A Classic Letter

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.

The perfect accent!

The other day, while I was writing a letter on some of the Woman in Black stationery that I bought from We've Got Paper, I realized that I had the perfect accent for the black and white themed stationery.

After digging out my glue gun and seal, I topped off the envelope with this seal. I got the silver imprint by first dabbing my seal on a silver ink pad before making the imprint in my faux wax. In addition to looking neat (or so I like to think) it also makes it easier to remove the seal from the faux wax without disrupting the image.

Editorial Note: I didn't realize until after I had posted this, but this entry is officially my 100th post on Everyday Correspondence, yay!

Intricate Wax Seal

This little nugget arrived in the post today from a pen pal. It's a wonderful specimen in that it made it through the postal system completely unscathed.

Sunday Afternoon Post

It seems that Emily Post enjoyed herself a good wax seal just as much as I do. Although, she will frown upon a seal improperly affixed. She writes, "[i]f you use sealing wax, let us hope you are an adept at making an even and smoothly finished seal." Further, Emily recommends:

[c]hoose a plain-colored wax rather than one speckled with metal. With the sort of paper described for country houses, or for young people, or those living in studios or bungalows, gay sealing wax may be quite alluring, especially if it can be persuaded to pour smoothly like liquid, and not to look like a streaked and broken off slice of dough.

Recognizing that it may seem strange to both seal an envelope with glue as well as with wax, Emily acknowledges the development of envelope technologies and makes an argument steeped in economics to allow for an exception. She writes:

In days when envelopes were unknown, all letters had to be sealed, hence when envelopes were made, the idea obtained that it was improper to use both gum-arabic and wax. Strictly speaking this may be true, but since all envelopes have mucilage, it would be unreasonable to demand that those who like to use sealing wax have their envelopes made to order.

Who would have thought it? Emily Post: defender of personal expression, advocate of mail art.


This post is part of an ongoing series of posts highlighting the rules of etiquette as recorded in 1922 by Emily Post in her seminal text Etiquette.

Ladybug Wax Seal

I recently received this fun wax seal in the post from a pen pal. Sadly, it was slightly smushed in a mail sorting machine, but not enough to ruin the fun.

Postal Roadkill

ARGH! It was bound to happen sometime. I finally received a letter whose wax seal was destroyed by postal service machinery. It looked like it would have been a really great seal, too. It appears to have once been a frog.

On the plus side, I got a letter sealed with wax. That's still neat. And, the rest of the letter was in tip top condition.

Thanks to the consistently superior performance of the United States Postal Service, this is the very first "incident" I've ever had with them. But I guess every once in a while, even a finely tuned delivery machine has to goof.

What's your experience? Do you have any postal "horror stories" you'd like to share?

Cool Wax Seal

This wax seal arrived in today's post from a pen pal. It was made with Atelier Gargoyle wax and a torch, and I must say that it arrived in perfect condition. The wax has a wonderful gloss.

A Seal Unscathed

Flying in the face countless horror stories about wax seals not surviving trips through the mail that I have heard, I continue to receive envelopes with intact wax seals.


To the powers that be: I am very grateful.

Wax Seals

Most people seal their envelopes by licking the flap, some people use tape, others employ stickers... then there are some that keep it old school and take the time to seal with wax. I use wax seals infrequently, and most times when I do, I use a faux wax - because I'm terrified of the wax falling off in transit. I have one penpal, however, who always seals his letters with real wax. Somehow, all of his wax seals have made it to me virtually unscathed.


Wax can be made into seals through a variety of methods. They can be melted as candle-like sticks that drip onto the paper. Some, more traditional people, either cut up the sticks, or buy wax pebbles, and melt them in a melting spoon over a flame - often an alcohol burner, to pour just the right amount of wax onto the paper. I opt for the most modern method and purchase the wax sticks made for glue guns.


I just love way a seal looks on the back of an envelope. All of the above seals are from my penpal. I have only one seal, a simple "J".

If you want to try seals out, the glue gun wax sticks are usually under $2 a piece, each piece making around 10 seals. Instead of a metal seal, you can try stamping almost any object with an interesting image into the wax, i.e. the end of your pen (Hero pens have a nice image on their ends), your thumb (once the wax has cooled), or even a coin (dimes and pennies are the perfect sizes).