Collaborative Paper Crafts: What is a Jam Card?

Mail Art for Beginners

A jam card is a form of mail art that combines paper crafts with artist collaboration.

It is one form of LMAO, or land mail art object. It is always a traveling LMAO, and is sometimes uses a collection mail art mailing order.

The Mail Art Process

To begin with, an artist decides to make this form of LMAO. Then the artist opens the exchange to other artists.

Finding Other Artists to Participate

There are two ways an artist can find artists to join in on the LMAO.

One way is to set up an open invitation online for the first three artists who answer the open call.

To participate, the artist will need to provide their snail mail address.

The host may also request or require that the jam card participants include an email address for communicating with the host and the other artists.

The second way a host may set up the exchange is to directly invite fellow artists to participate in the trade.

A jam card host may invite artists with whom they have had positive mail art exchanges in the past.

Creating the Jam Card

Once the host of the mail art exchange has a list of names and addresses for the jam card trade, they can make the ATC for the trade.

Unlike other ATCs (LINK), the back of this ATC will be divided into four parts.

In each segment. the host will list the name and the snail mail address of each jam card participant.

Next, the host will start the trade by partially designing or creating artwork on the front of the LMAO.

It's important to note that the host of the LMAO will set the initial direction of the art, with the image or design they choose.

How the Participants Contribute

When the host is happy with the initial LMAO design, he or she mails it off to the next participant on the back of the card.

The next participant then adds their own art to the LMAO. There is sometimes also a space to sign or initial and add the date near their name and address on the back of the art object.

Then the LMAO gets sent to the next person on the list who does the same and sends the card to the final artist, the last name on the back of the card.

The last artist is responsible for mailing the LMAO back to the host.