Postcrossing Blog

We saw this delightful video on Ilona’s (aka MissiveMaven)'s blog and just had to share it. Hurray for cats and mail!

Now wasn’t that a 13-minute break well spent? 🐈 📮!

It was Pauline (aka PauliB) from Germany who first brought SunnyRat's unusual wall of postcards to my attention, some time ago. I confess I gasped in delight upon discovering it… have a look:

Each postcard is accompanied by a little rat, with a curious spark in his eyes! :)

There seemed to be quite a few of them, so I was curious and talked to Julia (aka SunnyRat) about her quirky wall. Julia is from Russia and works on a software company… but as it turns out, she’s also mommy to a large family of pet rats, and does some wonderful art as well! It was a pleasure to learn more about her and her pets, so I hope you enjoy this mini-interview as much as I did.

Could you introduce your rats to us? What are their names, how old are they… what do they like to do all day?

At this moment I have eight wonderful little rats. They all are male and their names are: April, Baikal, El, Sky, Krosh, January, Cheshire and Fort Erie. They have different ages, from a few months to almost 3 years old. The youngest is April, and this April he will be one year old :)

I must say that I like to give names, which are ordinary words or geographical names, because when I hear these words accidentally it always becomes sunny in my heart and I’m smiling.

Every rat is a little person with its own character traits. For example, Baikal (on the right), a rat with Siamese “point” on the nose, is a calm, tender, plush teddy bear who loves to be cuddled and stroked and is a perfect shoulder companion. April (on the left) is curious, cheerful, restless bundle of energy who adores people. He is always ready to be with you and that is why he appears on photos most often. He has curly whiskers and white unsymmetrical stripe on the face. They are best friends, and together with their brothers, we are a big united family!

They have an organized part of the room, where they live. Here it is:

This is where they play, jump, climb, runn, groom each other, do housekeeping, generate and solve problems, have dinner and communicate… I’ve made some videos with our rat’s everyday life, you can watch it if you would like, if you’re curious and have some time: video #1, video #2.

And all rats love to sleep and usually they do it in hammocks! :)

Also, they are intelligent animals and love to learn new things. So we do some trainings together and they can easily perform simple tricks. For example, here we are leaning how to do a rotation:

Sometimes we take part in rat shows, where events like tightrope walking and rat agility take place. So they do sports too.

Where did you get the idea to include them in your postcard photos?

I was inspired by SeanPatrick’s wall! I found it so uplifting, lively and enjoyable that I decided to make something personal too. And, of course, I thought about rats at once, because they usually make me smile.

Are they cooperative in the photo sessions?

It may depend on the temper of each specific rat… some cooperate very well and some are difficult to take pictures of. But they love to explore new things and love to do something together with human beings, so we simply have fun. And the more often it happens, the better we understand each other.

Something yummy doesn’t hurt too! :)

What kind of reactions do you receive from other members who notice your wall?

The reactions I usually get are warm words and well wishes to the rats. Some people talk about their own pet rats. Compliments and energetic emotions! And, if I may take this opportunity to say thank you so much for such kind of reactions! I appreciate it very much and this is a happiness for me to know that someone somewhere on the planet is smiling too, looking at these photos.

What about you, what do you do for a living, and for fun? And do you have other pets?

I work as an analyst at a company that develops solutions for computer protection. And, by the way, sometimes my rats are used for this company advertising items, such as wall and pocket calendars.

Also I enjoy almost all kinds of creative activity. Especially I love to draw. And thanks to postcrossing I can do it much more often, because to draw for somebody is always more enjoyable for me, than to do it for no particular reason. So most of my sent cards usually have little drawings.

Rats are my only pets. I am with them about ten years and have to say that since the discovery of pet rats there is always laughing at home. And the more I learn about them, the more I like them!

Thank you Julia, that was wonderful! :)

PS – Do you know of any other quirky postcard walls? Please share them in the comments!

I love perusing random postcard walls on the website, just to see what lovely cards I can discover. Apparently I’m not alone in my little pastime, since quite a few of you have found SeanPatrick’s gallery and sent us the link! :)

Sean uploads photos of his postcards to the website, but with a twist: featuring himself as well as the postcard! Here are some of his photos:

It took a little getting used to, but I must confess I love it and couldn’t stop myself from going through his entire gallery, like a mini-stalker! I was intrigued by his unusual approach to the postcard wall, so I decided to reach out to Sean and he explained:

I was curious what the postcards would look like upon arrival when I sent mine and I wondered what they might look like in the hands of those that received them. Then it occurred to me… why not take photos of myself with the postcards I received?

Brilliant! How often have I wished for the same thing, to get just a glimpse of the reaction that lights up someone’s face when a postcard I’ve sent finally arrives? I think we can all relate to that.

Sean’s photos are taken by either himself or his daughter, and a bit all over the place: his home, his wine shop or while he’s out and about outdoors. He says many people enjoy seeing their postcards like that.

Postcrossing is about connecting people, first and foremost, and the more I look at Sean’s wall, the more I’m reminded of this. At the end of each postcard’s journey there’s always a person who will receive and hold that card, just like he does… the smile on that person’s face as they open their mailbox and find an unexpected postcard there – that’s what it’s all about!

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.

You know how there’s a cycle to taste? Things that were once deemed trendy often illicit a “What was I thinking?!” reaction 20 years later…

It’s a bit like that with postcards too. There are the timeless ones of course, and then there are those which we look at now and think… interesting. The 50s, 60s and 70s seem to have been particularly fruitful in this kind of quirky specimens.

We call them “bad postcards” – but in a way, they’re also great postcards, unexplainably perfect. They’re funny, quirky and representative of something that someone once thought was beautiful – or at least important enough to be featured on a postcard.

Lon started the BAD POSTCARDS Tumblr to showcase the kitschiest postcards from his collection that he felt shouldn’t be kept in hiding. He’s been at it since April 2010, and his compendium of vintage gems is simply stunning. The themes and variations are seemingly endless, and it’s very hard to pick just a few… here are some of my favourites:

Aren’t they fascinating?

I should warn you though… the site is extremely addictive. Once you start looking at strange food or wacky tourist attractions, you probably won’t be able to stop! :D

Long live bad postcards!

PS – The 20 millionth card’s guessing game is still ongoing! Place your bet! :)