I have always dreamed of opening
the mailbox and just finding a Victorian letter calling me on some kind
of adventure and alas I'm still waiting on it So I decided to be the person that makes that
happen for my friends' birthdays this year, even if they don't share the same dream I do Christmas cards every single
year, Halloween cards, letters Like most things in my life, it started pretty
simple and then it just spiraled out of control into how much stuff can I put into an
envelope and still send it with one stamp! First I'm going to collect and make a couple
of things that we will need for this process These ones are really pretty The purple ones definitely
lost a lot of their color I like to include a painting
in every letter that I do Some kind of little art piece-
completely not my sketch at all I did go out and do a couple
of floral, botanical paintings Does it look like it? Not really I added some leaves, but now I'm like...
it kind of looks really Christmassy so... To you add a little bit more to them, I did put some of the dried flowers
that I had left over on the paintings I don't know I think that um the sort of
scrap booking, found objects probably not really of the time, but when I think of
that time I do think of things like that I just made a frame- is that gonna
help save it? I really don't know I can't decide if the frame is really
ugly with this, I kind of feel like it is I watch all these videos of like fun stickers
and memo pads and washi tape on everything and um I don't have that really What I lack in monetary
value, I make up for in effort There's actually a lot of methods for aging paper
We're doing some tea dyeing here today folks! Starting out with a white piece of paper
I went into this with the thought that I was going to make it look more old and sort
of like a letter that had been lost perhaps Make a big folded crease- this
is really nice with tea dyeing Tear an edge off- super scrunched, less scrunched Sometimes it's fun to have more of a scrunched
area and then less of a scrunched area I actually did tea dye with iced tea this time
Essentially just put it into a pan that your piece of paper will fit into, submerge
it and leave it for a few minutes I'm trying not to get tea everywhere
although I will say, it's not the worst thing to get everywhere- I'd rather have
tea everywhere than super glue everywhere It's like a spa treatment, don't they do
tea baths? This is basically that for paper I treat my paper better than myself To dry my paper, I made a
makeshift clothesline in the shower I tied two of my graduation ropes
together and pinned all the paper in there After we had some paper to work with,
it was time to write our letters Dearest friend, As quick as the wings of a hummingbird, it
seems another year has passed us by again. Each season rears its head only to give
way to the next before the blink of an eye. So then, finally we have come upon the
most splendid season of all- yours. It is almost laughable to see people rejoicing
spring's daisies or summer's hush warmth, for how could they possibly compete with
November, which has given the world you? There are many reasons to love the familiar tones
of autumn, but perhaps no greater than this. It is with reverence that I ponder the fate
that has brought our lives to become so intertwined. Although there are days in which
life's song seems to be absent of your melody, I am reminded that even in the most
distant echoes are the greatest impact. Astounding even more is your generosity, kindness,
and heart. It could perhaps be likened to a hidden waterfall- not easily found, but once earned,
unceasing and with quiet beauty. Without much to offer in return, I gift a few words in exchange
for each ray of sun your friendship casts on me. In return for every enrichment you have provided,
I wish you a return tenfold in favor and fortune. Happiest days of November
and the ones which follow! With warmth and longing,
Lady Devon of the Night I did also write sonnets because I uhh...
I love poetry Here I am writing Shakespearean sonnets
because I can't afford to buy them a gift~ Traditionally letters were actually not sent in
envelopes, the actual letter that was written was folded and then sealed itself with wax.
You would just write the address on the back Decided I wanted to fold them into sort of like
a fancy shape because they wouldn't have fit in the envelope if I had folded them normally
So I found a method of folding that leaves you with a tab that you can pull
sort of to unravel the letter I also made envelopes to put some
little surprises in, I guess? Probably not surprises because I send the
same things in most of my letters, but- This is my go-to envelope folding technique, I
love it, I do it for every envelope that I fold Of course very characteristic of the time, I
really wanted to do some wax seals and include that, however- the postal service does
have issues processing those sometimes, so I decided a good solution would
be to make a smaller envelope on the inside and put the wax seal on that
so it could be in another envelope I made my own seal by sculpting a little shape
out of sculpey and attaching it to a cork I'm obsessed with Avatar: the Last
Airbender, it has shaped a lot of my life I decided to make the image on the seal the symbol from the Order of the White Lotus
I don't know, secret organizations- kind of lended itself to being sealed
and it also went with the botanical theme I put the seal onto an ice
pack to make sure it was cool Put some low temperature hot glue
onto the back of some sticker paper so that it would come off easily Press the seal into the hot glue, wait
for it to cool, and then very carefully peel it off from the seal and then
you'll have the image on the hot glue Different colors of wax were used- for informal
correspondence usually blue and green was used, for more formal correspondence red was very common
Black wax was used to signify bad news Painted most of the seal purple
and then I did details in gold Not a common wax seal combo of the time,
but I just wanted it to go with the theme Don't know if I ruined this one, I think it looks
better- way more like the Order of the White Lotus To bring back the shine that a wax seal
would have, I varnished over the whole thing Usually I include a bag of tea and some stickers I don't really have many stickers that match
this theme, I don't have many period so- As I often do, I did some hand-drawn stickers I'm using label paper and just
drawing all of the pieces on We're going to color them!
Kind of sticking to a relatively autumny color palette- maybe
it doesn't look like it, I don't know. Coloring them with markers and cutting them out I use these in various places and
then I also included some for them Stick it to a piece of paper, stick
it to their face, I don't know? So I made some little containers for
those out of plastic sheet protector Fold it up into sort of an
envelope shape and tape the sides And then I just stuck the tea inside I drew some little floral designs on the outside, included some instructions
about how long to steep the tea What am I doing? Minutes is not spelled
like that, we'll make that into the t Just stuck it closed with a sticker of course
Drew a top piece with some of the tea dyed paper Of course labeled it because I don't think
it's always that obvious that they're stickers Stapled it shut to make it look
a little bit more professional For the outer envelopes, I used a base of a
normal envelope just so that i would have the sturdiness because they like throw stuff
around in the mail I'm pretty sure so- Covered that with an old newspaper-
New York Times - January 2008 All the movie times and there's Gandalf It just gives that old like paper texture
that I really like- I'm all about textures! I don't have a brush so I'm
just gonna like use my fingers Actually I do have a brush, but I
just don't wanna have to wash it I made spaces for me to write the address
lines by using some of the tea dyed paper I just ripped off pieces and glued
them onto the front in those areas I wanted to sort of tie the
whole thing more together so I did paint some botanical sort of flower,
grassy plant pieces on the outside as well I went ahead and put a bunch
of the stickers on the outside Of course put our stamps on so that
our letters can actually arrive And then it was time to put everything
together, seal the back, and send them off! If there is one thing that I love,
it is looking at beautifully done penpaling letters- it's just
so aesthetically pleasing If you are like me and don't have a
lot of money, hopefully this can give you some ideas of things that you can
do without going and purchasing things You can make a lot of things
that you already have work I hope you enjoyed! Write your friends Victorian letters- who
doesn't want to get a fancy letter in the mail? I'm hoping my friends think the same
