Chase for Pony #2

I finished this piece and posted it a couple of months back. I was initially happy after discovering I could still gild, but I was using size meant for imitation gold, and a metal base coat which was designed to help you see where you were putting the size. For the weekend artist I suppose the stuff is acceptable and the only reason I purchased it was because it was the only thing I could get locally. Not only that, but the base coat required a solvent cleanup, and it ruined an expensive sable sword brush of the tiny variety - about a dozen hairs - that I'd had for well over 40 years. I was disgusted. That was about the time I met up with Abraham Lincoln on the web, and I asked if he was the very same person I'd purchased a gold size product from at least twenty years ago.

My renewed interest in gilding and calligraphy to incorporate in my old paper art has also led to his revelation of past mail art which he has shared over time with me via his blog. Abe and his family had made a business of selling useful products for the calligrapher, but had moved on to other pursuits including some great photography which he now pursues with a passion.

I recently purchased a product called PVA - it is an all-in-one adhesive that accepts gild using the old method of illumination without the drawbacks of LEAD-based gesso products. Once the PVA is dry (it dries clear) you activate it by breathing on it. I use a paper straw, as the paper absorbs some of the inherent moisture that might otherwise fall on your paper (bad) if you used a plastic straw. I'm really happy with the 'pillow' I'm getting with it. I regilded the A. B. Chase portion of this, and I can tell distinctly that I'm not only getting a good raise, but luster from the burnish is also brighter.

For anyone interested in pursuing the use of REAL gold leaf in their art work, and they want a high luster and raised images, the product name is PVA, and it's sold on the web by a company called LINECO, Books By Hand You might find other useful products if you're into journalling, or scrapbooking, or anything paper related.

Fish on! PFF #10

This is another of those covers I sent to my wife while I was in South Vietnam in 1969-70. It shouldn't have made it, since there's no return address on it, and it doesn't follow the rules for the use of the Free Franking privilege.

It's faded - badly.

Marie is doing a hat thing and stinky cheese, and all I could find was some old fish.

The Holdup left the building

We did an antique show this weekend. One of my subscribers suggested that I let folks see it that already have a common interest in history, and he certainly wasn't far off the trail. We were fortunate to get a booth in a venue that had walls where we could hang my work. Instead of a four by eight foot table for a booth, we used a smaller table that I could put my portfolio on toward the front of the space. We added chairs, and draped an easel with several elk hides, and put my largest piece on the easel. My wife added a vase of flowers on the floor under the framed art, and next time we'll put them on a small and tall end table. It allowed potential buyers to get up close to my art work so that they could examine it closely. Many of those that we spoke to were convinced there was a trick to it, or that the images were originally part of the document. If they asked questions, it gave us the chance to do our part to correct wrong perceptions.

It worked.

Saturday afternoon we were approached by a couple who are Charlie Russell fans. They liked "The Holdup", and promptly purchased it. They also agreed to leave it hang until the show was over. It was an eye-catcher, and everyone who stopped to look at what I had on display spent time looking at this one in particular. Photos don't do it justice.

Oh yes - they get a THANK YOU.

A Horse, Of Course! PFF #9

I'm hooked on horses this week, and I'm going to enter a Festival of Postcards, sponsored by A Canadian Family with a lot of other postcard folks who have images of animals that walk on four legs! I'm hoping to include my Big Top Tiger in the mix, as it was one of my favorite covers to do - Stamps flown in from Rochester, New York, then an eighty mile drive to the little town of Ringling, Montana, to get them canceled on the First Day of Issue. This issue featuring Jim Bridger was no different. We drove to Cody, Wyoming, to purchase the Legends of the West sheet of stamps, canceling Buffalo Bill and Annie Oakley in Cody, then back to Bridger, Montana, to cancel the Jim Bridger and Western Wildlife stamp. It was an excellent adventure!

Marie Reed at Vintage Verve is just plain CHEESY this week, so if you'd like to see what others are contributing to Friendship Friday, pay her a visit. I've already been there with the horse I rode in on!