Today I made a trip to the post office to mail a letter.
My friend, Princess Sanet de Jager, is an Afrikaans princess in South Africa. I met her when I was eighteen on my family’s royal African tour. My castle was directly adjacent to hers, but diplomatically we waited to be introduced through a mutual friend and then began sending one another letters over the wall that separated our gardens. She was clever, loyal, and under her cool demeanor burned a passionate soul. I was overjoyed to find such a beautiful soul, but as was proper for a foreign visiting princess, I waited for her to extended her invitation to visit. Before long, she did.
She welcomed me cordially, speaking beautiful English, pushing aside the growling, rolling-eyed boerbull guardians of her house who tried to lunge as I entered the gate. Inside the castle, I felt eyes on me from every side. Later I discovered this was because thirteen cats guard the inside. Matteus, the huge gray cat, stalked past eyeing me defiantly and I didn’t dare stroke him.
This visit being a success, we had more and more visits, and finally one day, we realized we were friends. In the wake of her personal tragedy and my struggle with side effects of acne medication, we became very close friends, even though most days all we could do was email one another over the wall. Together we learned that unity was our only hope for survival. You see, in that place, almost all of the other eighteen-year-olds had started university in other countries. We were both isolated and desperately needed eachother’s support.
Next April marks seven years that I have been away from Africa and have not seen Sanet. Things are so different now: we both live on our own and travel freely, we flirt at will, we’re both enjoying careers we’re passionate about. Our friendship stays strong and will continue to do so… because we are both strong women determined to love one another through the distance.
I don’t send Sanet letters as often as I should, but recently, I decided to make and send a special one. Sometimes, in antique stores, you find lovely vintage letters on aged yellowed paper with elegant stamps… and the finest handwriting! I got interested in making paper look aged (without cheating by using coffee, which is acidic, eating your precious paper over time). Below is a step-by-step of my method for making Sanet’s letter.
First, I stamped my paper with gold:
Next, I treated the edges with water for a ripple effect:
When that dried, I brushed the edges with an ink-pad for a rough-edged, dirty look:
And last but not least, I burned the pages with fire… Putting a few spots on them as if they’d been read at night by the light of candles.
Then, I took a while to decorate the envelope.
The final touch… And of course the most fun… Was the wax seal. You can find these at any big craft supply store. I love gold, so I sealed the letter with a gold fleur-de-lis.
When the letter arrives at Sanet’s palace in Cape Town, where she lives now working as a University interpreter, I hope she has as much fun receiving it as I did making it!
And maybe one day soon, I’ll make the journey to the Cape.
I can’t wait.
-The Dauntless Princess-
