Huyze Herkert, morning room: desk accessories

mei 30, 2026

In its current state Lady Herkert can certainly give orders to her servants from her desk, but to handle her correspondence and keep track of her administration, she does need a few tools (actually a lot, so this turns out to be a fairly long post).

Writing materials seemed to me the first necessity, which in the second half of the 19th century essentially meant a dip pen and an inkstand. Luckily for all of us, the Victorians knew how to turn even the most mundane objects into true works of art (all right, sometimes a little over the top, but sooo much fun to recreate in miniature). So, the base for the ink bottles was made from “marble” (painted cardboard) with golden feet underneath (head pins cut to size) and a golden bird as decoration. The ink bottles themselves are glass beads with a black interior representing the ink, and lids made from more beads and head pins, finished with a gold jump ring as the base.

I carved the holder for the dip pen out of a toothpick with a utility knife, which went much more smoothly than expected. The nib, however, required quite a bit of perseverance. Cutting it out of a piece of metal foil was manageable, but folding and gluing this tiny little piece around the holder while keeping its shape at the same time… well, let’s just say there were a few moments when I wanted to throw the whole thing across the room.

In Victorian times clear and skillful cursive handwriting was a source of pride. You certainly didn’t want your letter (or, worse, official document) covered in ink blots! Another essential item, therefore, was a blotter to remove any excess ink. It basically is a rocking device designed to hold a piece of blotting paper. Which meant more carving, this time from a small rectangular piece of wood. A piece of handmade paper serves as blotting paper, clamped beneath a lid made of metal foil. It’s hard to see, but I engraved a pattern into it using a stylus.

While searching for images of an ink blotter, I discovered that there was also such a thing as a letter case or letter blotter, used to let letters dry after writing. I came across beautiful examples made of papier-mâché and decorated with mother-of-pearl inlay. Lady Herkert would certainly appreciate having her own example! The folder itself is made of handmade paper, the hinge of a golden ribbon, the floral decoration of tissue paper, and the golden trim of ultra-thin iron wire wrapped in gold-colored thread. I finished it off with a thick coat of glossy varnish.

Now that all the necessities for writing are at hand, envelopes, writing paper, and a wax seal stamp are required as well. I made the handle of the latter by cutting off a small piece of a railing from model shipbuilding supplies and rounding off the top with sandpaper. The seal itself is made from a flat golden bead, covered with a small circle of gold foil and finished with the letter H bent from extremely thin golden wire. Suffice it to say that the latter proved to be yet another challenge to my perseverance.