Why I Make Cards

Almost 8 years ago, I wrote a post on "Why I Make Art."  I've been promising myself I'd write a follow-up with more about how I got this obsession of making cards.  Well here we are.

When I was young, our family did not have a lot of money.  That meant that we did not have a lot of toys.  In fact, most things were shared between my sister and myself.  We had a few of our own things like dolls or stuffed animals but we also had things we shared with my brother.  Sometimes we would play a game we made up called "Time's Up" where we would crouch over a catalogue and someone would say, "One, two, three, time's up!" and we would point to the thing on the page we liked best.  We would start at the beginning of the catalogue and go through all the sections including housewares, clothing, jewelry, etc.

Anyway, having things was something I learned to not expect.

One of my prized possessions was a stationery set that I inherited from someplace - I think the daughter of my mother's friend.  In a folded plastic case, she had been collecting different kinds of Japanese notepaper and envelopes, bearing images like Hello Kitty and other cute Japanese cartoon characters.  I don't remember writing many notes but I do remember looking in my folder a lot, just admiring the paper and the envelopes especially.

Sometimes, my mom would have to kick us out of the living room onto the porch or upstairs because she taught piano lessons.  I remember her giving us some paper and a small bowl of rice and saying, "Make something."  The rice was sticky, it was good as glue.  So my sister and I would make envelopes to add to the collection.  Envelopes of different sizes, made from different types of paper.  Today, I can still make envelopes very quickly but I don't use rice anymore.

Envelopes recently whipped up for giving gifts in.

I think the card-making came after the envelope-making because I needed something to do with the envelopes that I was making.

Card and envelope made around 2001.

I never bought materials for making cards.  They were always made from things I found around the house.  This is how my mother did things.  This is how I still mostly do things...

Cards made for SJT event for my song "Wabisabi Wagamama."

Making things has always been a compulsion.  Collecting papers also.  Looking at my fine and interesting papers makes me feel rich in possessions.  Even the tiniest of pieces.