Dear Everyone ~
I’m delighted to announce the Witty Sampler of Summery Paperie. We have refreshed our original sampler to include four new papers, two of whose provenance is a paragon of providential papery procurement. More about that in a…paragraph. The updated sampler presents a binder’s dozen of various sheets ranging in size from a postcard—yes, an actual postcard—to 8½ x 13 (folded in half). The sampler also includes a “summery summary,” detailing the specifics of all thirteen papers: country of origin, finish, and weight. But weight, there’s more! The sampler also includes a mini pencil covered in Japanese decorative paper, for jotting down your notes & musings whilst experimenting with different mediums. The pencil is presented in a petite glassine, clipped to a large British glassine envelope (protecting all the papers). As you might imagine, the two glassines are clipped together with a…teeny butterfly-clip, likewise covered in Japanese decorative paper.
Here, for some light reading, is the serendipitous saga of the two new lightweight papers. Alyson, my postal (and paper) muse, texted me “live” from Spencers, a fabulous stationery store in Carmel where she has shopped for years and years. The shop’s office supply section apparently contains some somewhat vintage items, lingering from years past. I had mentioned to Alyson that I was on the lòókout for some lightweight papers. The proprietor of Spencers promptly produced, for Alyson’s perusal, these two boxes, which Alyson photographed and texted on the spot.
Yes, I exclaimed, Yes! Please “shop ’n’ ship” on my behalf. Well, Alyson and I are both big fans of Priority Mail, and Alyson remembered a flat-rate large Priority Mail box that she has always said looks like it was designed specifically for mailing board games. Neither of us had ever used one of these boxes…
Alyson acquired one of these at the Marvelous Main Monterey Post Office. It perfectly accommodated the two boxes of paper with room to spare for the truly most charmola paper plates I have seen in a millennium. (You will see them soon.) The parcel of lightweight papers weighed in at a little over 10 lbs. They put quite an ounce, a bounce, a spring, I mean a summer, in the Witty Sampler!
Meanwhile, back at the paper ranch: In addition to the two somewhat vintage (meaning they aren’t made any longer) lightweight papers, the updated sampler includes a Cambridge Imprint patterned paper and a sheet of Hahnemühle Cappuccino.
Whilst I was folding & cutting a few sheets of the Parchment Deed (which we must refer to henceforth as Parchment Indeed) and the Plover Bond, to see how they might behave as a mini-book, I sent a few sheets to Janet Bouldin, our in-house whimsy illustrator & watercolourist, to test. She squiggled and striped and dotted, oh my! She tried micron pen, fountain pen, and watercolour, and was thrilled at how beautifully the papers responded to all of her inks & pens. Each Witty Sampler includes a chevroned lightweight paper ribbon by Janet, attached to a 33rd year Bari Zaki Studio seal.
Each of the papers in the sampler is sold in a pad or packet on its own. Parchment Indeed and Plover Bond are each available in sets of ten sheets.
Witty Sampler of Summery Paperie
Parchment Indeed
Plover Bond
From the cockles of my heart, Bari