Crossed Letter #9

It's eco-friendly. It's frugal. It's fun!

This is for those of us who have longed to receive and write a crossed letter, also called cross-hatching, like they did in Regency and Victorian England. Now we can all have a tiny piece of Austenland and gossip like Lady Whistledown's most eager confidant, while conserving our stash of pretty papers.

What, pray tell, is a crossed letter? Paper and postage used to be really expensive (nice paper still is, actually, and postage is always increasing). To save money, letter writers would write on a page using all available space, then turn it 90 degrees and continue writing on top of what they just wrote. If they were really pinching pennies, they would write their third page on the same page by turning it 45 degrees instead of 90 degrees to write diagonally. But that might be too much for our modern sensibilities.

So! For this swap, please write a crossed letter to your swap partner of at least 2 pages (that is, 1 page, crossed at least once).

Write about:

Introducing yourself

What inspired you to write a crossed letter

What other guilty period-inspired wishes or habits you may or may not have

In previous swaps, we've discussed Jane Austen and Bridgerton, which you may also do so, but this swap will be a blank canvas. Write about whatever you want.

PLEASE write legibly. If we can't read your handwriting, it's going to be even harder when trying to read a crossed letter. Take your time, write clearly.

Some people find it helps to use different colours when they change directions, but this can also be distracting. The most important thing to keep in mind is to have neat penmanship and to add an extra space between lines to make each line clearer. If you use different colours, I'd recommend using the lighter colour first and crossing with the darker colour).

-Sealing wax is not a requirement, but just keep in mind if you do decide to use it that sealing wax often falls off modern paper in the modern postal system, so just prepare your letter accordingly so it will arrive to your partner safely. Sometimes adding an extra dot of melted wax in between the papers to help anchor it even more before adding the wax seal on top can help. One idea is to seal the letter and then put that into another envelop, rather than sealing the envelop.

A crossed letter, sent on time, deserves a 5.

A flake deserves a 1. (Please. No one likes 1s. Don't flake! Send on time!) Do please be mindful of pandemic postal delays.

I'm not requiring a rating minimum, but I reserve the right to weed out those with suspicious 1s.