Diana Welte spends her days combining fiber, paper, beads and
whatever else finds its way onto her worktable into artist books, jewelry,
art dolls and fiber art pieces.  Postcards are among her favorite things to
make and she likes to imagine just how many people see her work – and that
of her fellow Mail Artists – as it travels across the world.  Her items are
sold under her nom d’art “Lilyweeds” out of her Augusta Kent Studio, named
lovingly for her hometown.  Examples of her work can be seen at her blog
Lilyweeds. She lives in Maysville, Kentucky.

1. Tell me a little about yourself.

My paternal grandparents opened a grocery with my grandfather’s World War I bonus,
so like my dad before me, I grew up in the family business.  We lived in the
small Kentucky town of Augusta, along the Ohio River, which made for an
idyllic childhood. My grandmother and her friends taught me needlework to
keep me busy while at the store.  Since I can remember, I’ve always worked
with my hands by drawing, crochet, knitting, and hand sewing.   My couture
sewing and knitting skills paid my way through college.  I absolutely love
to work with a needle and thread; I find it so calming.  My husband Joe and I
live in a third floor apartment which also contains my small studio space
overlooking the Ohio, in a town just a bit further upstream.  Our two
children have moved on. Our daughter is in finance and our son is an
attorney who also coaches baseball.  Our inside cat, babykitty, is a diva (she’s a
rescue and loves penthouse life) and Foo, our outside cat, earns his due by
keeping our historical building free from mice and the like.

2. Why did you join Postmark’d Art?

Simply because I was lucky enough to find such a talented group of women via
Franki Kohler’s open call on another art list.  Small scale art is something that
is interesting to me. How do you get all that expression in such a minute
spot?   I had seen The Graceful Envelope competition so mail art was a
fascination.  Postcards, especially Postmark’d Art, allowed me to combing
mail art with my love of fabric and fiber.

3. When did you start making postcards?

About ten years ago, when I was looking for a way to use up my tons of
fabric and paper scraps.  It became a challenge to see what could actually
be mailed and arrive safely.

4. How do you display your postcards?

I have a cupboard where I rotate them.  They get to sit among my favorite
yellow ware bowls and, when their ‘run’ is up, I store them in photo boxes.

5. What have been some of your favorite themes?

I love anything with color or letters.  I am really enjoying the alphabets exchange right
now  and I absolutely loved the petroglyph theme that happened recently.

6. Tell me about your other interests.

Reading, reading, reading!  I read everyday: fiction, non-fiction.  Just
love it.  I make artist books and jewelry.  Next on my list is to learn how
to make clay beads. Anything that combines fiber, paper and beads is
heavenly for me.