By Dear Chizuko (Becky Hollingsworth) 16 January 2025
I saw the sad news about David Lynch’s death today. I haven’t created any new journal posts since last month and I’ve needed to add some of the original winter cards to the website, so I would like to share my Twin Peaks card from 2022.
Twin Peaks is a TV series that was created by David Lynch and Mark Frost. It first aired on ABC in 1990 and was canceled after two seasons. A third season premiered on Showtime in 2017. I had ideas for a Twin Peaks themed holiday card for years, but my partner, Josh, often pointed out that many folks who would be receiving the cards probably hadn’t watched the series.
After our beloved dogs, Pippi and Oski, died in 2020 and 2021, I wasn’t ready to process it with one of my card projects yet, so in 2021 I created a card featuring our recently adopted dog, Luna.
I always wanted to be the Log Lady. Truly I want to do a Log Lady costume pretty much every Halloween, but so far, I’ve never got it together. (Handmade cards… Making dreams happen!)
Even though he’s never seen the series, I decided Josh’s personality most closely fit the character of Pete Martell.
My silly addition to the Josh-as-Pete-Martell character was a coffee cup with a live fish. I liked imagining a world where the “fish in the percolator” lived and became Pete’s pet.
Front image from my 2022 Twin Peaks themed holiday card.
And I thought Luna would be adorable as The Man from Another Place.
I always thought Oski would make a perfect Agent Dale Cooper, but I was never sure which character was appropriate for Pippi. In the past, I considered drawing her as Laura Palmer, but since Laura is dead for the whole series, I wasn’t sure if that would be too weird or not. After both of them were gone, though, I pictured them sitting in the red-curtained room as Coop and Laura, separated from us but still together somewhere.
Inside image from my 2022 Twin Peaks themed holiday card.
I also attempted to put together a simple poem for the inside of the card to tie some Twin Peaks references into the holidays - for example, “My Yule log” and “nights …silent as Nadine’s drape runners.” It’s cheesy but fun so I was happy with it.
My Yule log has something to tell you It sends tidings of love and warm light May your nights be silent as Nadine’s drape runners May your days be merry and bright.
My Yule log has something to tell you May your coffee be damn fine and fish free Through the winter darkness of future past Fire walk with me.
I created a few stickers to attach to the envelopes and to include with the cards as a small gift. I liked the idea of Twin Peaks stamps, so this was my first attempt at a stamp-style sticker, which I’ve continued using for most Snail Mail Club projects. I included a version of the owl cave symbol in place of the stamp denomination. I did my best with the symbol, as there were several versions of it in the show (and I think I ended up drawing it upside down anyway).
On one sticker, I included the Log Lady’s log and a slice of cherry pie. On the other, I included Pete’s fish (from my head canon) happily waving from a coffee cup and sitting in front of a percolator. Even though some of the cards were returned as undeliverable by USPS, it gave me a chance to see the stamp-stickers postmarked on the envelopes (which made me extremely happy).
I forgot to order the coffee stamps that USPS had released before they sold out, so I was disappointed that I wouldn’t have a coordinating (real) stamp. However, I did have a bunch of liberty bell forever stamps, which were given to me by a friend. While watching Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (for research, of course), I noticed a picture of the liberty bell hanging on a column in the FBI office. (A pretty flimsy connection but it’s better than nothing!)
I also created a sticker to seal the envelopes. It’s a very silly “Welcome to Twin Squeaks” sign for Luna, who loves squeaky tennis balls.
I sent approximately 160 cards to the folks on my snail mail list, which I’d been building since 2011. It took me a while to get everything together, so most of them went out in January of 2023.
The original designs were drawn on paper with ink and oil-based markers. The images were then scanned, and the final card layout was completed digitally. Each card was printed on my old Canon Pixma ink jet printer, then cut, scored, folded, and placed in envelopes by me with one of each sticker design. Stickers were also drawn on paper, scanned, printed on recyclable label paper, and cut out using a paper trimmer. Addresses were printed on envelopes from my database and then stamps and stickers were attached. Finally, I drove them across the street and dropped them at the post office in one of the outside blue mailboxes!
Postmarked stamp and stickers from one of the undeliverable cards.
A picture of the liberty bell hangs on a column in the FBI office, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me. Image from Twin Peaks Blog.