Nicole Eippers (29)

Wonderful envelope from Nicole Eippers, tmo the Queen of Collage mail art!
The mail arrived despite of the location of the postmark :-)



Enclosed this great Mole shown above, and ATC's: of a Tardigrade, Chameleon, Lyrebird and a Sea Slug. And of course Nicole's famous Flying Piggy.

Nicole Eippers (28)

An envelope showing an impressive animal (and a matching - Europe 2017 - sand castle stamp) arrived from Belgium. Created by Nicole Eippers, and fortunately she added some extra information about this animal inside the envelope.
It is the Squille, in English also named a peacock mantis shrimp, harlequin mantis shrimp, painted mantis shrimp, or clown mantis shrimp (in Dutch a 'bidsprinkhaankreeft', which means literally 'praying mantis lobster')



According to the information, this up to 20 cms large sea animal has eyes which make it possible to watch 360 degrees around, thus he or she is able to see a panorama view.

That will not be the case with the short sighted animal which Nicole also has added to the content of the envelope. It is the Mole, this peticular species being a star-nosed mole:



And there is this picture of the Andrewsarchus, a prehistorical, extinct animal:



On the back of the envelope - which in fact also is the front, as my address was written there, too - you can find Nicole's famous Flying Piggy!



Thank you very much, hartelijk dank, Nicole!

Nicole Eippers (27)

Nicole Eippers created an other beautiful collage, showing several special animals: a Sloth, a Mole and of course the Piggy.
They came along with a Butterfly stamp.

And to my surprise this time I could open the paper: it was an envelope.
Inside I found Nicole's wonderful drawing, a contribution to the 'What of whom is she staring at?' mail art project.



And a vintage piece of paper, with lovely drawings and Nicole's famous Flying Piggy stamp:



Thank you very much, hartelijk dank, Nicole!

Nico van Hoorn (5) & Jaap-Aap (3)

Some months ago I bought my very first Instax camera. I still didn't try it, and then suddenly Real Instax photos landed in my mailbox. The senders being no one less than Jaap-Aap and Nico van Hoorn!

The postage stamp was a special one, too: showing Bob Bear, one of Jaap's and Nico's friends.



Here are more great Instax pictures, showing some other friends:





And a print. I feel spoiled!



Thank you very much, hartstikke bedankt, Nico en Jaap-Aap!

Nicole Eippers (19)

Already as a child I was fascinated by the Axolotl. In the seventies I had a book from the Artis Zoo in Amsterdam, in which there was a black and white picture showing this amazing weird deep water amphibian.
Nicole Eippers sent me a coloured version of axolotls from Belgium, along with two of my other favourites: a Snail and a Mole. And of course her famous Piggy mail art pig.

Hartelijk dank, merci beaucoup, Nicole!

Frank (from Nijmegen)

I was wondering whether I would post a regular postcard here or not. In fact, the drawing itself concerns a regular (printed, bought) postcard, made by Johanna Basford, issued in 2014 by Thoth Publishers. But the colouring has been handmade by a good friend, so I decided: Yes!

Frank and I played guitar in Below the Mole in the late eighties. Below the Mole was an important band in the Nijmegen music scene (although almost no-one knows that :-) ). We started with two guitars and drums. A bass player joined only after years. We existed for 4 years, until our drummer Rob left to Amsterdam, and in those years we had 10 public concerts in total.
Below the Mole was an underground band, not only musically seen but also literally: we rehearsed below the (former) Post Office near Nijmegen Central Station. Alas this post office and the cellar rehearsal rooms don't exist anymore.
However, to my surprise the concert hall Doornroosje has been moving last year to this location. As many others do, I'll miss the old, cosy Doornroosje and its former location. In those days I've put a lot of footsteps there, volunteering at concerts and by drawing concert flyers (and did the typography, in a pre-computer era!). And I gained some hearing loss by the noise (be warned if you enjoy music, too!).
Post Office, rehearsal rooms, concert hall.. Maybe the circle should be full this way.

So this postcard not only reminds me of the good times we shared - Frank, Rob, Arnold (and temporary Miesjel) were more than family to me - but also gives me the opportunity to share a tiny little postal and pop history of one of my favourite cities, Nijmegen.



Frank sent me this card last week for my bithday (good day to not send it on my birthday itself, because that is not a public day :-) and he added that this alas isn't a Mole. Never mind, I think it great (and will share a coloured version of our logo below). Thanks a lot, dankjewel, Frank!



Nijmegen Central Station in 1977. The (now disappeared) large building on the right was the former Post Office.



Some BtM songs:
Blue Hour
Turquoise Cloud
An evening at night (featuring Miesjel)

Nicole Eippers (16)

There are some wonderful collage mail artists, and I think Nicole Eippers definitely is one of them.

Speaking for myself, I've tried to make collages but I think it very hard to create them well. Even though many people think and say 'it's easy'. Well, I think it's not! (That's why I prefer drawing :-) )
And every time Nicole creates a Real Weird Animal to send from Belgium to me, I make a jump of joy when I find her creation in my mailbox. This time I'm lucky to have received a Mole, one of my all time favourite animals. In a very peculiar place, seen from the Mole's point of view!

Thank you very much, merci beaucoup, Nicole!

Angela Behrendt (2)

Beautiful stitched artistamp, showing a Naked Mole Rat! A real funny animal. Family of the Damaraland Mole Rat.

Virtuosily created by Angela Behrendt from Germany. And sent by myself!?? - according to the text on the paper :-)

Look how kind the Letter Center of Hannover (the Briefzentrum of Hannover, part of the German Mail) has been! Not only they paid the postage ('Entgelt bezahlt'), but also they added a beautiful cancellation stamp of the city of Hannover.



Herzlichen Dank, Angela!

Nicole Eippers (14)

While we still are waiting for snow and the temperature remains above 0 degree Celsius, Nicole Eippers succeeded to find a real winter landscape. Including animals!
The Mole, a Bat, an unknown Bird. The Belgian Butterfly stamp. And of course.. Nicole's famous Pig.

Hartelijk dank, merci beaucoup, Nicole!

Nicole Eippers (12)

All mammals on this mail art!
Among them... The mole! One of my favourite weird animals. I am always wondering how a mammal can breath underground. This funny creature succeeds!
Of course the Flying Piggy cannot be missing on the beautiful collages Nicole Eippers creates. The postal service also added a nice cancellation stamp print which completes the composition.

Thank you very much, merci beaucoup, Nicole!

Nicole Eippers (3)

Yes! One of my (many) most favourite animals came into my mailbox: a Mole!!
(and a poor Earthworm).
Created and send from Belgium by Nicole Eippers, together with a beautiful Bird stamp and of course Pig mail art! (Not to be confused with Pig nail art.)

Inside - besides an other nice mole - an other surprise: one of my other favourite animals: the Okapi.
Merci beaucoup - hartelijk dank, Nicole!

Call for entries: Weird real animals!

Made for Onemillionrealfunnyweirdanimals!com.