Behind the scenes
How each letter is made
Every Dear Little Thing letter starts as a blank page — no printer, no template, no two ever quite the same. Here's what actually happens between an order coming in and an envelope landing on someone's doormat.
The idea. Each month starts with a small scene or moment — for the kids' letters, it's usually something Prickly the hedgehog has been "up to"; for the adult prints, it's often something seasonal or observational.
Pencil and ink. The illustration is drawn by hand with a fine-tip pen, then built up in ink — no digital linework, no vector tracing.
Colour. Watercolour is added by hand, piece by piece — which is part of why no two prints are perfectly identical, even within the same month's run.
The letter itself. Written by hand alongside the art, addressed personally to each subscriber (or, for the kids' version, continuing Prickly's story exactly where it left off for that child).
Sealed with wax. Every envelope is closed with an actual wax seal — not a sticker — because it felt right for something meant to feel like real correspondence rather than a marketing mailer.
Posted, by hand. Packed and posted personally, to addresses across the UK, US, and Australia so far.
Why bother doing it this way
It would be faster to print. But the entire point of Dear Little Thing is that it isn't a printed thing — it's something a real person sat down and drew and wrote and sealed, specifically because so little post anyone gets these days is like that anymore.
Curious what one actually looks like?
See the letters & prints