Letter Locking Paper

I challenged myself to make a simpler form of the letter lock Mary Queen of Scotts used when she was imprisoned in the 1500s. A few hours after she finished her complex spiral letter lock, she was beheaded and historians only recently discovered all the steps she used for her letter. My attempt is not nearly as complicated, but still serves the purpose of keeping my literary secrets.

• exacto knife
• legal sized paper 8.5-14 inches

Place paper on a surface.

Fold long edge to a 1 inch flap.

Open fold. Now fold paper from top to bottom across the short width of paper. Open fold.

Fold back the 1 inch long fold. Use exacto knife to cut a .25 inch line across the fold from the half-way fold to the bottom of the paper.

Open the fold to reveal the cut. Now fold paper slice up against the top sheet. Fold the entire paper back against itself so you have the cut paper below and paper dagger lying against top half of paper.

Fold paper dagger up. Begin folding 1.5 inch folds repeatedly until you read the top fold where the dagger is sticking out.

Fold paper from right to left so you now have a small paper packet with the paper dagger sticking out the top.

Use the exacto knife to puncture all layers of the paper in line with the paper dagger, midway down the folded paper packet shape. use a tool such as a pencil to widen the slice making space through all the layers of the paper.

Gently Pull the paper dagger through the paper packet.

Use the exacto knife to again slice through all layers, including the paper dagger which is now laying across the back of the paper packet. Again, gently pull the paper dagger through the layers to "lock" the letter.

Snip the final tail end piece of the paper dagger to complete the lock. You now have a letter that is securely locked and you will know if anyone other than the intended receiver has tampered with your message!