Greetings from Joshua Tree
/I’ve collected postcards for a long time and have always been fond of the “Linen” postcards printed in the U.S. from the 1930s until the 1950s. The word “Linen” doesn’t refer to the material the postcards are made of, but rather the surface texture of the postcard. The cards were produced on cardstock with a high rag content, and then finished with a pattern that created a textured cloth appearance. The high rag content in the cardstock also allowed for a much more vibrant and colorful image to be printed.
I really like the texture and saturated colors of linen postcards, and their slightly soft focus, due to printing on an uneven surface. Out of all the linen postcard categories, my favorites are the Large Letter postcards. They typically have a small “Greetings from,” or “Visit” up in one corner and then the name of a place, town, city, etc. in large block letters. Inside the large block letters are local images from named place.
So I thought I'd try to create a Large Letter, Linen-style postcard from some of my photos.
And thus, Greetings from Joshua Tree was born. It was a fun experiment and learning process.
Here are some examples of real Linen Postcards from my collection
