Inox

My name is Jay, I'm 26 and living in a rainy little town in British Columbia. I'm transgendered (androgyne, so you can use whatever pronouns you like), straightedge, and a huge geek. I taught myself to write in tengwar, the elvish alphabet from The Lord of the Rings.

I'm an avid reader, mostly fantasy and some sci-fi. My all-time favourite author is J.R.R. Tolkien, which should surprise nobody. I read a lot of fairytale retellings, especially Beauty and the Beast, East of the Sun, West of the Moon, and The Twelve Dancing Princesses. I own a lot of these books, but any recommendations would be highly appreciated, just in case I find something new!

My other favourite genre at the moment is harder to define, I call it "tangible fiction" or "fictional nonfiction." I like faux how-to guides, like The Zombie Survival Guide or the Superhero's Handbook. I also include things like the Griffin and Sabine series and Barbara Hodgson's work, that blurs the line between fiction and reality.

And while it may seem unrelated, I love superhero comics. I see them much the same way as fairy tales, in that you can take the same characters and basic storylines and retell them endlessly. Marvel's Ultimate and 1602 universes are good examples. My favourite teams are the X-Men and Fantastic Four.

My biggest crafting obsession is bookbinding, I do coptic stitch bindings. I make journals and sometimes mini books with postage stamp covers. I sporadically do collage and art journalling.

• Dark blue, indigo, and grey are my favourite colours, green and purple are nice too. Really, anything except pink!
• Birds, especially bluejays!
• Botanical illustrations
• Anything to do with the stars, especially Orion
• Anything to do with the ocean
• Intricate patterns like brocade or celtic knots
• Art Nouveau and Deco
• Marbled paper
• Pomegranates
• Tengwar and other invented alphabets
• Illustrations by Arthur Rackham, Kay Nielsen, and Edmund Dulac

I'm leaving this wishlist up for now, but I'm currently in destash mode and I'm not looking to collect any more stuff. I may update this if I start swapping again.

• Letter sets in any of the themes above, or anything you think I'd like, really. As long as it's not terribly girly and pink, I probably will.
• Postcards, naked and stamped or in an envelope. It's really hard to find any around here at all, I usually have to go to Vancouver.
• Handmade books, even simple or small ones. I love seeing other people's work!
• Bookmarks. Help save my books from being dog-eared!
• Ephemera, like old maps, transport tickets, book pages...
• Old black and white photos
• Airmail envelopes! I collect them.
• Airmail labels from other countries.
• Foreign coins.
• Washi tape
• Onion skin paper

I don't collect stamps, but I love getting mail with interesting commemorative stamps. It's probably the easiest and cheapest way to make my day!

If you've got me as a partner in a postcard swap and you're stuck for what to write, I like hearing about your favourite books, the city you live in, your collections, or your favourite quote.

• Pink
• Kawaii
• Religious things
• Apple scented things (I'm not allergic, but there was this incident with a middle school bully and a bottle of apple perfume...)

Other than that, just use some common sense and put your heart into it, and I'll probably love it.