Recently Emily at Telecommuter Talk posted about wanting a pen pal. She hoped to get at least five people who were interested in corresponding with her. The response was so overwhelming that she had to draw names in order to choose. I had put my name in the hat as I have been thinking about letter-writing ever since I finished reading Clarissa.
My name was not drawn, but I have still acquired two new pen pals, Daphne and Heather. I am so excited about the prospect of corresponding with them that when Teabird at Tea Leaves tweeted about choosing ink for her Lamy fountain pen my heart went pitter patter. She told me about the Herbin ink she is falling in love with. Since part of the pleasure of writing letters is in the accessories, I had to check it out, of course, and oh does it look lovely. At the same time I discovered Herbin makes sealing wax that doesn’t dry out and break in the post which is pretty miraculous.
And then I found a little seal of a turtle (among many other fabulous designs). My current seal is a waning quarter moon. I haven’t used it in ages because the wax breaks in the mail. But now, I think I might need to get the turtle and the “supple” wax.
But that is not all. I eventually found a place that sells French stationery that is fountain pen friendly. It is good paper and reasonably priced. You can get matching envelopes that to me don’t seem so reasonably priced. But how tacky is it is to send beautiful paper in a cheap size 10 security envelope that comes in a box of 50 from Target for a few dollars? I’ll have to think about that.
I am not in need of paper and ink at the moment, but I expect with my new correspondents, assuming it goes well (and why won’t it?), I will need some nice new paper at least. I think I know what I will be asking for when my birthday rolls around.
Continuing on with the theme of missives, Flashlight Worthy has asked me to contribute a book list to their website. I’ve been mulling over what kind of list to make and thought perhaps a list of epistolary novels. Good idea? Or would something like science fiction by women be better? So many possibilities.
Epistolary novels – no question! Anyone can do a list of sf by women (in fact, I did my thesis proposal on that subject), but it takes a certain love of the subject to do something as rare and old-fashioned as episolary fiction.
Please! Please!
(waves — hi Heather!)
I hope you do better than me with the letter writing. I have all sorts of stationery which I picked up with the best of intentions. When I was in college I corresponded with a couple close friends (before email was in public use). After college my work took me to many countries and I would buy a stack of 40 or so postcards and send them off to my friends and relatives, even on my one week trips.
I don’t recall exactly when these habits vanished, but it probably started when I shifted to sales. Spending each night in a different city and hotel; and being short on sleep; really take the wind out of one’s sails. Your post has got me thinking again…
Why not go totally old school and not use an envelope? After all, the seal was originally used to keep the letter closed. It would interesting to know if a wax-sealed letter could survive high speed sorting machines intact. Perhaps a dab of glue could be used for backup.
http://www.ghh.com/elf/
Hi Pen Pal!
My first letter will, alas, not be on anything fancy, but that was only because I couldn’t wait to start writing. I will spend the time inbetween letters finding my own fun stationery stuff — I can’t tell you how fun that sounds.
Two other points:
1. They make mail-safe sealing wax (how do I know this? Because I am a geek who also loves seals and wax)
2. You can make your own matching envelopes! Not really that difficult: http://theknittedblog.blogspot.com/2007/07/make-your-own-envelopes.html
I for one will love your letters no matter in what container they arrive.
Thank you so much for the stationery and sealing wax tips (and I hope Eva, who had stationery questions, is reading this). Have fun with your new pen pals (still bummed I didn’t pick you, but if it goes well this year, and I don’t feel overwhelmed, I will probably add more next year). Meanwhile, I say go for epistolary novels, and a must-include is Jean Webster’s Daddy Long Legs (one of my all-time-favorite comfort reads. And the movie with Fred Astaire and Leslie Caron is quite good, too).
I love, love, love my fountain pens. I have a Lamy, among others…and my husband bought me a bunch of Rotring pens when a local art store went out of business. I love pens, ink, and stationery. I love that you use sealing wax! I haven’t since there was a craze for it when I was a kid, but I’m tempted to go out and try to find some! I wonder if I still have any of my old seals…
I have a handful of fountain pens; but lately I’ve only been using my cheapo Schaeffer fountain pen because it’s the only one I can find cartridges for. There are limits to small town living. Guess I’ll have to find some online so I can start using my nice pens again. Having a good pen really makes letter writing enjoyable ( in fact, in the epistolary novel “Anne of Windy Poplars”, Anne tells Gilbert she has to stop writing because her pen is too scratchy…)
What is it about quality stationery? So toothsome, so lovely! I just love the look of fountain pens, but my awful handwriting is even worse in one, so, alas, it’s a case of look and don’t touch!
I wouldn’t worry too much about the envelopes. Letters may be kept, but in my experience, the envelopes are usually discarded. I didn’t even know they made sealing wax anymore. Sounds like fun!
In UK we have a magazine type radio programme on Saturday morning that last week had an item on pen pals. It had been perceived that whilst this may have been in vogue many years ago, but in this technological age it had been eclipsed by email to the point of extinction.
Not so! In response to the feature prising pen pals, there was a deluge of letters – not emails – proving that pen pals are out there in their thousands and long may the art continue.
There was also a comment that most of the letters contained beautiful handwriting which prompts me to suggest to litlove to try a fountain pen but more importantly try a number of different nibs and in time your handwriting will improve – promise!
melanie, you are right. A list of epistolary novels it is. Thanks for the encouragement!
Bikkuri, it is difficult to write when you are tired and in a hurry and when email is so much easier. I used to write a lot of letters and long ones too but have gradually lost most of my correspondents. But, I am excited for my new ones and hope we are able to make a success of it.
Sylvia, oh you are so radical!
Thanks for the link on the letter and envelope folding. Some of those are quite fancy!
Daphne, my first letters won’t be anything fancy either since I have none of the nifty accessories at the moment except for the fountains pens and inks and the dregs of some decent stationery. That envelope link gave me some ideas though!
Emily, oh you are most welcome! I was hoping you would see them and if not I was going to email you or re-comment on your blog since I know you are a fountain pen aficionado. I hope your own correspondence goes well and hope you can squeeze me in next year. I owe you big thanks for the pen pal idea! And thanks too for the epistolary novel vote and the suggestion!
Gentle Reader, I love Lamys too. I have a couple and several other kinds of fountain pens and a few dipping pens. I dream of a Mont Blanc Mozart but I have not been able to justify spending $500 for a pen–yet
Melanie, have you thought of using bottled ink? You’d need a pen that can use a converter like the Lamy. Then the ink possibilities become nearly endless. And thanks for the epistolary novel title!
Litlove, as Bob suggests you may want to go to a pen shop and take a few for an in-store test drive. The nib makes all the difference. With the right nib even bad handwriting looks lovely
Leonsagara, true envelopes may not be kept, but it is the first thing the recipient sees when the letter arrives and I like to make it part of the whole experience. It’s like wrapping paper for Christmas presents
Bob, what cheering news! I think there must be a lot of people out there who still write letters and notes but since the majority don’t they make the assumption that no one writes any longer. I agree with you, the nib is very important. I love the way fat nibs look when other people use them but my handwriting requires a medium or fine nib or it is unreadable because the letters all run together.
I vote for epistolary novels! I love them!! I was tempted by Emily’s offer to be pen pals, but I didn’t end up entering my name, because I’m uncertain about time. But I did have a wonderful time writing letters in the past and to do it again would be fun. I would be writing my letters in horrible cursive on the back of scrap paper, however, I’m afraid. Or printing them out on the back of scrap paper. Maybe it’s better not to be a pen pal!
If you are in Japan you can stop off in Mino and make your own paper. Here’s the one I made. It is very strong and would take a fountain pen well. (Although, mine is not practical for writing.)
Now that I think about it, when I was a teenager I used to mail letters using the “standard fold,” but I used glue to seal them. Also I used a blank sheet of paper, since regular paper is so thin you can see the writing on the other side, so technically it was an envelope. Still, it was more convenient than buying envelopes because there’s always paper around.
Dorothy, I think as people have switched more and more to computers everyone’s handwriting has gotten worse. So letter writing could be a pleasant way to improve it. And letters on scraps of paper have a certain on-the-charm so don’t sell yourself short!
Bikkuri, that has got to be some of the coolest handmade paper I have ever seen!
Sylvia, why am I not surprised at how clever your were at making your own envelopes when you were a kid?