Good evening,
and welcome to a new relaxing tutorial.
I missed paper sounds
and these are probably my favourite triggers when it comes to ASMR.
So tonight I will focus on something I've never done as a video theme before:
paper folding and more specifically, letters.
Envelopes are a quite modern invention in the History of humanity
and we really started to use them during the 19th
and even more the 20th century only,
before that, people would simply write their letter
and fold it, and sometimes lock it or seal it
so no one would open it but the recipient.
There was no specific rule when it comes to letter folding,
but starting from the 18th century we could start to see some returning methods
including some that became quite popular in the 19th century.
So let's dive straight into what I'm going to use tonight,
starting with a few really beautiful papers I've come across.
There are 2 handwritten texts.
This is a letter from Jane Austen to her sister Cassanda
that I copied on canvas paper, I think.
This is specifically made for letters.
This is a poem by Robert Frost.
But my handwriting is not really beautiful on this one,
I might no use it.
But I love this paper, this is parchment.
I've also come across these papers with printed handwriting on it.
And I think this is very pretty for origami,
especially this one.
And I have also printed
a letter from the 16th century
by Alexander VI, a pope.
This paper is probably my favourite, this is cotton paper.
It has so much character, I really like the texture.
It's not the easiest one to fold, though.
I'm not sure I will use it.
And this is umi-e japanese paper,
I'm not sure about the name.
And I have slightly aged it with a bit of coffee.
For more crinkles.
I'm also going to use sealing wax.
This is real natural wax by the way, made from pine resin,
and not these plastic sticks with a wick
that I really don't like.
I will also use a melting spoon,
I have a couple here
and sealing stamps.
I have a few different ones.
I will also use a ruler, a pen or a pencil
a bone folder,
which is optional but it makes your creases so neat.
And for the first folding I will also use a craft knife.
So, the first folding is after the last letter written by Mary Stuart
in 1587, to the king of France, Henri III.
This is one of the most interesting techniques I have seen actually.
This is a tutorial that already exists on Youtube and which is quite famous
as unintentional ASMR,
but I just wanted to make it with my own vibes.
So I'm going to use this paper.
And this is a technique that works very well wether you have a simple sheet of paper
or a double spread.
So I will start very simply by folding my letter in two,
so I can see where the middle is.
And then, this is the thing I prefer about this method,
I'm going to cut a very small strip of paper here,
starting from the middle.
I'm just going to take a wooden board.
So, starting from the middle...
Making sure it's still attached at this point, but separated from the main page
at the top of it.
I'm using a craft knife but you can do it with scissors.
Alright.
There it is.
Now I will fold it again, following my previous crease,
leaving my little strip out.
And this is when I can use my folder.
Now I will fold it again, but not up to the top,
I want to leave about 2 centimeters here.
And then simply fold in two.
And then one last time, in two again, across the width.
And we are done with the folding part.
And now I'm going to use this little strip of paper
to lock all the layers together.
So I will use the knife again...
And make a hole right at the center, near the edge,
but not on the edge, or else it won't do.
It doesn't have to be huge just about one centimeter.
But it has to go through all the layers.
Good.
Now I can put the strip through the hole.
Carefully...
And I'm going to bring it up again and go through the hole a second time,
this will be a little trickier.
There it is.
And I can tuck what's left underneath.
And that's it.
As you can see it's quite locked now,
and it would be very hard to open it without breaking that little strip of paper,
and the recipient would immediately know that someone read their letter.
Now let's jump to the 18th and beginning of the 19th century
where letter folding became more standardised
although there was still no rule.
There were slightly different versions of the one I'm going to show you,
depending on the decade,
but overall it is the simplest folding method I will show you tonight.
So, here is my letter,
and I will start by folding about two centimeters, one inch,
on each side of the letter.
Just like this.
You can also simply fold it to the middle,
as you prefer.
And then I will fold the upper part,
about 2 or 3 centimeters again,
it doesn't have to be extremely accurate.
And I will fold the bottom side in 2, almost to the top.
And as you can see, the upper folded part
and the bottom of the letter,
will overlap.
And this is what we want,
because now I will tuck this flap
into the the upper part, like this.
And the folding is done.
Quite simple as you can see.
And now let's pick a stamp.
I have...
The fleur-de-lys, which I used for one of my 18th century videos.
The tree of life,
and the flower of life's symbol,
I'm going to use this one.
And I will choose the classic red.
Some just break a little piece of the wax stick,
but I find it easier to have it melted directly from the stick,
as I can just stop when I think I have enough.
Here we go.
Usually it's quite quick.
Alright.
Let's press it.
Maybe I put a little bit too much.
Now don't be hasty, you have to wait a little bit
so it can cool down.
Alright, let's have a look.
And there you have it,
your letter directly from Jane Austen's home.
Now last letter folding...
And we're going to move forward to the Victorian era,
and less specifically, just the whole 19th century,
with a folding that was very popular:
the love card.
So not really a letter.
This is one I made a little bit earlier,
but that I haven't decorated yet.
This one is more complex than the two previous ones
as it contains a tricky part,
but I will to try to show it as slowly as I can.
So this time we're going to need a square sheet of paper.
And very accurate folds and creases.
Just cutting a regular A4 sheet of paper will be just fine,
so you will have a 21 centimeter square
and for this I will take a two-sided paper rather than a blank one
as I think it will be easier to understand which side is what.
So I'm going to need a ruler and a pencil as well.
So, the first steps are quite simple.
I will fold my square in 2 to create diagonal creases.
Same on the other side.
So I have 2 diagonals.
And then I need 3 identical parts and that's when you want to put marks
because you just can't estimate it or the final folding will drive you nuts.
So here for example I have a 21 centimeter square
so I will need a mark every 7 centimeters.
To do this I will take a ruler and put a mark at
7 and 14.
And the same on the 3 other sides.
7... 14...
7, 14...
And last one,
7... 14.
Now let's fold it in every direction.
I have my marks here.
There it's going to be easier because I have my crease here.
And here I have to be as precise as I can.
Last one...
So as a result I have 9 squares
and 2 diagonals.
Now let's turn it over to the other side.
And I'm going to fold each corner down to the opposite corner
of the center square.
So, each corner down to the opposite corner
of the center square.
And for each side, it's easier if you turn your sheet a quarter of the way round each time.
The corner down to the opposite corner,
and so on.
Last one.
And done.
Let's turn it over again.
And here comes the tricky part.
I need to fold 4 of the diagonals I have created
at the same time.
This one, this one,
this one, and this one.
I will add a few marks so you can see better.
Let's start here.
I'm folding this diagonal along the line,
it should come quite easily, don't force it.
Down across the middle,
so the corner here should match the corner of our center square.
And I will do it for each side,
keeping each part in my fingers without pressing them yet.
The first one is always easy.
Then this one, same.
This one.
And this one.
Once I have folded the 4 of them
I can press.
It should fall naturally into place.
And here is our beautiful star shape.
You will need to practice a little bit, I could only get it right
with my second sheet of paper,
and if you have succeeded with the first one,
congratulations.
Now I can fold each pointy part over the center square.
And tuck the last one, under the first one.
All that is left to do now is to decorate each part
and maybe put a little present in the small box we have here.
I'm going to take my blank version, this one was just for the tutorial,
and I will start decorating it, silently,
I may use a bit of watercolour.
And I will probably not finish it today.
I hope you enjoyed this tutorial.
And as always, I wish you a very good night.