Suggest a monthly writing topic here!

[ariestess]

Each month, red_trillium and I will be posting up a suggested topic for you to write about in your letters during that month. You can use the suggested topic or not, that's completely your choice.

Some examples of topics could be like the following from red_trillium:

• a favourite toy or game
  
• food you like or tastes you enjoy
  
• talk a little about a hobby and what got you into it
  
• something you've always wanted but never got (ie--toy as a kid, book, etc)

If you have any suggestions for future topics, feel free to leave them in a comment here.

September's Suggested Writing Topic

[ariestess]

This month, our suggested writing topic comes from red_trillium :: Seasons.

So in your letters this month, try writing about the season you enjoy the most, or perhaps what you enjoy the most about the season you're going into in your part of the world.

You don't have to use this idea, but if you are thinking about jumping on the snail mail bandwagon and aren't sure where to start this might help.

Once you've done this, come back and tell us about it. You don't have to tell us what you wrote (it might be better if you don't, especially if you are writing to someone on your friends' list!), but at least tell us if you've written a letter or card or how many.

We'll try to put a topic up once a month to encourage people to write at least one piece of snail mail once a month. If you want to suggest topics for future months, feel free to to do here.

Sealing Wax and a Tip for Fountain Pens

[red_trillium]

"'The time has come,' the Walrus said,
'To talk of many things:
Of shoes—and ships—and sealing-wax—"

I finished Lewis Caroll's Through the Looking Glass and Alice In Wonderland today. I figured it's about time for a post about sealing wax! I know nothing about it but it seems cool, you know? The idea of receiving a letter is special enough, but one with a blob of sealing wax that has a design pressed into it is somehow more intriguing, romantic.

I did a bit of googling the other day and learned that traditional sealing wax is too hard for modern post machines. You either have to seal the letter and then put it into an envelope or have it hand-stamped. To play it safe you probably should do both to avoid damage to your letter. However there are now flexible sealing waxes that are usually put on by glue gun or are applied by the 'candle' style like the traditional hard waxes but are flexible.

Traditional sealing wax is made out of wax, resin of some sort and colouring. There are a lot of different recipes online. There are some recipes here, but I thought the Instructables version looked simple. And this LJ post is a nice, simple one to.

For those of us not able to make our own sealing wax, there is a good write up at this Letterseals that is helpful. They have a good variety of seals and waxes & other things for writing in style. I haven't ordered from them but they look like they have a good variety.

What about seals? I was excited to see The New Zealand Historic Places has both seals and sealing wax as well as a writing set. They ship internationally if you are interested. Letterseals also have, well, seals.

The person that posted the sealing wax Instructable also has how to make a Sugru seal and how to make a rock seal.


A tip for those of us who use fountain pens. When I was doing my looking around I came across a note that when fountain pens were more common people would rub wax over the address on the envelope so it wouldn't run if it got wet. I hadn't thought about that! I've got the stub of a beeswax candle and am now running that over the addresses as well as my postcards.

Do you use sealing wax? Fountain pens? Or are you more modern in your letter and card writing with a ball point pen, maybe a fine-tipped Sharpie pen or mechanical pencil? Have you come across any tips you want to share?