Create Flat Stanley Mail Art

By reusing a two-liter, plastic soda bottle, you can create another type of travel capsule for your paper pal. Mail Art is the name given to the process of decorating containers and/or envelopes that are used for mailing letters and other items. This type of art has been around for about 40 years. People all over the world make Mail Art, and the plastic soda bottle is just one item that can be decorated. Mailing items this way is fun, especially for those who receive the container.

You Will Need:

• Two-liter bottle
• Duct tape
• Shredded color comics
• Flat Stanley
• Flat Stanley letters and journals
• Additional items of your choice
• Mailing label
• Stickers
• Hunt's Paint Markers
• Scissors or a utility knife

How to:

Rinse and air dry the soda bottle. Remove the label.
	Decorate the container with stickers or make designs on the sides with the Paint Markers.
Have an adult use scissors or a utility knife to cut a large X for the opening in the side of the bottle. The edges will be sharp, so you may want to cover them with masking tape.
	Have the adult help you put some shredded color comics in the bottom of the bottle, and then place Flat Stanley, the letter, journal, and other items such as a post card and bookmarks in the container. Unscrew the cap, and add more shredded comics to fill the bottle. Then replace the cap.
Tape over the opening with duct tape, and hide the tape with the mailing label. Address and mail. When the Mail Art arrives at its destination, the person to whom it's addressed removes the mailing label and duct tape, or he or she cuts open the bottle to free Flat Stanley and to retrieve the other items.

Tips and Tricks:

If you want to send Flat Stanley in the two-liter bottle, it will be necessary to shrink him to 60% (using a scanner or copy machine).

Spray the dried paint with clear, acrylic spray to help preserve the designs.

You'll have to take the bottle to the post office to be mailed, but seeing the look on the postal clerk's face is well worth the trip!

Be sure to write your name and address on the back of your Flat Stanley as well as in your journal.

Other Flat Stanley Art Activities

Thanks to Dale Hubert, creator and moderator of the Flat Stanley Project www.flatstanleyproject.com, for providing general information about the book, how the activity works, and for giving us permission to use the project in this art/reuse activity.

© 2007 Marilyn J. Brackney

Volume 19 No. 4