Images
Awareness of the outside world. “Cachet. Any textual or graphic design which has been applied to a cover usually, but not always, on the left side of the envelope. A cachet may be produced by any means— printed, rubberstamped, handdrawn, etc. A first day cachet should be related specifically to the stamp on the cover.” American First Day Cover Society: FDC Terminology.
So The Graceful Envelopes would be non-first day cachets? Any stamp folks care to enlighten me?
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My entry for the Graceful Envelope Contest run by the The Washington Calligraphers Guild. The 2022 theme was Greetings and Salutations.
Process Notes
In my defense, the envelope looked better in person. While a mere sketch compared to the winners, it amoosed me.
Plus, I got a blog post out of it.
Contest
TWCG: 2022 Graceful Envelope Contest Winners, VIEW THE WINNING ENVELOPES on IMGUR
Next year. TWCG: 2023 Graceful Envelope Contest Call for Entries. The theme is fan mail.
“In 1999 my envelope was a winner.” Kath Harney: The Graceful Envelope Contest
Carol DuBosch Calligraphy: Envelopes
Writealetter.org: The Graceful Envelope Contest Winners 2015
Writealetter.org: 25 Years of Graceful Envelopes, 2019
Envelopes
Smithsonian: Pushing the Envelope | History| Smithsonian Magazine, Kernan 1997
Smithsonian: The Graceful Envelope. Archived Exhibition, no photos
Stamp
“The stamps were designed by Zack Bryant using photographs by acclaimed heritage breeds photographer Aliza Eliazarov. Greg Breeding served as art director.” USPS: New Heritage Breeds Forever Stamps Honor Genetic Diversity in Farm Animals, May 2021
“The difficulty in finding this once popular breed was the inspiration for the creation of the first North American livestock conservation organization, which has become The Livestock Conservancy.” The Livestock Conservancy: MILKING DEVON CATTLE.
Onwards!
Katherine
Virtual Brush Box 
Unless an envelope has a stamp on it with a cancel from the first day the stamp was issued, it is not a first-day cachet cover. (Cover means envelope.) Any cover with a design on it can be a cachet cover. An envelope with no design on it, but a first-day cancel is a first-day of issue cover.
BWT, the reason envelopes are called covers, is that when people first started sending letters by mail, they’d write on one sheet of paper, fold it up (the way we fold papers to find in a #10 envelope) then put on another sheet to cover what they’d written and also have a place to write the address.
That’s fit, not fine. My fingers are having a rebellion against my brain.
That is stunning and clever! Such play between visuals and text are at the heart of my Art School education. Thank you for sharing this!
My comments are still not showing up in email as ‘[name] commented on [post title]. I don’t know why. What the hell.
Cachet info. Thank you.
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Visual & text. Thank you. I am checking out the new stamps for “fan mail” ideas.