Tag: postal service

News

The Boat Gnome Mercantile 2020-2021 Trading Season is Open!

Greetings, Mariners!

If you’ve been here for the last couple years, you might remember that I’m an authorized representative of an intergalactic entity known as The Boat Gnome.

If you haven’t been here for a couple years, here’s a visual introduction:

A photo og Lucy dressed up as The Boat Gnome. She wears a pointy blue felt hat covered in nautical rubbish and poses in front of many delightful trinkets, shells, and other treasures.

This spacefaring nautical merchant, operating in association with known Space Gnome representative Shing Yin Khor, accepts trinkets and trades via post in exchange for a special Trusted Trader pin. (You can also trade with the Space Gnome for pins by becoming a Patreon supporter of Shing’s, but you didn’t hear it from me.)

I’m delighted to announce that the Boat Gnome has now updated her ledgers and is open for the 2020-2021 trading season!

Desired items for this season are as follows:

  • A favorite passage describing the ocean (from an artistic work of your choosing)
  • A (mailably small) piece of driftwood
  • A design for a flag
  • A sea creature in any condition (illustrated, bottled, described with words—ideally not live because the ship has no aquarium in which to keep them)

To participate, print this intake form, fill it out, and pack it up with your trade item of choice AND a self-addressed-and-stamped box or bubble envelope (5×7” or larger) with at least $3.50 in regular postage (for US residents), or the equivalent for a 4oz package (for international residents). This envelope will be used to mail back your Trusted Trader pin. The Boat Gnome regretfully cannot accept thin paper or cardboard envelopes—padded is best!

Mail your trade item and SASE to the following address:

Boat Gnome Mercantile

c/o Lucy Bellwood

PO Box 734

Ojai, CA 93024

In exchange, and under no specific timeline, you’ll receive one of these shiny Trusted Trader pins in the post:

A colorful postcard showing a small lapel pin. The pin features a creature called The Boat Gnome and a ship's wheel. The colors are nautical blues and greens.

That’s it! The Boat Gnome is very much looking forward to pawing over all your mailed offerings and I, as her Representative, can’t wait to file all the necessary paperwork.

Yours in aquatic shenanigans,

Lucy Bellwood

Boat Gnome Representative

Art

Nautical Postcards Round 1: Swallows!

Getting boxes from the print shop always feels like Christmas — the excitement, the possibility, the wondering whether that thing you asked for is really as cool as you think it is in person.

The answer is yes: it is.

BjDVvYdCIAAbX8Q.jpg-large

These are my first proper postcards and I have to admit I went a little bonkers putting them together. If there was a bell, I added it. If there was a whistle, that too. These suckers are printed on silky smooth 16pt matte card stock with rounded corners and they look and feel SO GOOD. I couldn’t be happier. Here’s a closer look at the art:

NitroRoundSwallowFront

NitroRoundSwallowBackAs someone who tends to have a lot of art on her walls, I wanted something that would look lustrous and beautiful enough to display with or without a frame — even after going through the rigors of the postal service. These cards definitely fit the bill. They are both attractive and BEEFY.

I have packs of five available in my store, and I’ll also be throwing in a free card with any order for the next couple months! Shop around and stay tuned for the next installment of these prints — I’m hoping to roll out a whole sequence of nautical cards before the year is out. Have something you’d like to see? Drop me a line in the comments.