I've found 13 and see a whole bunch on there which I would LOVE to find (but won't be...). There are so many great letterboxes out there.

Last year, it seemed as if the general terms were being called more than in the past, so you never really know what's going to happen. I think the way it's set up works to everyone's advantage.

Now to fill in my Bingo sheet and get it mailed off...I really should do it before Christmas...

I agree it's a very soothing video to watch. Thanks to lonnewsom for linking to it!

But I was also confused by some of her methodologies.

I also noticed the way she did the pencil transfer. Why make your own carbon paper rather than buy some? Is carbon paper so far from common memory that people don't know about it, or is it just not available there?

Dick Blick sells it (along with many other places) and ships internationally. But I'm not sure why it's needed in the first place. I carved a bit of linoleum for a more durable sig stamp and acetone transferred it just fine. I'm guessing that would also eliminated the need for painting the surface red (and why not white?).

Then I was wondering why she used so much water. She soaked the paper in water, mostly dried it then did a print.

I'm pretty sure that's left over from an Intaglio (printmaking) process she used to use. In that process, the ink is down in grooves (as opposed to being on a raised surface). The paper must be malleable enough to be forced down into the groves, hence the soaking. Here's an engraving I did years ago, you can see around the edges of the print itself how the press indented the paper.

It also shows signing the print in pencil which is the traditional way is to sign and number art prints. Also, a pencil mark cannot be easily reproduced by computers, making it less vulnerable to fraud.

DZ

I use a random generator to set the word order..so it's just the luck of the draw for general terms vs specific ones... even if it seems to vary from year to year.

How does one join the fun??

I tried using graphite paper on linoleum recently and it did not transfer at all. Is that why she sanded the lino first? Is that common practice?

Oh, I figured that. I just wanted to make sure people who didn't necessarily have a lot of box finds or exchanges or events knew that the general terms are totally worth adding to the card.

Thanks, Adam, for all your work on this. It's such a gift to letterboxers.

So I copied this from our Great Lakes Letterboxing sight, posted by atomic beans:

"I posted BINGO 2019 word lists, rules, and grids on the Yahoo group site. Please join us for this winter tradition! Cards are due to me by 12/31/18. New to Great Lakes Letterboxing BINGO? Fill out a card, check the daily word, and then cross of your winners. Terms are based on letterboxers you've found and people you've met. Don't worry.. there is also a list of general terms for everyone's use. CHECK THE RULES, I'VE MADE A FEW TWEAKS THIS YEAR!😉"

The Yahoo group site is Letterbox Great Lakes.

Hi! Back in 2014 there was a Sea Monsters LTC swap that I hosted. A member had me keep a set for them, but they never completed their part of the swap and now are no longer active.

Since the cards have just been sitting around, first person to send me an AQ mail can have them. There are 10 cards in total. Also, if the person who gets them also wants to trade for some of my active cards, I can mail them with the set.

The set has been claimed. Have a happy holidays everyone!

I'm pretty sure that's left over from an Intaglio (printmaking) process she used to use.

On this link you provided, I noticed an example used on currency. Getting (slightly) off topic, I am in awe at the type of skill it takes to carve at that scale. Or, do they use computers to do it now days? Then I am in awe of how they did it "back in the day" when they had to do it by hand.

It also shows signing the print in pencil which is the traditional way is to sign and number art prints. [...] making it less vulnerable to fraud.

That is something I didn't know. Thanks for telling me (and others) about this.

What is a P F count, what are they for? Thank you.

P is how many letterboxes you’ve planted.
F is how many letterboxes you’ve found.
And if you come across X, that’s how many people you’ve exchanged signature stamps with.

Some people on AtlasQuest choose not to make their clues available to people who fall below a certain number of plants and/or finds.

I tried using graphite paper on linoleum recently and it did not transfer at all. Is that why she sanded the lino first? Is that common practice?

I have very limited experience with linoleum, but I’d wager that if graphite doesn’t transfer to it well then that’s the reason for the paint. She probably sanded it first to get the paint to adhere to it.

Hi there,

Our next trip will be a fall trip to the Door County Lighthouses and letterboxes. Tentative dates are Sunday, September 22 to Friday, September 27. You arrange your flights to and from Milwaukee and we’ll take care of the rest. We will rent either vans or a bus.

Visit Pinecone Adventures Facebook page and “like” it to get the latest news. If you are interested, please comment on the post about this trip.

Hope to see you on this trip that will be filled with fall beauty, the sea, lighthouses, letterboxes and, best of all, some terrific letterboxers!

Mark Pepe

Hi there,

Our next trip will be a fall trip to the Door County Lighthouses and letterboxes. Tentative dates are Sunday, September 22 to Friday, September 27. You arrange your flights to and from Milwaukee and we’ll take care of the rest. We will rent either vans or a bus.

Visit Pinecone Adventures Facebook page and “like” it to get the latest news. If you are interested, please comment on the post about this trip.

Hope to see you on this trip that will be filled with fall beauty, the sea, lighthouses, letterboxes and, best of all, some terrific letterboxers!

Mark Pepe

I love the new rules! Thanks for hosting again!

I attended an art class a couple years ago and that's how they had us transfer the images--by coloring the back instead of tracing first and just flipping it over and transferring it. With carbon paper I would think there would be movement during the transfer process. I used carbon paper at work for 10-15 years before we got copiers and lift-off tape so we didn't have to pray we didn't make a typo or have to re-type the whole thing. Oh, remember onion skin copies--yuk.

Should be quite a few boxes just outside the NW corner of the park. From an event MrOspital had there a few years back. I could do a meet and greet on a weekend except 1st weekend in February. We are about 75 miles NW of the park in Apple Valley.
Lee and Nancy

P is plants and F is finds. these restrictions are used when a box is in an exposed area and sometimes state parks or other places that you maybe shouldn't be planting but cant resist due to a feature that grabs you.

... that's how they had us transfer the images--by coloring the back instead of tracing first and just flipping it over and transferring it. With carbon paper I would think there would be movement during the transfer process.

There might be but it doesn’t matter. I used to work at a commercial art studio. One of my jobs was transferring drawings by the artist. As long as the original (top) drawing is taped down securely it doesn’t matter if there is movement of the carbon paper, the transfer will be registered properly. It’s only the top drawing that matters regardless of which process you use.

I know they don't sell these mainstream anymore, but I remember buying one from someone in the letter-boxing community a few years ago.

Does anyone have contact information of where my friend can buy one?

You can check with KnottyKnitterDirtMonkey or Kirbert who have modified gouges in the past. www.stampeaz.com used to sell minitiarized Staedtlers but they are no longer available.

Thanks--I requested approval to join. Been a while since I used Yahoo groups!

First of all, welcome back.

I've been at this for almost 10 years and can answer some of your questions, at least partially:

Why are there 2 web sites?

Why does one have boxes that the other doesn't?

I believe that some people only know about letterboxing.org and some only know about atlasquest.com. They then list their boxes on the site they know. Others prefer one site over the other. Lastly, some people list on both sites.

Many of the boxes indicate they have not been found in years. Are people just not logging them on the sites?

Yes and no. I have been doing some box maintenance and there are several finders in the logbooks that have not been recorded on Atlas Quest. Some people prefer to keep their finds to themselves. But there are also boxes which haven't been found in years. Those are such fun successes to find a letterbox that hasn't been found or recorded in a long while.

If a box shows no activity for a few years, do I even attempt to find it?

Yes! Yes! I have found letterboxes that haven't been found in close to 10 years. It's an amazing experience unearthing a forgotten treasure.

Go for it and find those boxes near you and then venture out and discover what else awaits. The best of luck in rejoining the hobby.

Even though I’ve only been at this for a couple of years I agree with AW.

There are many boxes that might not be there but for us it’s fun to search anyway. I think the loneliest box we’ve found so far hadnt been found in 9 years!

Welcome, welcome!

Why does one have boxes that the other doesn't? There are about 10 listed in my area (Marlinton WV) on one site and only 1 on the other.

I don’t have all of my boxes listed on LbNA, because I have restricted them on AQ, meaning that the boxer has to have a certain number of finds and plants (or log in as an AQ member) before they can access the clues. It is considered poor form to list a box on LBNA but have it linked to your AQ Restricted clue, because the seeker might get a “cannot access” message.

There might be more boxes on the AQ site in your area, but you can’t see them yet due to restrictions.

Nice to see you Agent N! Long time no see. Except yesterday. I think I saw you at the mall with SidekickS.

Missed this post.

Congrats to AljanSundance for the Box of the Week! I am going to have to get myself up to Grand Lake one of these days and look for the wonderful boxes up there.

Thanks, I intend to get into this. There are several mediums for prints.