Dear Everyone ~
I’ve recently returned from my second “teaching trip”
to Studio Carta in Boston. Everything felt familiar, and all the logistics went smoothly.
Best of all, there were wonderful surprises…
I have a few customers in Canada, including Mya, who lives in Toronto.
As it happened, she had placed an online order the day I flew to Boston.
I emailed to let her know I’d be shipping orders when I returned to Chicago,
but that if she needed her order sooner, I’d have one of my shop assistants
assemble her package and ship it. Mya replied No worries,
adding that she had wanted to sign up for one of my workshops in Boston,
but that it was too last minute.
Then, four days later, I received an email from her, on Friday evening,
saying she had just signed up for Saturday’s workshop and booked her flight.
Yes, she came directly to Studio Carta from the Boston airport …
and went directly back to the airport after the workshop!
It was wonderful to meet her.
Barbara, another student in Saturday’s workshop,
has been an online customer for about a year now.
She lives in New York, and she drove over to Boston with her husband
for the buttonhole stitch workshop. This was her first-ever bookbinding class …
and a great success for her.
And it was wonderful for me to meet her.
Also in Saturday’s workshop was Melissa, Angela Liguouri’s assistant at Studio Carta.
She wrapped each of the 10 signatures in her book with a strip of paper
around its spine to match her cover. Yes, her spine looked divine!
I know from teaching my online class that this is a popular technique …
and I find it a charming variation. I can’t help thinking about the possibilities,
including using a contrasting signature-wrap or even a gradation of wraps.
On Sunday, Suzette, who had taken my online buttonhole-stitch class,
was one of the five students in the Coptic-stitch workshop.
She brought with her several buttonhole-stitch books she had made, for me to see.
It was a lovely moment.
Her books felt so good to hold,
and one even had hard covers—something I’ve yet to try.
The idea that I can share my knowledge, my aesthetic,
and my love of paper and books with so many people, is thrilling to me.
…I love how modern technology – e-commerce, online classes, texting –
brought all these people together at Studio Carta
to revel in the ultimate analog pastime: making books by hand.
* * * * *
On a non-workshop day, I went to Watertown to visit,
and have tea with, Lynn Faitelson.
She owns Fat Chick Press and specializes in letterpress printed wedding invitations.
Lynn had taken both of my workshops at Studio Carta last September.
Afterwards, she sent me samples of her botanical series notecards,
which I fell in love with. While I was at Lynn’s last week,
I selected several cards to offer in my shop.
(You will see them very soon-ish!)
Reveling in connectivity,
Bari