Meet My Fountain Pen Sensei

April 06, 2016 by Tammy Wright in Letter Writing, Pens and Paper

It all started when a letter arrived almost two years ago. My pen pal had written her letter with a fountain pen and various ink colors. Her handwriting was gorgeous. I was hooked. I had to learn more about using a fountain pen.

I started out cautiously and purchased some very affordable pens: The Pilot Metropolitan and the Lamy Safari. Both of these cost less than $25 and are great starter pens. They allowed me get comfortable with the pen, take it apart, play with nib sizes, work with inks and learn more about maintenance without the worry of breaking, destroying or losing them.

Now I'm ready for the next step - I want a nicer fountain pen. So I turn to my Fountain Pen Sensei. My Fountain Pen Sensei, Tracy Lee, is a friend and fellow letter writer. Famously known as @legally_inked on Instagram, she has an amazing fountain pen collection and knows everything about pens. Whenever I have a question I send her a text and she gives me guidance.

Recently, she offered me an chance to spend a day in her enchanting personal library, view her pen collection and film answers to all my questions so I could share with others. I'll list all her resources and favorites below. To see her library, pen collection and learn what I learned, check out the following two interview videos:

Mentioned in my interview with Tracy Lee:

Nib Meisters

Daniel Smith The Nibsmith

Deb Kinney

Michael Masuyama

Outgoing: Chinese Take-Out

March 30, 2016 by Tammy Wright in Letter Writing

Inspiration for mail art can come from almost anything. For example, my niece and I recently ordered Chinese take-out from my favorite local restaurant. I don't think the restaurant has changed anything in 50 years, including their packaging. I love the retro feel of their menu, containers and glassine bags. So I decided to use them for mail art.

The menu was torn in half and used for collaging. The glassine bags which originally held pre-packaged sauces are now being used to package snail mail goodies. When I put this particular parcel together, I had a pen pal from California in mind. There's something about my local Chinese restaurant and it's traditions that remind me of San Francisco.

I hope this inspires you to look differently at items you would normally toss. Maybe they can be repurposed into something special to send a friend. What has inspired your mail art recently?

Managing Missives

March 26, 2016 by Tammy Wright in Letter Writing

One of the most popular questions I'm asked when I'm leading a letter writing workshop is "How do you keep up with all your pen pals and letters?" This is understandable and I'm happy to share.

I'm very familiar with the excitement that comes when first learning about others around the globe that want to exchange written correspondence. And because I lead workshops and manage social media accounts promoting letter writing, I have more than the average amount of pen pals. Things can get out of hand quickly if you don't have a system in place to keep track of incoming and outgoing letters.

There are several ways I stay on track. First, I keep a weekly journal and record incoming and outgoing mail. Second, I set a goal for myself to write an average of two letters per week. Third, I developed a simple filing system for all missives. If you are interested in this system, please check out the video below.

Always remember that writing letters should be a pleasure. Never feel guilty about not responding to letters immediately. Most mature pen pals will understand that and enjoy the surprise of receiving your letters at random.

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