Thursday, September 10, 2009

Tissue paper tragedy

Tissue paper tragedy, front

This lovely handmade envelope came to me from the fine lady behind We Love Snail Mail, but unfortunately it didn't survive so well. What you see in the photos is not after opening, but the state in which it arrived in my mailbox.

Tissue paper tragedy, back

The sender posted about this letter on her blog, and she referred to the envelope material as vellum. I would call it tissue paper, though, as it was exceedingly thin and felt just like... tissue paper. She included a heavy card that gave it stability from the inside, but the tissue paper envelope was ripped and torn at both ends, and unfortunately at least one page of the letter fell out in transit! I only got the last page with half a sentence and a signature. It could well be that this poor letter hit an especially nasty sorting machine at just the wrong angle, and any envelope could have been mangled. But this experience leads me to believe that envelopes made out of tissue paper may not survive a cross-country journey via the postal service.

I love the idea, though, and the cheery polka dot pattern.