Today is the first day of the second month of the new year. January has whizzed by in a flurry. We are deep in the throes of winter in Chicago, and as I type this, more snow is falling and sticking than we’ve seen in a long while. I spend many hours each week in the quiet of the studio. At the intersection of hibernation and isolation, mail is more of a consolation—and an exhilaration—than ever.

January brought the latest issue (48) of UPPERCASE. If you haven’t seen it: it is ALL to do with stationery! My postal muse has contributed an Abecedary of Stationery & Epistolary Luminaries, on a beautiful spread incredibly designed by publisher Janine Vangool. (I happen to know that my postal muse is thinking about framing a copy.) My favourite entries include O for overfranking, E for envelope, and F for French fold. And X-Y-Z are more interesting than you might x-pect! If you’ve been thinking about subscribing, you can still start with the current issue.

My postal muse recently sent me a postcard (protected in an envelope from Paris, lined with red tissue), a watercolour of an airmail envelope. The skyscape is a perfect evocation for my mantra, “Look up.” Yes, I was enveloped & entranced. The pair of heart “eyes” plus the hand-cancel certainly brought a big smile to my face. Mailed envelopes offer so much opportunity for serendipity and creativity—from addressing to franking to embellishing—and a postcard inside an envelope is a...double happiness discovery.

Melanie O. in Florida mailed me a miniature storybook she had made, detailing her “love of bookbinding” chronology. In the fall of 2017, Melanie took my online bookbinding course through Sonheim Creative, discovered her delight in making books, and found her online way to my shop.

Her miniature loopy-link stitch book measures 2¾ x 3½, and its cover is a piece of Saint-Armand (from my 2020 studio sale). She’s also used teeny bits of Exquisite Scraps for collaging on numerous pages: a bonefolder, a really tiny buttonhole-stitch book, a shipping clerk’s knife et awl. The smallest book I have ever received offers such disproportionate pleasure to its divinely diminutive self!

Here is a final piece of memorable mail from last month. This envelope is the whimsy & ingenuity of a newish correspondent, Karen E. in California. She has given historian-writer-activist Arturo Schomburg (from 2020’s Harlem Renaissance stamp series) suitably smart attire. He looks bookish and fabbish, and at home with the bookshelves (pen & ink + coloured pencil) nearby. The Schomburg Center for Black Culture in New York City is still pandemically mostly closed...but wouldn’t someone there LOVE to receive such a glorious & eponymous envelope during Black History Month!

Which brings us to Fabruary! My Duo-it-yourself Valentines have sold out, but if you have your heart set on a set (so to speak), I’ll do my best to assemble a variation on the theme for you. Call or e me pronto-ly. I’ve re-replenished my reserves of Rivoli Rose notesheet pads (4⅛ x 5⅞) and matching envelope sets (4½ x 6⅜). It thrills me that this colour of envelope is perennially popular.

The teapot collage cards by Janet Bouldin have sold briskly. This week, I’ll be taking six of Janet’s new teapot collages to the framer for matting, and you will see them here very soon.

And last but not least, this Saturday and the day before Valentines Day will be the third and fourth sessions of Bookful of Accordion Art, which Cat Bennett and I are co-teaching to almost-40 enthusiasts. Cat is leading the group with abundant ideas & inspirations for drawing & painting to begin filling the first of our three accordions. I look forward to sharing the fruits of our winter season of “Bookful” accordions with you soon.

Wishing you LOVE in the air & in the mail, Bari