witchelm

I'm Kyme from the UK, I'm here because sending & receiving lovely mail always makes my day & I like to hopefully brighten others days with what I send too.

I'm an ex-librarian & currently a stay at home mum to twins which keeps me pretty busy.

My free time is mostly filled with arts, crafts, books, letter writing, true crime podcasts, cooking & unsolved mysteries.

I've been sending mail art & snail mail for almost 20 years now.

I appreciate the dark side of life so enjoy anything a bit strange, macabre & melancholy.

I almost always prefer handmade to store bought & I like my postcards naked.

My native language is English. I can also read/write beginners French & German (currently trying to learn more German)

art journalling * atcs * collage * copy art * mail art * mark making * mixed media * photography * print making * stamp carving * zine making

I usually prefer to use images & patterns cut from magazines, catalogues, packaging, junk mail etc rather than craft papers.

• abandoned buildings
• ankle socks
• arctic animals
• autoharps
• autumn
• bats
• being barefoot
• bones
• brass bands
• cabinet of curiosities
• castles
• celestial imagery
• cemeteries
• chai
• charnel houses
• cherries
• chocolate cake
• constellation maps
• craftivism
• crows
• darkness
• daydreams
• dead roses
• decadence
• dr martens
• eastern europe
• ephemera
• faded splendour
• feminism
• field recordings
• film photography
• fishing villages
• floral tea
• folklore
• forests
• frosty mornings
• germany
• gothic
• gramophones
• hansel and gretel
• history
• home haircuts
• hot chocolate
• indian food
• insence
• jane & john does
• japan
• kitsch
• lace
• launderettes
• lavender
• letter writing
• lighthouses
• lo-fi
• lomo
• magical realism
• making lists
• melancholy
• memento mori
• moomins
• the moon
• mori girl
• morris dancers
• mythology
• night time
• obituaries
• old photobooths
• ossuaries
• paganism
• pumpkins
• record players
• religious iconography
• road trips
• runes
• scandinavia
• serial killers
• shrines
• silver shoes
• southern gothic
• stars
• steam trains
• suitcase organs
• tarot
• taxidermy
• the temperance movement
• toy cameras
• thrifting
• true crime
• twinkling lights
• typography
• union banners
• unsolved mysteries
• vampires
• victoriana
• vintage cameras
• violets
• winter
• witchcraft
• woodland animals
• wunderkammer
• zines

I don't have a tv so tend to binge watch documentaries, movies & box sets in the evening while I'm creating.

TV

• american gothic
• american horror story
• arrested development
• daria
• fargo
• gilmore girls
• my so called life
• six feet under
• x-files

Movies

• american splendor
• blood on satans claw
• folk horror
• ghost world
• goodbye lenin
• grey gardens
• hammer horror
• harold & maude
• studio ghibli (especially kiki's delivery service & princess mononoke)
• wes anderson
• wicker man

• 80s goth
• chamber pop
• folk
• grunge
• murder ballads
• riot grrrl
• sea shanties
• teenage death songs

• angela carter
• anne sexton
• banana yoshimoto
• brothers grimm
• fairy tales
• ghost stories
• haruki murakami
• holly black
• poppy z brite
• ryu murakami
• sylvia plath

• diane arbus
• edward gorey
• folk art
• frida kahlo
• grayson perry
• outsider art
• sally mann
• socialist realism

• I'd love to hear about the any mysteries, fairy tales, folklore, old wives tales & urban legends from your area.
• Interesting clippings from newspapers & magazines
• Anything about true crime
• Zines
• Things with a witchy, pagan, celestial, magical kind of feel
• Hard to find camera film (127, 110, polaroid) new or expired
• Anything related to my interests above
• I prefer dark colours & jewel tones
• Anything a bit weird, grotesque, creepy etc

If a swap calls for food or drink items here are a few of my preferences

• Tea - I prefer spicy, herbal & floral flavoured teas please don't send anything fruity
• Chocolate - I love dark chocolate but milk & white is fine too. My absolute favourites are coffee, violet, lavender & rose cremes.
• My favourite flavours are hazelnut, coffee, cherry, pumpkin spice, peanut butter, florals (rose, violet etc), cinnamon & peppermint.
• I prefer not to receive hard candy, gum & lollipops - jellies, chews etc are good though!

• If a swap requires beauty or make up products - I rarely use anything on my face as I have eczema & sensitive skin so I'm very fussy about the few products I do use. Lip balm or hand cream are ok though.
• I don't really like Disney apart from The Nightmare Before Christmas
• No metal necklaces, earings, bracelets etc as I have a nickel allergy - small pendents/charms are usually fine though.
• I'm not a fan of anything too twee & cutesy