Message from Bethlehem - Christmas 2003

Folded, landscape A5 card. On reverse of card is a hand-made laser-printed postage stamp with deckle edge and rubber-stamped postage mark. On the left is an official Air Mail sticker. Glued to the front of the card is a hand-painted wooden baby Jesus, with additional glitter paint finish. Straw for the manger is stencilled with red, metallic paint. Silver faceted star to finish.

I wanted to depict a message sent from Bethlehem as an air letter or postcard, as if the recipient was recieving the news of the baby being born in Bethlehem, at that time. I enjoyed making the stamp and was lucky enough to find the wooden baby blank shapes available commercially. In many ways it is very a simple card.