The Ritual And Tradition Of Writing A Letter By Hand In The 21St Century?

[BaronWulfraed]

Even "obscenely wet" should have left a tinted paper... Was there anything showing the paper had once held ink?

[A Smug Dill]

My pen pal received a blank letter. Pages and pages of nothing.

 

Unless you wrote them in invisible ink, and require either heating of the paper or viewing the pages under ultraviolet light to see the markings, that's pretty strange.

 

Even "obscenely wet" should have left a tinted paper... Was there anything showing the paper had once held ink?

 

I agree. Even inks like Diamine Moonstone, which completely washes off the page after a five-minute soak, would still cause the bath to change colour significantly; the unreacted dye particles have to go somewhere. If the entire letter got soaked inside the sealed envelope, it is unlikely that the run-off dye could completely escape the envelope through small openings.

[thesmellofdustafterrain]

She says it's just slightly stained paper, no sign of the writing. She says she tried heating it too.

 

I wish I could remember which ink it was. I don't think it was a Pilot ink.

 

I do know I didn't put blank pages in there. It is something I am capable of doing, but I asked someone else to double check my work before I closed the envelope.

 

It's time for me to start making an ink sample log so I can discover which of my inks are waterproof and which aren't.

[A Smug Dill]

It's time for me to start making an ink sample log so I can discover which of my inks are waterproof and which aren't.

 

You may be interested in this discussion:

http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/341052-is-water-resistance-of-any-importance-for-you/

 

Do be mindful that waterproof and water-resistant are logically different ideas. Sailor kiwaguro pigment ink is extremely water-resistant, and if you soak a page written with that ink in a bath for an hour, the writing will still be there unless the paper itself disintegrated. However, it is not waterproof; if you get the page wet with just a drop of water hitting the writing, some dye (responsible for the ink's rich graphite-like sheen?) will get lifted from the paper, saturate the wet area, and then settle back down to stain the paper beneath it, possibly rendering the original writing an illegible mess.

 

I really think the kind of water-resistance testing illustrated at the end of my post over in another thread is called for, for our own peace of mind, but then it also sounds all too hard and too much trouble to do for every ink.

[Bookman]

Historical Traditions: Following. I do not follow any historical traditions that I know of other than inviting uninvited visitors into my home if they traveled a long distance to see me.

Historical Traditions: Arrivals & Departures. I do not keep track of the arrivals and departures of historical letter-writing traditions. This is a fault. I am mindful of something Yogi Berra once said: You can observe a lot by watching.

Proper Letter-writing Ink Is in the Eye of Sandy1 or Miss Manners or Both: We can use lime green if we want to or hot pink or sky blue. But that doesn’t mean it’s a good idea. Opinions and judgments about appropriate letter-writing ink colors are split into two camps: (You guessed it) Those who insist that only blue, blue-black, and black are appropriate and those who don’t. I don’t insist: to each, his or her own. I use medium-dark and dark blues; blue-blacks that are more blue than black, gray, or teal; and black inks—except for one friend whose favorite color is purple. She gets Diamine Bilberry. When in doubt, I would follow the recommendations of Sandy1 and Miss Manners. In case of conflict, I would go with Sandy1. When I receive a letter, I ask only one thing: that the writing be legible so I can read every word.

My Format: The format of my letters is storytelling. Everything I recount gets turned into a story.

Address Labels? Be serious: If you handwrite a letter, handwrite your correspondent’s address and your own. If you’re afraid of what rain or other moisture might do, use a waterproof ink for the envelope. You don’t need the same ink on the outside as on the inside. If you prefer uniformity, cover the addresses with clear sealing tape.

Words of Encouragement: Just write. Be yourself. Write from the heart. Above all, strive to be clear so you can be clearly understood. And write legibly so your correspondent can read every word.

 

[Bookman]

[BorisoftheStars]

Sad News! My pen pal received a blank letter. Pages and pages of nothing.

 

I wrote the envelope in waterproof ink, but not the letter.

 

Has anyone else had this happen?

 

Any idea how this happened? It it just from getting obscenely wet?

That happened to be. I can't remember the name of the creator of the ink, but I do know it is called Confidence Blue. It had rained at my penpal's house, and the delivery person left it out with a package, which got the ink inside to wash away. I thought of writing a letter to the post master in my penpal' area, but I do not know the address, and too much time has passed to write a letter of complaint.

[A Smug Dill]

I can't remember the name of the creator of the ink, but I do know it is called Confidence Blue.

Monteverde.

Edited March 31, 2019 by A Smug Dill

[BorisoftheStars]

 

Monteverde.

Yes, thank you.

[BaronWulfraed]

That happened to be. I can't remember the name of the creator of the ink, but I do know it is called Confidence Blue. It had rained at my penpal's house, and the delivery person left it out with a package, which got the ink inside to wash away. I thought of writing a letter to the post master in my penpal' area, but I do not know the address, and too much time has passed to write a letter of complaint.

 

If it is a US address, just

 

Postmaster

<city>, <state> <ZIP5digit>

 

should suffice (technically, just the ZIP should be sufficient to identify the post office itself, but why confuse people)

[BorisoftheStars]

 

If it is a US address, just

 

Postmaster

<city>, <state> <ZIP5digit>

 

should suffice (technically, just the ZIP should be sufficient to identify the post office itself, but why confuse people)

I'll take note of that for future reference should there be another incident. I doubt anything will come of it, though.

[thesmellofdustafterrain]

Could I have some tips for addressing the envelope?

 

I am not great at writing neatly on a blank space, so I draw some lines in pencil. Write with waterproof ink. Then try to erase the lines. But sometimes the ink smudges even though I blotted it to make certain it was dry.

 

What's a better way?

 

 

[ridiculopathy]

Could I have some tips for addressing the envelope?

 

I am not great at writing neatly on a blank space, so I draw some lines in pencil. Write with waterproof ink. Then try to erase the lines. But sometimes the ink smudges even though I blotted it to make certain it was dry.

 

What's a better way?

 

 

 

 

Have you tried erasing the lines with a kneaded eraser? That way you blot away the graphite instead of rubbing it off.

[A Smug Dill]

What's a better way?

 

Get a piece of thick paper or cardboard to use as a guide sheet, and draw/trace rectangular outlines of the size of envelopes you normally use on that.

 

Use a ruler to put some horizontal lines across those envelope outlines, such that the ends stick out past the boundaries on both sides.

 

Place envelope on the guide sheet, then put a (differently coloured) sheet of paper on top of that, such that the top edge of the coloured sheet effectively becomes a horizontal line guide joining the ends of a ruled line that are sticking out past the envelope outline. (It will also serve to protect the envelope from grease or sweat from your hand as you write the contents of each line.)

 

If you're writing in mixed case, then the top of the coloured sheet is as far as the descenders can drop, so don't use it as the baseline.

Edited April 7, 2019 by A Smug Dill

[Bookman]

Could I have some tips for addressing the envelope?

 

I am not great at writing neatly on a blank space, so I draw some lines in pencil. Write with waterproof ink. Then try to erase the lines. But sometimes the ink smudges even though I blotted it to make certain it was dry.

 

What's a better way?

 

 

 

If your envelope is not a security envelope, you might try this. I went to incompetech.com and created a guidelines template, 2.9 lines per inch, 3.0 points width. I downloaded it (free of charge) and printed it. Then I cut the finished product to fit my envelope.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I slid the guidelines into the envelope.

 

 

 

The lines being plainly visible, the addressee information is easily written in straight lines.

[linearM]

If you are interested in finding pen pals or just a bunch of people who enjoy letter writing, check out A World of Snail Mail. It is a great forum, fun people. Once you get started you will find it easier and easier. Don’t worry about formalities in personal correspondence, enjoy the conversation. I receive some very creative letters that break any convention and are just fun and interesting. I am writing about 150 letters per year.

 

Another way to find someone you might write to is if you find an interesting post here on FPN, message the author a couple times. If you think they would be interesting to correspond with suggest it in a PM. I found a pen friend in Australia that way and we have been exchanging letters for about five years.

 

Writing letters also helps justify having so many fountain pens

[kealani]

Random personal letter writing considerations specific to fountain pen users as well.

 

1. Date on lst page upper somewhere. Sometimes a location where the letter was written personalizes it further. IE: "on veranda sipping coffee at dawn".

 

2. Thank the person for the letter. "Thanks for your interesting letter of. . . . "

 

3. Read the letter you are responding to carefully and thoughtfully. Weave any questions asked into your own response letter. If not that, then answer in order posed. IE: "Yes. It's sweltering here too but not as oppressively humid as you describe. Birds sit in the shade of my front porch railings, beaks open, panting."

 

4. Bring up questions of your own that have some continuity with the letter or previous letters. Rather than an odd awkward question out of the blue. IE: "Sounds like you had a wonderful time on your vacation to Hawaii. By the way, how much money do you make?"

 

5. Try to reply in kinds. Answering a wonderfully composed 3 full sheets of writing with a single side half sheet "status report" is uncool. You would not do that in a conversation. Equitable sharing. Equitable disclosure. Not one sided where one person is highly guarded and the other is wide open and sharing. Also uncool.

 

6. In small print at the bottom of the page, or when changing pens, noting pen type and ink type. IE: 1941 Parker Senior Duofold Vacumatic with Diamine Majestic Blue. After all, perhaps the most consistent thing we have in common here is fountain pens, inks, and using them.

 

7. Please be kind and try to write as clearly and carefully as possible. Handwriting doesn't have to be fancy or elegant or have a "style". It has to be able to be read without a magnifying glass or trying to decipher the meaning of a sentence with only half the phrases legible.

 

8. Write on both sides of the page if there is "see thru" or one side if the paper is thin like Clairfontane and see thru or bleeding is an issue.

 

9. Finally. Have a friendly slow sincere and entertaining conversation. That is what is the goal. If you can make the reader laugh or smile with you, like a well written book passage, then that's wonderful. Some folks write "stiff", like a business report. That is not a conversation. So, write with no expectations of excellence.

 

j

[Tas]

Sad News! My pen pal received a blank letter. Pages and pages of nothing.

 

I wrote the envelope in waterproof ink, but not the letter.

 

Has anyone else had this happen?

 

Any idea how this happened? It it just from getting obscenely wet?

I once ironed my sons homework having pulled it badly creased from his rucksack. The notes vanished! Hed used a Pilot Frixion pen. Googled my mistake and popped it in the freezer overnight to recover it. 😐

[BorisoftheStars]

I once ironed my sons homework having pulled it badly creased from his rucksack. The notes vanished! Hed used a Pilot Frixion pen. Googled my mistake and popped it in the freezer overnight to recover it.

That is some high level black magic right there!

Just kidding

That's actually cool!

[clazbill]

Sad News! My pen pal received a blank letter. Pages and pages of nothing.

 

I wrote the envelope in waterproof ink, but not the letter.

 

Has anyone else had this happen?

 

Any idea how this happened? It it just from getting obscenely wet?

 

I've made it a personal habit to take a quick photo of every letter I send out. Helps me have a reference of when I sent the reply, what I said, and an ability to send the images if needed. It has actually been requested a few times from penpals that are on forums like these. Once a letter was lost in the mail, another time the letter was physically destroyed on accident.

 

 

 

For the main topic, I put my address on the top right on the first page of a letter. A greeting, the body, and a signature at the end. Also a list of inks used in the letter - I change pens/inks every page.

 

As for the rest - there are no real rules. Format it how you like, talk about what you like, and enjoy the process of writing, sending, receiving, and reading mail.