After much consideration, I decided to respond to the modern black and white pen pal letter with a traditionally themed letter of my own. I chose to write on some of my most favorite stationery, which I use very sparingly - the Toile de Jouy which I purchased as a souvenir from Thomas Jefferson's Monticello. The design is attractive, the paper takes fountain pen ink pretty well, and the envelopes feel fantastic.
And then, as an homage to the original letter, I used a very modern art stamp for postage - my favorite set of postage stamps released in recent memory. And, I finished it off with a faux wax seal. I have no idea why, but as hard as I try, and as much as I practice - I can never seem to pull off a good wax seal on an actual letter! It drives me nuts. This time around, I even put on twice as much faux wax as I normally would, and it Still.Didn't.Turn.Out. Not that I'm going to stop using seals, but I may just have to admit it's another one of those things I'll just never be able to do, along with making a good pot of coffee and whether my father's birthday is on May 3 or 4. Oh well.
4 comments:
I am using wax seals and mine are looking as yours, just that I am using red wax. No need to worry about!
I think some of the beauty of wax seals is in their imperfections. Yours looks nice. If you want to try for perfection, I've seen folks make wax seals on wax paper, then peel up the ones they like and affix THOSE to their envelopes. That way, you're not working on a completed envelope when you might mess up. Worth a try and a nice way to practice. Also, I've found that lightly oiling the metal seal helps it pull away easier from those tiny, detailed crevices.
Good luck!
Thanks for the comments, Marcus and Dana! The silver in the seal is actually from a pad on which I dab my seal before pressing into the faux wax, so unsticking my seal isn't so much the problem as estimating the proper amount of wax necessary to make the seal. :/
James
I couldn't remember my Dad's birthday either...until he died. Now I can't forget it.
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