DIY Audio Postcard

Wouldn’t it be great to send a postcard that makes sound? Sure, you can email an audio postcard online, but those cards are so digital! You can’t hold it in your hand. You can’t stick an old-fashioned U.S. postage stamp on it and wait five days for your friend to get it. And they are so pre-designed! Where’s the creativity in that? Let’s make a postcard with your artwork on it. And if that postcard also happens to make a sound, all the better!

Project 1: Do-It-Yourself Postcard Maraca
Project 2: Do-It-Yourself Audio Environmental Greeting Card

PROJECT 1: Do-It-Yourself Postcard Maraca—
Make Two and You’ve Got a Set!
A maraca is a Latin-American instrument made from a gourd with pebbles or beans  inside. They are usually played in pairs. 

For this project you will need the following items:

• Several pieces of white cardstock, each piece trimmed to 4“ x 6”.
• One 1/4“ thick, 4” x 6“ white foam core with a 2.5” x 4.5“ hole cut in it
• Some paints, crayons, magic markers or colored pencils
• 2 tablespoons of uncooked rice (any kind).
• A hot glue gun, a metal ruler and a pencil

Here’s what to do:

(1) Listen to some Latin-American music with the sound of maracas in it. It’s exciting and fun to listen to, isn’t it? And it makes you want to dance! Look at some pictures of maracas or look up maracas on YouTube and watch some videos of people playing them.

(2) Now that you know what maracas look like and how they are played, make a print, drawing  or a painting on one of the pieces of white cardstock. Let your drawing express how the Latin-American music and the maracas made you feel. Take your time and draw or paint as many images as you like. Then pick your favorite one for the postcard and set it to one side.

(3) Take one of the remaining sheets of blank 4” x 6” cardstock. Draw a line down the middle of it. Try to center the line. It doesn’t have to be perfect. This will be the address side of your postcard. Write a note to your friend on the left. Put your friend’s address on the right.

(4) Take the 4” x 6“ foam core piece with the middle cut  out of it and apply some glue about 1/4” from its outside edge, all around. Press the foamcore lightly to the back of the cardstock with the address on it. Be sure to align the edges.

(5) Measure out the 2 tablespoons of rice. Pour it onto the cardstock with the foam core trim. Carefully slide the cardstock with the foam core and rice to one side.  

(6) Now take the cardstock with your artwork on it, turn it over and apply a little glue around the four sides, about 1/4” from the edge. Press your artwork. lightly but firmly, to the foam core frame with the rice in it. Let the glue set for a minute

Your maraca postcard is complete! Shake it!  Now weigh the postcard to find out how much postage you need, apply the stamps to the address side and mail it! NOTE: Check all the edges to make sure the glue has sealed the rice inside. Touch up spots, if you have to. You don’t want the rice falling out!

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PROJECT 2: Do-It-Yourself Audio Environmental Postcard:
Record It, Paint or Draw It, Send It to a Friend
For this project you will need the following items:

• 1 Talk Time A4 Recordable Postcard or 1 Vocal Greetings Recordable Greeting Card. Both are blank cards with a tiny recorder inside. You can make your own artwork on the blank face of the card and record your own audio message or sound, too.  
• To draw something on your card, be sure you have a variety of magic markers handy.
• To make a collage on your card, collect flat objects from the environment you are going to record in, and have some colored paper and magazines handy for cutting and tearing apart.
• If you are making a collage, you’ll need a glue gun to affix your collage to the card.

Here’s what to do:

(1) Explore your neighborhood, a local park or a zoo. Go to the beach, explore a city, or visit a construction site. Take notes on the most prominent sounds that you hear.

(2) Choose a sound environment to record with your postcard or greeting card. Be sure to pick a sound environment that has predictable and prominent sounds. These cards have a short recording window—typically 10 seconds. You can record again and again until you get it right, so don’t worry! But pick an audio environment that you can count on. Examples:

• Take your card to one of the Staten Island Rapid Transit stations, and you’ll get a great recording of the train coming into the station.
• Record in your school—there will be plenty of sounds to record there!
• Take your card to a street fair. There will be all kinds of sounds to record, from the ticking of the roulette wheel, to the sizzling sounds of cooking, to the laughter and screams of people.
• Take your card to the Staten Island Zoo and you’re bound to hear some animals!
• Be careful about recording on a windy day, especially at the beach. You may think you are recording the sound of the waves, but you may only hear the roar of wind.

(3) Once you have made an audio environmental recording that you like, use the colored markers to make a drawing on the front of the card that reflects the audio environment you recorded. Or use the flat items you collected in your chosen sound environment to make a collage that says something about the place where you recorded the sounds. Examples:

• At the street fair: Collect ticket stubs, candy wrappers, coffee stirrers and plastic trinkets.
• In the Greenbelt: Collect leaves, sticks, grass, bird feathers and seed pods.
• In the Staten Island Mall: Collect price tags, tossed receipts, empty gum wrappers, sales fliers and flattened food containers.

(4) If you are working with the postcard, write a message to your friend on the back, write in their address, weigh the card to see how many stamps you need, affix the stamps and mail it!  

(5) If you are working with the greeting card, write a message to your friend inside the card, put the card in the envelope, and write your friend’s address on the outside, along with your return address. Weigh the card to see how many stamps you need, affix the stamps and mail!

Train Photo by Chris Slaight.

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