The Perfect Letter

[Stowford]

What is your favorite letter writing pen and nib size for personal correspondence? Do you have an ink that looks just right on the page? The perfect letter paper? How do you write the perfect letter?

[Randal6393]

Who writes letters? I usually use email. Save my writing for journaling, calligraphy, and telephone messages. Letters are so rare these days that almost any writing on almost any paper and with any writing tool is viewed as a wonderful expression of one's self.

 

But, here goes -- my usual letter-writing pen is an Ahab with a Goulet 1.1 mm nib, sharpened to cursive/crisp italic, using Waterman's Black or Aurora Black. Of course, the envelope is done in Noodler's Black. Paper is a bit freer, but any good-quality stationery that is not lined. Usually, Crane's, G. Lalo, or Rhodia/Clairfontaine. In cream or white, for the most part.

 

Since you are in Great Britian, would recommend trying for Dickinson's Three Candlesticks or Basildon Bond. Both are lovely papers. A good black or blue ink, any pen that writes smoothly and well.

 

Enjoy,

[Runnin_Ute]

Pen and ink varies with mood.

 

Just today I finished a letter that I used between 4-6 colors/pens on.

 

TWSBI 580 B Tomahawk - Diamine Blue Lightning

Noodler's Konrad - Goulet B - Diamine Red Lustre

True Writer Silver Anniversary F - Diamine Sherwood Green

Jinhao 599 M Tomahawk - Noodler's Apache Sunset

and if I recall correctly I think I also used a Cross Aventura- m with Waterman Serenity Blue

 

Two of the pages were Duke sized white Basildon Bond. It might be my favorite paper for letters, I mostly use the champagne color, this is the first pad I have had of white. I don't recall what the other three sheets were. Something a pen pal sent me. (Tomoe River maybe?)

 

I also like to use Rhodia and will mix it up. Most of the Rhodia I use is A4 size. I have it in dotpad, graph and unlined and some unlined A5. Red n Black and Leuchtturm1917 for notebooks.

[sharonspens]

As a regular recipient of Running Ute's letters (and yes, I owe him one right now!), I can attest that his letter arrive in living color.

 

My own letters are often multicolored, too. I don't have a favorite ink/pen combo for letters; I use whichever combos I have inked at a given time. I cannot imagine writing a letter in black, or blue-black, as I almost never have a pen inked in those colors. I seem to be on a brown or purple kick right now.

 

My favorite paper is Papyrus' proprietary stationery; it is a good price, and the size works well for me. I also love Crane's notecards when I have the opportunity to purchase some. In most cases, a letter from me will be two pages front and back, whether I am using regular stationery or a notebook. I can always find something to talk about.

 

Sharon in indiana

[Notgatherox]

Mine also come in colour, after being bored of seeing an entire page (or more) in the same colour. Plus, I've got many pens inked up at once and making the letters colourful really helps in finishing the inks up.

 

As for paper, currently inclined towards foolscap that takes ink well. I used to be a fan of good 100GSM paper, but that was blank paper and my penpals complained that I don't write in straight lines. So yeah, I swopped to foolscap.

 

Overseas letters are mainly Tomoe River because they keep the weight low.

 

On fancier occasions I choose to use Rhodia R or Clairefontaine Triomphe (A4 lined). I use Rhodia (A4 lined) not as much because there is a wide margin on the left - leaving much less space for me to write.

 

Yes I don't sound ambitious in choice of paper, that's because we don't have many sources of good paper locally and G.Lalo is really expensive here. Buying from overseas is also expensive

 

 

~Epic

[migo984]

Letters abound in this household. Numerous received and replied to each week. I love letters.

 

Papers: many and various, depending on mood and destination, including - Tomoegawa, Onion Skin (2 different types), Tesco Cream Laid, Leuchtturm Academy, Elco James, Elco Prestige, Basildon Bond white and champagne (A4), Lalo Toile Impėriale, Southfield Caledonia (Classic and Silk), Midori MD, Midori Light, Life Airmail, Chinese calligraphy and many others. I'm not keen on Rhodia 90gsm vellum (too yellow and squeaky/slippery) and to me Clairefontaine Triomphe is a little bit boring.

 

Inks - you name it, I'll use it. The more, the better. I don't bother about water-resistance, archive quality or other forms of permanence as I fully expect most of my letters to be binned after a while and not kept for posterity.

[bobje]

These templates created by Fountain Pen Network contributor "mrcharlie" enable us to match envelopes and paper in any kind of paper we like.

 

Isn't the letter research project in The Hague inspiring? Letter writers in the 17th century used all kinds of methods to fold letters into their own envelopes, with various forms of "locking" devices. At the time, a love letter would use a folding pattern that was more aesthetically attractive than a business letter. Recent coverage in the Smithsonian, The Guardian and Yale News, but this set of academic writings by MIT curator Jana Dambrogio provide fascinating detail.

[sandy101]

The perfect letter is one that is in the letterbox, and not in your head.

 

I like a medium nib - my Visconti Rembrandt, Parson's Italix or FB Loom are the usual suspects. My fine nibs give lines that are too thin - I struggle to read them, so I reserve them for postcards. Broads are too fat - but I use them for Greetings cards.

 

Ink depends upon who I'm writing to. For elderly relatives it's usually a saturated blue - Diamine's Sapphire Blue is a favourite. For others it's Diamine Imperial Purple, Waterman's Turquoise (South China Sea) or J Herbin's Violet Pensee.

 

Paper - I have Basildon Bond, and W H Smith's Quattro in white and cream (90gsm) with matching envelopes. I just tried one of Paperchases Writing seats, which has some beautiful bird on it, and is FP friendly, but it looks like it's been designed for one-sided use only as the back is a grey colour. It had a nice effect, but was pricey.

[breadedwolf]

i use my custom ground lamy al-star B stub, a deep saphire food dye and canson smooth drawing paper,cut to A5.

[BillZ]

I currently have 40 pens inked and use as many as I can in my letter writing. Most have Black, Blue or Blue/Black in them. I have a list of about 15 people/couples to whom I regularly send letters. In this case "regularly" means about every two weeks. I am currently using American Stationery in two different sizes, 10-7/8"x 7-1/4" and 6"x7". I like the paper and the price includes monogramming and return addressing.

[domnortheast]

Have been heading down a 18th century trip with regards letter writing these last few months so all my correspondents have been getting letters written on A4 G.Lalo Verge ,folded and sealed with wax and a brass stamp.

The pen is mostly a Bartoletti pen holder with a Geo W. Hughes White Horse steel pen and using blue/black iron gall ink.

 

All very olde worlde and great fun.

[ac12]

My preferred pen:

- Oblique dip pen holder with Nikko or Zebra G nib.

After the dip pen, no real favorite, just what I feel like using.

- Sheaffer touchdown desk pen with an F nib.

- Lamy joy, with a soft F nib that generates a variable line width.

- any other pen in my pen cup.

 

For dip pens, the ink is any one of about 8 inks that I have put into small jars.

For fountain pens, the ink is whatever I have in the pen.

For pen pal letters, I use multiple inks, just to have fun with different pens and inks. That is something only a pen person would appreciate.

 

I prefer to use blank paper, with an 8 or 9mm line spaced guidesheet under it, with an additional half space between lines, for the decenders.

My current paper is Staples, Sustainable Earth, 20# sugar cane paper. It is just a nice reliable paper.

 

If I am behind in my letter writing, like I am now, I use a fountain pen and ruled paper. Easier and faster.

 

The perfect letter requires plenty of time to think and plan the letter, and for my head to be in a nice letter writing mood. And for my hand and arm to feel like pulling out the dip pens.

Edited November 10, 2015 by ac12

[jabberwock11]

I write letters as often as time permits. It always seems to make people happy when they receive a letter. when I was in bootcamp, mail was the one thing that everyone coveted, nothing was better than getting a letter.

 

I usually use the last sheet as an envelope. I fold it into the proper shape, address the outside, and seal it with some mail safe wax.

 

My favorite combinations:

Holder: e+m cork tipped mahogany pen holder

Pen: Esterbrook 048 Falcon or Leonardt Round Hand 3 1/2

Ink: Yasutomo Traditional Chinese ink (Ultra Black) or Levenger Amethyst

Paper: Strathmore Parchment (the colored stuff looks nice and folds well into an envelope)

Wax: Letterseals.com Original Wick (Cranberry)

[pajaro]

Typically I use a Montblanc bordeaux 164 broad or a Pelikan K215 rings broad.

[brunico]

For the perfect letter, in order of importance:

1. content
2. not having lined paper (because if it looked good, books would be printed on it)
3. page layout (margins, whitespace etc. - if you know something about book design or typography, this will make sense)
4. good handwriting (with regard to no.3 for letter and line spacing)
5. paper quality
6. ink
7. the type of pen you used
8. whose production line it came off
9. whether they also make watches and underarm deodorant

For (5), anything that's a step up from copier paper will be fine. Three Candlesticks is good. Vergé de France is very good. Fabriano Florentia is excellent.

 

Clairefontaine Triomphe is a worse choice than copier paper - quite apart from being too slick for some of us to write on - because there is absolutely no interest to the texture. It is a dull, lifeless, bright white paper. When your recipient holds the paper, they will feel nothing. It is not sensuous. When they hold Three Candlesticks, they will feel something. When they hold Florentia, they will need to sit down.

[crescent2]

I've written many letters lately to my oldest grandchild who was out of state for a couple of months. I used a Clairefontaine Triomphe pad of paper with similar envelopes. This is wonderfully smooth paper that is irresistible to a fountain pen lover. My pens and inks varied with most taking a turn in the rotation, but I most often used my Pilot Metro with Pilot Kon-Peki ink or my blingy Cross Botanica with Diamine Damson ink I used Noodler's Heart of Darkness for the envelopes.

 

I enjoyed writing letters so much that it was difficult to stop when he came home!

 

Edit: Oh goodness, I just saw the comment above about the CF Triomphe paper! Heresy!! I absolutely love that paper and find excuses to write on it just for the sheer joy! My pens almost don't even need me to assist them.

Edited November 11, 2015 by crescent2

[ISW_Kaputnik]

I don't write as many letters as I would like, or perhaps I should say, as I like to think I would like. I was not a very good correspondent even in the 1970s and 80s before the advent of Email. And I was using ballpoints back then; I didn't start with fountain pens until the present century.

 

When I do send a handwritten letter these days, I don't care much about perfection, but I do like something presentable. My current letter writing paper is a pad of Tomoe River. It's very thin, with a nice sepia tone to it. If I happen to have something inked like my WWI era Waterman 12 PSF, or one of my vintage Conklin Crescents, and if it's inked with Sailor Jentle Doyou or Shigure inks, that seems as close to ideal as it's going to get.

 

But in practice, my vintage pens are used only in a long slow rotation, and may not be inked when I'm ready to write a letter. It's more likely to be one of my modern Pilots or perhaps my Montblanc Noblesse. The ink will be whatever I have in those pens, could be the Sailor inks, could be Pilot Blue-Black or Blue. The Tomoe River paper is very nice, but when it's gone I don't think I'll pay that much again. Clairefontaine is fine.

Edited November 11, 2015 by ISW_Kaputnik

[Intellidepth]

Flex nibs on any fp friendly paper, which for me excludes some listed above due to my wet setups/x-fine tips. Much as I adore textured papers, they don't see eye to eye with my favoured nibs. Different inks usually in each letter, but not always. Never black.

[MKB]

My favorite letters are those that the writers put something of themselves into. Sometimes it's the choice of ink or nib or special paper. Sometimes it's their joy for the process literally splashed across the pages. It can be their careful precision or beautiful handwriting. With others it's content, frequent responses, insights, or reminders of college life. It can be a creative envelope or flourishy addressing. A wonderful drawing or rough doodles. A quick note or a tome.

I have an older brother that has gotten into fountain pens and letter writing. I enjoy the way his heavy handed, ink splattered, doodled letters and fun content are an expression of him.

 

So my personal answer to writing the "perfect" letter is to put something into the process. That may be just writing the letter in the first place, as that's something all on its own. It could mean having a little extra fun with the process. It could mean writing every so often to that sister that will never write back, but enjoys hearing from me. It may mean using a showy ink with lettering in a calligraphic style or using a flexy dip pen.

 

Okay, specifics: I like to vary what materials I use, and wouldn't like to settle on just these statistical favorites.

 

Pen: TWSBI Eco for reliability, capacity, nib options, and performance

Nib: Smallish stub or cursive italic for the ease of adding a little interest

Ink: Burgundy-purplish browns like De Atramentis - William Shakespeare

Paper: Tomoe River or Life - Air Mail, both for performance, and something a little unusual

 

 

[Piper 987]

I like Strathmore 100% cotton paper and matching envelopes. I have several colors and try to play around with different inks to get interesting combinations. That said, I'm sure the recipient is far more interested in the content of the letter than the appearance.

 

I have dozens of pens and usually have five or six inked at any one time so it's just a matter of the mood I'm in as to which pen I use. I tend to write with a small hand and so fine nibs (or extra-fine) are usually used for correspondance. One of my favorite letter writers is my Sailor 1911 with a fine nib.

 

I have a personalized embossing stamp that I use at the bottom of the last page. I center it over my initials. It's a bit hokey but I like it.

 

I also have a personalized wax seal and I seal the flap of the envelope, usually with J.Herbin supple wax. Old fashioned sealing wax seals rarely survive today's modern postal system.