Envelopeless Letters

[Sasha Royale]

Good design ! I like your handwriting, too.

 

If I may suggest the use of paper heavier than standard copy paper.

24 pound or, better yet, 32 pound weight paper. Crisp folds.

Good, clean travel through sorting equipment is important. The

"mangle" might have been from someone else's machine jam.

 

As for proportions (aspect ratio), the equipment is designed to

favor the #10 business envelope.

 

Thanks. I'm going to try your design.

[Machismo]

This got me thinking about when I see someone sealing a letter in the movies and before that they sprinkle something on the open letter that looks like salt or something. Anyone know what it is? I assume it is like blotter paper but what is it?

 

Its called pounce. It helps dry the ink faster. You can order it throught jas townsend and son they are an 18th century re-enacting store that I frequent.

[jbb]

This got me thinking about when I see someone sealing a letter in the movies and before that they sprinkle something on the open letter that looks like salt or something. Anyone know what it is? I assume it is like blotter paper but what is it?

 

Its called pounce. It helps dry the ink faster. You can order it throught jas townsend and son they are an 18th century re-enacting store that I frequent.

I've used fine white sand to dry the ink on a letter. It was fun but it really makes a mess. I've also pounced my paper with gum sandarac to get finer lines when I write. You'd only want to do that with a dip pen as it would gunk-up a fountain pen nib.

 

pounce - a very fine resinous powder, esp of cuttlefish bone, formerly used to dry ink or sprinkled over parchment or unsized writing paper to stop the ink from running.

[PENitent]

 

 

The J Herbin supple sealing wax is not hot glue, it's wax (though the hot glue type is also available from their site).

 

I have used the supple wax and found it quite nice, though the letter I applied it to arrived sans seal: it was completely absent. I had mailed the letter from the next town over, as a test, so it didn't have far to go.

 

Whether this was due to the machinery breaking it to smithereens, or a person coveting the Egyptian scarab impression is a mystery. ^_^

 

 

Even if it isn't hot glue, it does not have the right materials in it to be a real wax seal.

[mstone]

If you create a non machineable letter will it stand a better chance of getting through unscathed or will it go through a machine to determine it can't go through a machine?

[CaptainGroovy]

This got me thinking about when I see someone sealing a letter in the movies and before that they sprinkle something on the open letter that looks like salt or something. Anyone know what it is? I assume it is like blotter paper but what is it?

 

Are you are referring to sprinkling something on a letter just after it was written before it was folded and sealed? Since paper and ink much less the nib of a quill pen was not always consistent and their was no such thing as blotting paper, instead of waiting long periods of time for the ink to dry it was a common practice to "sand" your letter or correspondence to keep it from smearing. Most all desk sets had an ink well and "Pounce Pot" or "Sanding Pot" that was more or less a salt shaker with big holes and in it would be powdered gum Sandarac, which was basically a very finely ground sand that would be sprinkled over what you had written to absorb any wet ink. The Sandarac would then be poured back into the Pounce Pot to be reused. Also in the desk set would be "Paste Tabs" that were used to seal your correspondence shut, the wax seal was used as a anti-tampering device and also to give the letter validity or in other words to prove it was authentic.

[CaptainGroovy]

The J Herbin supple sealing wax is not hot glue, it's wax (though the hot glue type is also available from their site).

 

I have used the supple wax and found it quite nice, though the letter I applied it to arrived sans seal: it was completely absent. I had mailed the letter from the next town over, as a test, so it didn't have far to go.

 

Whether this was due to the machinery breaking it to smithereens, or a person coveting the Egyptian scarab impression is a mystery. ^_^

 

 

Even if it isn't hot glue, it does not have the right materials in it to be a real wax seal.

 

Even in the time when a man or woman might send a servant or worker to deliver a correspondence it was still a common practice to use a "paste tab" to seal the correspondence and then apply his or her seal over the "paste tab". The purpose of that was since the glues on the paste tabs could be sweated \ steamed open the seal was the tamper proof mark. So do as they did back in the days of old cut a little square of paper and paste the correspondence shut and then apply your seal.

[jbb]

 

Even in the time when a man or woman might send a servant or worker to deliver a correspondence it was still a common practice to use a "paste tab" to seal the correspondence and then apply his or her seal over the "paste tab". The purpose of that was since the glues on the paste tabs could be sweated \ steamed open the seal was the tamper proof mark. So do as they did back in the days of old cut a little square of paper and paste the correspondence shut and then apply your seal.

Anyone have a recipe for paste seals?

[Northwoods]

Even in the time when a man or woman might send a servant or worker to deliver a correspondence it was still a common practice to use a "paste tab" to seal the correspondence and then apply his or her seal over the "paste tab". The purpose of that was since the glues on the paste tabs could be sweated \ steamed open the seal was the tamper proof mark. So do as they did back in the days of old cut a little square of paper and paste the correspondence shut and then apply your seal.

Anyone have a recipe for paste seals?

Have you never been in kindergarten? Library paste is simply made from equal parts flour and water (and if you cook until it thickens it's even better). Apply to a paper tab and stick in place.

[jbb]

Have you never been in kindergarten? Library paste is simply made from equal parts flour and water (and if you cook until it thickens it's even better). Apply to a paper tab and stick in place.

Yes, I DID go!!!! So that's it, just flour & water? I've got those. Can you use a sealing wax seal on them before they dry to get a shape?

[Northwoods]

Have you never been in kindergarten? Library paste is simply made from equal parts flour and water (and if you cook until it thickens it's even better). Apply to a paper tab and stick in place.

Yes, I DID go!!!! So that's it, just flour & water? I've got those. Can you use a sealing wax seal on them before they dry to get a shape?

 

From what I remember about paste, thinner is better. Thick enough for a seal impression will probably cause it to crack and flake off. Best off to use sparingly and dribble hot wax over the tab when reasonably dry.

[CaptainGroovy]

Even in the time when a man or woman might send a servant or worker to deliver a correspondence it was still a common practice to use a "paste tab" to seal the correspondence and then apply his or her seal over the "paste tab". The purpose of that was since the glues on the paste tabs could be sweated \ steamed open the seal was the tamper proof mark. So do as they did back in the days of old cut a little square of paper and paste the correspondence shut and then apply your seal.

Anyone have a recipe for paste seals?

 

I found a web site called A Victorian Passage that is quite interesting bellow I just copied and pasted the information that jbb was looking for with regards to "Paste Seals" or as they are called in this article "Wafers". However I recommend going back and if nothing else peruse the site because you might find something you did not know I did.

 

I remember a late aunt of mine making glue tabs or wafers or what ever you would like to call them years ago for her Sunday class activities and she made them with an iron and parchment paper or wax paper I am not sure which. I think if I was going to make them I would make my paste and spread it out a silt pads and use a try baking the paste at a low temperature or maybe between 2 silt pads. Just idea's to try if you what to be authentic.

 

I cheat when I make my when I fold a note into it's own envelope, I either dab a couple places with a glue stick or if I happen to have any dry mounting sheets out be it the the stuff you have to iron or the pressure sensitive stuff I use that

 

 

 

How Wafers Were Made <br style="color: rgb(55, 51, 34); font-family: Gerogia; text-align: justify; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 246); ">These are sort of like a predecessor to a sticker. Wafers were made from wheat flour which was mixed with water so as to form a thin smooth paste. The paste was then pressed between two thin polished iron plates, so joined as to form, when closed, a pair of "wafer tongs". The plates didn't quite touch each other but are separated by a space as thick as the wafers are required. The iron plates when used are slightly warmed and greased, filled with the paste, closed and held for a few moments over a charcoal fire. The heat sets the paste and on separating the tongs a thin sheet of polished dry brittle wafer will come out. Several of these are stacked and then cut into small circular wafers by means of a punch. If made only with flour then they are white, but they are oftentimes colored by mixing lamp black, gamboge, Indigo, Vermilion, and Red Lead. Transparent wafers were made of fine glue, or isinglass. After the introduction of gumming, some fancy wafers were cut from gilt or silver paper, gummed on the lower surface and usually embossed.

Edited September 14, 2012 by CaptainGroovy

[jbb]

What's a silt pad? :blink:

[CaptainGroovy]

What's a silt pad? :blink:

 

Sorry that should have been Siltpat they are are non stick backing mats that over years I have found them just as useful for arts and crafts as for their original purpose of baking or cooking.