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Komal Bhola

Letter from the Bottle : It's all in the name


bottledblue newsletter design
letter from the bottle initial designs

It was in our cozy little apartment in Reims that I had impulsively decided to do a newsletter. In a flurry of movement, charged with an indescribable, optimistic energy I sent out a forum looking for prospective subscribers.


After a few minutes, after everything was done, I sat on my chair looking at the screen when it dawned on me. I had never done this before, I didn’t even have a name for my newsletter, nor any idea of what I would say. (of course, I had things to say and share, but I always do enjoy freaking out a little after wonderful, impulsive actions)


A few breaths later, I got out my notebook and pencil and sat down to come up with a name. Something that would magically make sense, nothing did. I started wondering out loud, and that is when my partner said “bottle in the sea” I laughed because I thought he was joking at the time. I don’t know why I thought it was a joke because when I started thinking about it, it made the most perfect sense!


Bottle in the sea, I started playing with the phrase, all the linguistic nuts and bolts of it. Taking it apart until everything stopped making sense and I began doubting my knowledge of the English language.


For some context, my Instagram handle is @BottledBlue, and where this came from is a story for another time. Bottle in sea, better known in English as “message in a bottle”, I wanted to write a letter to strangers far away, what could have been better.



Here is the small page on which I (we!) worked it out. (Minus all the verbal ramblings).



I tried playing with the names of months and my letter, to see which would work. July was the guinea pig as you can see. I also got caught up in semantic implication of “in” and “from” (nuts and bolts!), my partner had checked out at this point, I think, and so had my brain.



I finally came to a conclusion which I believed to be the most logical and truest. That is how “letter from the bottle” was born.


The one thing I was sure of from the get go was the logo for the letter, I wanted it to be simple and clean, of a bottle thrown in the sea with a message inside. The final design is pretty close to the original rough.


It has been six months now since I’ve been throwing the bottle with the letter out in the world’s wide ocean, and it has been my utmost pleasure to make the acquaintance of all those who find it floating in their waters and choose to answer back.


 

If you would like to receive a letter from me at the end of every month you can sign up below. It is free :)


 


I recently made my first linocut print : my bottle in the sea motif!


more about this in the next blog post!


 

Thank you for reading about my process :)


Much love,

Komal

 


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