Free Stationery

I've always loved labels, good ones, anyway. They are like pieces of art that are as accessible as your grocery store. I've even NOT used certain cans, just because it's the last one with that label, and I can't bear to part with it (certain olives come to mind).

Not too long ago, a friend sent a note to me on the back of a wrapper for a Klondike bar. Not only is it pretty and strange, it has a personal quality that is missing from regular paper, like an additional dimension, an insight. After all, this wrapper was recently around something that was likely consumed by the note writer.

Imagine re-reading a note years from now, written on the back of a label that was designed for that time. It sets the note in a period. It makes me wish I'd considered writing notes on the backs of labels sooner. I can only imagine all the "Hi-C" notes that would be out there now.

(This post was suggested by a friend who regularly engaged in the saving of trees by reusing the backs of V-8 labels for typewriter paper, back when the labels wrapped around large tin cans.)