Valentine tip-ins and thoughts on cards

I realize Valentine's Day, 2019 is in the history books now.  However, I have been running behind all this month, so what's another well intended, albeit late post because I want to share a couple of Valentine tip-ins.  I'm also sure you can tell this is a pre-planned post because I am still too sick to visit and be up and around.

Reinker I used to color my background.  12 drops of Blazing Red in the cup.  BTW, I sort my reinkers according to type, not brand.  I have solvent (primarily Staz-on), dye, pigment, and distress inks.

I had intended to create a few Valentine cards, but I am no good making cards.  Time got away from me, so I decided I would not even try to make Valentine cards this year.  And then there's this food poisoning I can't seem to get over, which doesn't help.  However, it got me thinking about Valentine cards and the first ones.  Of course, I turned to the internet to learn what I could about them and their history.

I added 91% Isopropyl Alcohol to the ink in the cup.

According to Business News Daily:

It’s generally accepted that the world has Saint Valentine to thank for what has become known, by many a forgetful husband, as a “Hallmark holiday.” But the stories behind the real first Valentine are more interesting than you might guess.

While there’s some debate about who first sent a V-Day missive, some sources say the down-and-out Saint Valentine himself actually sent the first valentine. Enamored with his jailor’s daughter, Valentine sent her a letter before his execution.

However, while this fanciful story is compelling, it is unlikely to be true.  I found several sites that debunked this as a myth.

The next milestone in the history of Valentine’s Day came in 1382, when Geoffrey Chaucer wrote his poem Parlement of Foules. This poem contains what is widely reported and believed to be the first recorded instance of St Valentine’s Day linked to romantic love.

Back to Business News Daily:

And the British Library in London holds the oldest known surviving valentine, a poem composed in French in 1415 by Charles Duke of Orleans to his wife, which he sent while imprisoned in the Tower of London.

And lest one think that only incarcerated men were once capable of sending love notes, the British Library also possesses the oldest known valentine in the English language, a poem composed in 1477 by a woman named Margery Brews to her fickle fiancé. 

But the majority of historic valentines still in existence today came from European lovers in the Victorian period, and were handmade and hand-printed monstrosities, quite unlike the mass-produced, and relatively slender, greeting cards of the current era.

It appears that during the Victorian Era with its printing advances, Valentine cards became even more popular and the modern postal service of that time implemented the "penny post," which made it easier to mail written Valentines. Prior to that, postage was so expensive that most cards were hand-delivered and usually left on doorsteps.  I think that with the age of e-mail cards and card companies that have jumped into the electronic era, we may have come full circle and postage has once again become too expensive. 

Completed backgrounds with stamps, embossing powder, and ink I planned to use.

What struck me as strange is that many of my British friends said in their comments they left on Valentine's Day, the sending of Valentines was not nearly as popular in Britain as those in the states.  However, from everything I have found, the British actually started this craze.

In fact, according to Novareinna:

Valentine greetings have been popular since the Middle Ages, a time when prospective lovers said or sang their romantic verses. Written valentines began to appear after 1400. Paper valentines originated in the 1500s, being exchanged in Europe and being given in place of valentine gifts and oral or musical valentine greetings. They were particularly popular in England. The first written valentine (formerly known as "poetical or amorous addresses") is traditionally attributed to the imprisoned Charles, Duke of Orleans, in 1415. While confined in the Tower of London after the Battle of Agincourt, the young Duke reportedly passed his time by writing romantic verses for his wife in France. Approximately sixty of the Duke's poems remain and can be seen among the royal papers in the British Museum. They are credited with being the first modern day valentines.

By the Sixteenth Century, written valentines were commonplace and by the Seventeenth Century, it was a widespread tradition in England . . .

According to History Extra:

It was in Georgian Britain that pre-printed cards first began to appear, though these were not yet as popular as they were eventually to become. Perhaps the oldest surviving example dates from 1797 . . . was sent by one Catherine Mossday to a Mr Brown of London. It is decorated with flowers and images of Cupid, with a verse printed around the border . . . .

The Victorians may have allowed the craze to get out of hand because there is evidence and reports to suggest that by the late 1840s the amount of cards being circulated doubled, doubling once again in the next two decades.  Many of these were sent through the "penny post."

Also per History Extra:

Many Victorian Valentine’s cards survive, but most intriguing is a collection of more than 1,700 examples that is held at the Museum of London. This is the archive of the stationer Jonathan King, who ran a card-making enterprise in London. This collection, which has been digitised, demonstrates the huge array of designs, verses and sentiments that were popular with lovers in Victorian Britain. 

According to Novareinna:

Pre-Victorian valentines are virtually unavailable today, but cards have survived over a century due chiefly to the fact that they began to be mass-produced around 1850. However, the majority of early Victorian valentines were customarily made by hand from honeycombed tissue, watercolors, paper puffs, colored inks, embossed paper hearts and exquisite lace. These were truly beautifully-created small works of art, often adorned with silk or satin (in addition) to lace, flowers or feathers and even gold leaf. Such fragile honeycomb designs remained the vogue until around 1909. Some of the most unusual valentines were fashioned by lonely sailors during this time...unique cards sporting seashells of various sizes employed to create hearts, flowers and other designs, or to cover heart-shaped boxes. Sailors also sent what were known as "Busk Valentines," rounded long sticks fashioned from ivory or wood, somewhat resembling a tongue depressor but approximately five time longer. Upon these sticks, the sailor would carve hearts and other loving designs. The "Busk Valentine" was worn by the sailor's sweetheart inside her corset. It was not unusual for a manufactured valentine of this era to cost as much as a month's earnings, particularly the "proposal valentines" which were very popular and might contain the depiction of a church or a ring. In keeping with Victorian etiquette, it was considered improper for a lady to send a valentine greeting to a man.

See dear British friends?  You started this.  Why, then did it become more popular in the states, and less so in Britain?

It seems during that time, there were also "vinegar Valentines," which were created to insult.  Today, those would be acceptable, but in Victorian times, they apparently stung and were intended to hurt.

I hate to bring this up, dear British friends, but according to Novareinna again:

Some time after 1723, the popularity of valentine cards in America began to grow with the import from England of valentine "writers." A "writer" was a booklet comprised of a vast array of verses and messages which could be copied onto gilt-edged paper or other type of decorative sheet.

It appears we in the states have you in England to blame for this craze that had gotten out of hand.  Again per History Extra:

In the mid-19th century the Valentine’s card travelled across the Atlantic. Cards rapidly gained popularity in America, where they were initially advertised as a British fashion. Advanced American technologies meant that more elaborate cards were produced cheaply, encouraging their popularity yet further. In 1913 Hallmark Cards produced their first Valentine’s card, representing a key development in the commercialisation of Valentine's Day.

Stamp is inked and once stamped on colored cardstock, is ready to capture embossing powder.

Hand made tip-ins I created the day before I got sick that didn't get mailed.

One thing we have learned from all this, is this event is not nearly as modern as some might have thought and it definitely didn't start here in the good old USA.

Thanks for joining me today.  I hope you learned a bit about the history of sending Valentines.  I certainly did.