Aerogrammes now in the shop!

My newest venture in stationery.

One thing that has been requested multiple times over the years at craft shows has been aerogrammes, or fold-and-mail stationery.  I love them too, so I've had ideas forming in the back of my mind for a while about what I would design if I made my own. 

Knowing that I had the September DC Meet Market coming up motivated me to get cracking on them and I was pleased to debut my first batch of them on Saturday.  I made two designs to start with: books and mail. Big surprise, I know.  

You can see the exterior and interior in this picture of the opened bibliophile aerogramme pad.

The binding on this first batch is done with bookbinding glue and covered with book-themed washi tape, allowing the letter writer to simply pull a page out when they'd like to write.  The guidelines on the inside indicate where to cut the corners out.

The address area on the book themed ones is based off an old bookplate.
Also, the spines of the books line up on the back when it's folded (!).

The flaps already have adhesive on them so once the aerogramme is cut out, the flaps just need to be folded in to give it its shape.

Of course there are mail-themed aerogrammes. Philepistolists unite!

I think the binding is fine on these, but I'm a perfectionist and wasn't totally satisfied with the way they came out.  The next batch might be in reuseable boxes.  (Don't worry; the first-run versions on Saturday were sold at a discount.)

It would be pretty ironic if I made stationery decorated with fountain pens that didn't take fountain pen ink, wouldn't it?

You can see the instructions for the letter writer on how to assemble their aerogramme in the lower left corner.  And luckily for those among us who use fountain pens on a regular basis, these are printed on thick part-cotton, part FSC-certified eco-friendly paper that takes fountain pen ink with no trouble.  It took only a couple seconds for the ink to dry.

I mailed one to Dan to make sure they'd work alright. Whew!

Based on some feedback from friends I mailed them to, I may add a small line on the back instructing recipients how to open them.  Apparently aerogrammes are too rare a sight in one's mailbox!
To order an introductory set of 6 for $8 on Etsy:
Bibliophile Aerogrammes
Philepistolist Aerogrammes