Got Snail Mail

It's officially hit "silly season" in the US with the coming & going of Thanksgiving. It's always been a bit odd for me since I moved to New Zealand about 11 years ago that I don't have that easy break from "non-Christmas" to "Christmas" that I used to with Thanksgiving. Christmas kind of starts creeping in around October but doesn't have the official start that it used to with Thanksgiving to separate it out.

What writing & snail mail themed gifts are on your list?

I prefer "shopping small", especially at this time of year to support people who own their own businesses and are trying to live their dreams. It's getting harder to do this with so many online places like Amazon and Ebay making it almost impossible for small shops to compete in brick and mortar and in their online shops.

Here are a couple writing gift ideas from small businesses I'd recommend.

Landreth Seeds is America's oldest family-owned seed company, has been in business for 229 years. They specialise in heirloom varieties. Their seed catalogues are a thing of beauty and you can get notecards reproduced from some absolutely gorgeous 1940's and 1950's style seed packets.
The veggie 12-pack is only $15.00, the flower 12-pack is only $15.00 or you can do a flower & veggie mixed 12-pack for $15.00. Very reasonable and supports a small business.

Look at the detail in these flower cards!


Dream of Italy is a small shop in New Zealand. They have a really nice selection of calligraphy items including inks and very nice, stylish stationery. Prices are in NZ dollars (which is lower than US dollars right now) & you can change the currency to several others to see what the price would be in something you are familiar with. The shipping is free on many or most items, stationery is defiintely one of them. I admit to a little bias on this one, I do know one of the owners informally. She's a very nice, caring person. She and her husband go to Italy and personally pick pick out the goods for their shop. I can speak that this is a genuine small business that tries to support local artisans and who care about their customers.

I'm going to ask my wife for the Escher cards this year for Christmas. I think they're cool.


I don't know that I'd use these but think they are rather stylish and what I'd think of when I imagine an Italian stationery set. herlander_refugee, Was this similar to a set you had once and sent me a beautiful bookmark from?


Now let's see some of the writing gifts you want or have put on your list!

"'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?