The DL on Patenting and Trademarking... as I understand it

So, we ventured over the patent attorney's office. And while he was more then willing to write up a patent application for us, it doesn't seem to make any sense for us.

Here's the skinny: patents are for inventions, but you can't patent a concept or an idea (which does logically make sense), you can only patent a specific design. All it takes for someone else to be able to make your idea, is for them to come up with a variation to your design that you didn't include in your original patent application.

Our design for reusable envelopes is certainly functional, but I am not convinced it is the end all and be all of designs. It just works. The closure systems are far from genius, the and post office is finicky about the window on the front being machinable and non-machinable... its hard to tell whether or not they're going to let it through on any given day. So these OOnvelopes have their quirks.

The conclusion: patenting is silly... the world needs to be free to make their own reusable envelopes. Its about an idea. A concept. And it needs to be able to spread like wildfire. I encourage you to make your own!

I've been busy freaking out about mail!!

Its been non-stop Re-velopes, which are no longer going to be called Re-velopes... At least six people have told me I need to get on trademarking and patenting this baby (because apparently its really that good of an idea) so I have to change the name because Revelope (notice the no dash) is already taken (but by some German guy that didn't even make a reusable envelope! what was he thinking??).

The brainstorm I came back from my run with this morning was a company name: OOreGoods (with the ability to put a couple of infinity signs in there, or my super sweet logo).

The tagling: Infinitely reusable goods...



And the new re-velope name would be: OOnvelope.

Springfest 2009 | I am alive!

I feel as though I might be back in the real world enough to actually group my thoughts together into somewhat of a coherent blog post. Maybe. I don't recommend holding your breath though.

It was like a giant concentrated shot of good vibes, happy times, dancin' tunes, random people, and just plain dirt. It was the reminder I needed that there are other good happy people out there, its all just a matter of figuring out where we hide when we aren't in festival town. I met a TON of people, and even more people know who I am... I was the dancin' girl that outdanced THE dancin' guy. Can I get a HELL YEA! I was on top of the world! I felt alive, on a never ending journey of energy and invincible empowerment. I was anyone I wanted to be, exactly how I wanted to be, exactly who I wanted to be. I met amazing people, I danced amazing dances, I felt amazing music, and it was overall an utterly amazing experience. An experience of life, better then I imagined it to be.

Going solo as I do, I was admittedly a little nervous at first, not quite sure how it would all play out, but I had faith in the festival community and sure enough I was "adopted" by some cool ass groupies that remembered me from Magfest... and now new friends. The magic of Springfest, is well, magical. Its as if the outside world simply ceases to exist for 4 days of pure glory and energy. A non stop environment of goodness and happy people... and more music then I knew what to do with.

May the Springfest vibe live on until October, where Magfest will bring yet another level of awesomeness to my mind, body, and soul :-)

First cool piece of pottery. First pitcher. First use!

This pitcher was one of those shining moments where I was actually really really happy with what I had made. And not in the, "i'm proud of myself for making something half way decent" kind of way, but in the "wow, that's really freakin' cool!" kind of way.

And this is the first time EVER that I have actually used it for something! Fresh squoze lime juice :)

a trip down memory lane... video self portrait

Posted by special request :-)

I took a video class while I was at Northeastern, and I will admit that I was NOT excited about video at all, but my professor was awesome, and I loved learning how to edit. And the challenge of piecing together a decent series of camera shots was, well, a challenge. Group work isn't my favorite, but our final projects were solo, and I lived in one of the editing suites for the better part of a week.

It's still a little bit scary to put this up here for the world to see because to this day I really feel like this is a peek inside my soul. There are things about it I would change now... 4 years later, but for the most part, I am still quite proud of what I put together.

"Magical Envelopes" (Round 4)

Tomorrow is another glorious day. I love mail for mail. I feel like I entertain the USPS employees. Sometimes I even write them messages. I sent bubble wrap once, just bubble wrap with a card inside for the address, and a note on the back that said, "It's okay if you pop a few a long the way because it's too tempting to resist :-)"

Mail Art Special: Round 3

Yesterday's envelope making was somewhat of a disaster. I couldn't exactly put my finger on it, but they just weren't right. I wasn't too worried about it. I am practically a mail art specialist, so I knew that eventually something would just hit me, square between the eyeballs, and I'd be rollin'. Well that my friends, is exactly what happened.

I went out to the workroom today, and the magic happened.


This was the first one. It started out as scraps of squares I found scattered on the floor. Then it became circles, and then as I was sewing it together, it occurred to me to leave them all connected. I have a thing about connected circles and it being a metaphor for how our own lives are intertwined with themselves and with others. Its inescapable.

The one on the left was the second, but practically simultaneous creation. Its rockin' the hippitastic flower power. As my mom said: flashback to 1963. Jam on. More of that later :-)


Oh and then, then I decided I would mail one of the semi-disasters from yesterday to see if it got any better with an address and stamps. It didn't win me over, but it did help.

My first awesome sewn, stitched, and crazy envelopes!

This is actually my second endeavor into sewing my crazy envelopes. The first one, was two days ago, and I accidentally mailed them without taking pictures. They were small pieces of canvas that I had painted and then addressed and stitched together. I was so excited about sending them that I completely forgot the documentation aspect. Which really, happens almost all the time when I mail people things. I truly wish that I had been taking pictures all along because I have sent more mail art then I have made any other kind of art, and some of it has truly been spectacular, some of it just plain crazy.

But back to the envelopes. I am not as happy with these as I was with my first batch, but I think it might be partially because these lack addresses and they seem empty and lost without that aspect. The other thing is that these guys, as wacky as they may be, they aren't cohesively wacky. A wacky envelope wouldn't really be rectangular. These were a good starting point, and I needed to get my feet wet and try it (I do love the sewing aspect, the stitches add a nice touch), but I definitely need to explore my options and push the limits some more. These envelopes don't really do my idea justice.

THE question

I got asked again today, "Are you an artist?"

Every time I hear it I answer a little different. Its all relative to my current state of mind. A part of me has the "aren't we all artists" mentality, although that voice hasn't really ever been the loudest. Another part of me just says, "Yes!" I create art and therefore I am. But the winningmost voice is the one that likes to humbly slide in through the back door. The one that unapologetically creates but doesn't want that to be her defining existence. Sometimes it seems like describing oneself as an artist, is an easy way for the rest of the world to explain away all of our other talents and intricacies as just being part of the package. I want "artist" to be a part of me without it being the reason for ALL of me.

it ain't love, its affection

My Cupboard. Just Exactly how I'd Imagined it.

I remember writing in my thesis something about the desire to have dishes that didn't stack very neatly in my cabinets. Mission accomplished :-)

Multiple blogs. Transitioning. New projects.

I am living more inspired. I feel the need to create everyday. Sometimes it's the start of a new painting, or an epiphany about whats next for something already in progress. Sometimes it's a new piece of snail mail to send, a letter to write, an envelope to decorate, or a package to create. Sometimes it's just writing, or typewriting.

I am transitioning over to this blog from my other mudlyart blog over at Wordpress. That blog is going to remain active as a sort of personal diary and an outlet for my not quite comprehensible thoughts, questions, and ideas. This new blog is going to more geared towards my artwork, with a focus on what I'm creating and contributing to the world.

Right now:

• I am fascinated with some new (to me) painting techniques. Watery, translucent, drippy, melding, layering goodness.
• I mail bizarre, silly, and sometimes absurd packages, envelopes, and letters on a fairly regular basis. I am always looking for more people to play the game.
• As an offshoot of the above mentioned addiction... I am going to be designing a series of some extra special decorated envelopes that will be for sale in my etsy shop. Painted canvas envelopes, handmade envelopes, sewn envelopes, etc.