The Dying Art of Mail

My amazing Penpal & friend Emma kindly wrote a piece for me! Enjoy...

The Dying Art Of Mail.

“ I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead” - Mark Twain

Hello All,

My names Emma and I’m an Illustrator & Designer. Erin asked me to write a post for her blog and it took me a while to think of what I could write, but then it came to me. I decided that the best thing for me to talk about is what we have in common…..Pen pals. 

We have been writing for around 2 years now. I can’t remember who approached who with becoming pen pals but I’m glad we are because I’ve made a friend for life. Not everyone see’s what pen paling is all about and why should they. Majority of people are now looking for the next best technological object to take them into the future or to maybe even write there emails and correspondence for them. I think that to many people are getting stuck with there heads in there phones, computers and tablets to see the joy and gratification that you get when writing a letter and putting mail together by hand instead of typing it out on a blank screen and pressing the send button. Yes emails are quicker and you get a much faster response which is good but the art of writing a letter is quickly declining. 

There are those who are trying to keep this dying tradition alive and in an extremely creative way. More and more blogs and Instagramers are jumping on the Mail Art bandwagon and sending pretty mail all around the world. I’ve been pen paling for around 3 - 4 years now and I love sitting down and writing letters. Putting your thoughts and interests on paper and sending it to someone who you know is going to take the time to open it and read it then reply makes me happy. And yes I know that writing a letter is not for everyone because they like what they have now but for those of you who didn’t know that this was a thing then read on. If you are maybe looking to start this addictive past time then hopefully with this post I’ll be able to help with a few key points in where to find a pen pal, where to get stationery from, what to write and how to start.  

Many of you will have had the chance to have pen pals when you was younger usually with people either in other parts of the country or within Europe. I never got to do something like that when I was in school and I luckily stumbled apon this when I was going through my news feed on Tumblr one day. I was shocked to see the huge community that there was on there and even more so on Instagram when I branched out a little further. I have had some fabulous people as pen pals and some that really where just on there to get some free shit. 

So if you want to get yourself a pen pal then there are a few options on where to start. You can go over to Tumblr if you have an account or if not then there is the option of Instagram. On there you will be able to search either for tags or just subjects in general. For both you can use : pen pals, pen pal, snail mail, snail mail revolution or mail art as a few examples of where you could find out whats going on in our little community and you’ll probably find quite a few people that post pictures or ad’s for new pen pals. 

Once you establish a pen pal and exchange your address then thats where you can start thinking about stationery. If your a creative like me you may want to create your own stationery and print it but if you would like to go out and buy it there are some great places to find it. Paper chase is one place I know a lot of my pen pals adore. Me included. I could probably open my own Paperchase shop with the amount of things I buy from there. The Works and Range are a few more places you can go to. If you are maybe hoping to get some stuff cheap to start off with then I use a wonderful lady over at www.theideaowl.com I buy pretty much every month from her. She has some fabulous products and at a brilliant price. There are other people who sell on Instagram but she’s the best person in my opinion. If you are looking for envelopes, plain ones or coloured I go to the Supermarkets or to Poundland. Both good for the price.

Once you have your supplies then your ready to sit down and get started. If you have been asked to introduce yourself first and write about yourself in the first letter then please don’t stress. I know a lot of people don’t like talking about themselves but it’s easy and pain free. I usually start with saying ‘Hello, Thank you for wanting to be pen pals with me’ and then you can go into introducing yourself with your name, age, where your from, if you have a job or if your studying what it is your studying and where. Your interests and hobbies. What you love and like. Usually introduction letters don’t go on for to long I usually get them to about an A4 page. You could add questions to your letter for your pen friend such as ‘ Do you read? What’s your favourite book ?’ Simple questions to establish friendship. Once you get a reply back from your pen friend you’ll soon find common ground and the conversation should just flow naturally. 

Once you have written your letter and you’ve wrote there address on the front you’ll then be ready to post it. I know your probably thinking ‘ why is she even talking about this how hard is it to go to the post office and get a stamp’ It’s not hard at all but when you start to get more established and your looking to branch out more with your letters and send things to your partner with your letter or your looking to maybe get international pen pals then thats when things get a little more complicated in a way.

It’s good to know how much your post is going to cost before you get to the post office. I know I do as I send quite a lot. It turns out as less of a surprise when it comes to £20 - £30. Normal First and Second Class stamps are easy to remember the price of and easy to ask for. It’s up to you how you send your letter. But if you are looking to go further with your post then Royal Mail have a price guide on the website which tells you the price of the postage up to a certain amount of grams and what the cost covers. There are soon many different sized parcels and letters going to different places both International and UK. It’s crazy.

So I think I’ve rambled on enough about pen paling and everything you may need to know if your thinking of starting. It an open community of wonderful people.

Thanks for reading.

Emma Louise

Instagram - @patternandpaper

Tumblr - www.emmalouiseszostok.tumblr.com