Offensively Hideous Halloween Postcards

Launch gallery slideshow

Swap Coordinator:	FiWebster (contact)
Swap categories:	Postcards
Number of people in swap:	5
Location:	International
Type:	Type 3: Package or craft
Last day to signup/drop:	October 15, 2010
Date items must be sent by:	October 22, 2010
Number of swap partners:	2
Description:
I like making postcards, but I'm fed up with the usual Halloween pc swaps: they want happy pumpkins, friendly ghosts, dancing candy, vintage smiling children--the usual kid-friendly lot. Hey, I have nothing against kids! But I'm in the mood for some adult Halloween images. So I'm inviting you to make outrageously, abnormally, scandalously dark postcards. Go for hideously malformed creatures, terrifyingly vivid situations, over-the-top gory encounters, or horribly memorable movie villains. Play it serious, play it for laughs--so long as your partners wonder just how depraved you really are. Options are wide open: draw it, collage it, paint it, montage it--whatever. If you don't feel artsy-craftsy, just grab an outrageous picture from a book, book cover, DVD cover: lay that sucker on the scanner, then slap it on cardboard. (I use cardboard out of the kitchen: cereal boxes, frozen food boxes.) Don't fret about the postal service. You wouldn't believe the *sick sht I've sent that's arrived just fine. The U. S. postal service, at least, only frowns on obviously pornographic imagery--like color stills advertising porn movies. As long as it's "art"...nudity, violence, it's all fine. They're expectin' it this time o' year, anyway. For those of you who make ATC's as a rule, let me tell you what's different about postcards: you don't have a predetermined size. You make your image, however you do it, then if you want, you crop it. It's like cropping a photo to improve the composition: you can crop to focus on the most appalling part of the image. =evil grin= The deal about sizes & postage is as follows: anything 3 1/2" x 5" up to 4 1/4" x 6" is 28 cents (US) anything 4 1/4" x 6" up to 6 1/8" x 11 1/2" is 44 cents (US) both sizes to foreign countries are 75 cents (Canada), 79 cents (Mexico) & 98 cents (everywhere else) You'll be sendin' 1 postcard to each of 2 partners. Please don't wait for partner assignments to start dreamin' up ideas, 'cause you'll only have a week after that. If you're doin' something artistic, you can scan your creation & print it for the 2nd partner. (You're gonna want to scan it anyway, so you can put it up on The Darkness flickr site!) On the back, write a decadent Halloween greeting to your partner. Go for the loathsome!**

Discussion

FiWebster 10/ 8/2010 #

I'm wonderin' if any of you dark lovelies can guess what the swap image is...

ElizabethObviously 10/ 8/2010 #

Black Dahlia? Well..the top half anyway...the bottom half was a few feet away. Poor Elizabeth...

FiWebster 10/ 8/2010 #

You got it. Good call--most people don't know about the extended "smile" she received. Poor Elizabeth, indeed.

FiWebster 10/ 8/2010 #

How bizarre is it that it says "Put this image on your site!"--with an exclamation mark--underneath? Sheesh, I barely had the nerve to put it on this site. =shudder=

CajunLady 10/ 8/2010 #

I love the story of the Black Dahlia. Not that I think it's cool what happened to her...it's very very sad. I just like how much they got into trying to figure out who did it.

FiWebster 10/ 8/2010 #

Yeh, me too. Have you read James Ellroy on the whole thing?

FiWebster 10/ 8/2010 #

No one's signed up for the swap. Is the image wrong? Should I change it? (Just a little concerned, that's all.)

valkyr 10/ 9/2010 #

I'll join!

Mar1l1ze 10/10/2010 #

@melusina - This is right up my ally and I'm totally f*kked off that my exams crept up on me and I can't join :( Have fun with this one, for the next one I'm jumping in for sure.

MINImalist 10/11/2010 #

Just to throw this out there, but will the postal service refuse to deliver something if it's too graphic?

izohgore 10/11/2010 #

@MINImalist , not sure, but, I will mention this. My cousin (my Mother's nephew) sent her a parcel from Germany through UPS that was literally covered in pornography. All images of penises. Amusing story, it safely made it to Ohio, & did a perfect job of embarrassing my Mom.

Perhaps we could opt to send these in an envie instead of naked? If there is indeed reluctance or question that the postal service will black list us. ;)

FiWebster 10/11/2010 #

The U.S. Postal Service only frowns on one thing: explicit pornography--as in color stills from porn movies, designed to advertise porn movies. Other than that--graphic violence, depictions of genitals, sick/sicker/sickest--they don't care. Anything that is "art"--including "mail art"--goes. I've sent some pretty sick sh*t through the mails: no problem, so far.

FiWebster 10/11/2010 #

By the way, @izohgore s cousin's package wouldn't count as explicit pornography in the eyes of the USPS, because it was (a) mail art, and (b) not for the purpose of advertising porn. The USPS loves mail art--after all, mail artists (and handmade-postcard makers are mail artists) keep them in business! All the postal workers I've shown my stuff to, do have a sense of humor--plus, they watch horror movies, too! =grin= Part of the fun of postcards is seein' what amazing stuff you can send out in the open.

MINImalist 10/12/2010 #

Thanks!

izohgore 10/13/2010 #

It was actually the UPS not USPS, & it was covered in magazine of porn pages taped together, not really what one may call mail art. ;)

You are fortunate to have horror movies fans at your post office. Though, my fave PO clerk used to own my local fave comicbook store. :)

FiWebster 10/16/2010 #

Just in case, though....let's all have this policy: if you haven't received a postcard from one of your partners within a reasonable time interval (2-3 wks US; maybe 4 wks internationally), send them a PM and ask for a re-send inside an envie. You never know...

You must be logged in to leave a comment. Click here to log in.

Top Swaps

Newest Swaps

Offensively Hideous Halloween Postcards

Launch gallery slideshow

Discussion

Leave a Comment