You can create deliciously memorable mail art with this guide to making a cookbook-themed envelope. Perfect for food lovers, this tutorial will inspire you to get creative with your correspondence!
The best mail art reflects the recipient’s personality and interests. For this project, I wanted to create something special for Amy, a fellow food lover. Today, I’ll share with you how I transformed this idea into a unique cookbook mail art project that any foodie will appreciate.
All good mail art starts with a pencil draft. To make this illustration, I took a photo of an open book and used that as a reference image. Then, I played with hand-lettering and two drawings within the book to give the illusion of a cookbook layout.
Now, use either a pointed pen or a fountain pen to trace over your illustrations. No matter what writing instrument you choose, be sure to load it with waterproof ink! Here are my favorite illustration combinations:
Once you’ve traced over the general illustration outline, use a pointed pen to trace over the address if necessary. I opted to switch to a pointed pen to ensure that the lettering was bold and to make contrast-filled flourishes. Again, don’t forget to use waterproof ink!
To finish up the pen and ink drawing, go ahead and add crosshatching for dimension. Don’t neglect to add shadows to the book itself to help it look more realistic.
Once your ink has completely dried, grab your favorite watercolor palette. Use it to fill in the cookbook with the colors of your choice.
Continue to paint until you’re happy with the result. Don’t be afraid to experiment with layering colors to achieve rich, complex hues.
If your recipient is interested in baking, you can bet that they’ll love receiving a surprise recipe! Flip over your envelope and write one of your favorites on the back.
While postage stamp collages can look really neat on mail art, this cookbook mail art concept can only handle one stamp. Tuck it into the upper right corner of the envelope so the mail will reach its recipient safely.
After all that hard work, it’s an excellent idea to ensure that your envelope won’t get smudged on the way to its destination. Consider applying MicroGlaze to add a reliable protective coating.
Once you’ve treated the envelope, it’s ready to send on its merry way.
I hope that you enjoyed this creative little tutorial! I’m sharing it as a fun concept to inspire you next time you have the opportunity to write to a friend who loves being in the kitchen. Feel free to swap out the illustrations to suit the type of food that they enjoy cooking.
If you’re nervous about sending mail art like this, I’ve got several tips for sending deliverable envelopes, which you can read here. If you’ve never sent a decorated envelope, give it a try! You can send some amazing things through the mail; for inspiration, see last year’s Graceful Envelope contest entries.
Thanks so much for reading, and have a great weekend!
Warmly,
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