Dear Everyone ~
Last Tuesday was my red-letter day, my 7th anniversary of opening Bari Zaki Studio. It was also a red-stamp day! My envelope from Alyson with an address frame of 1959 7¢ Hawaii stamps arrived, delivered with a priceless smile by Will. The week also brought an exceptional bounty of other noteworthy mail.
First, two postcards of distinction: I have been postcard pals with both Stacey & Denise for several years now. Stacey is a calligrapher, and her postcards always feature a meaningful quote as the image, with a decorative border, and a greeting on the back. I keep my Favourites of Favourite Postcards in a special little stack, and several of Stacey’s reside there. A couple of others from her are on the Postcard Wall (where I can only savour the quote side).
Denise is an avid postcard sender to her personal correspondents, and also the proprietress of a postcard subscription service that she started back in 2007. (You might like to look at Letters Mingle Souls on Facebook! Denise’s description is delightful in the xoxtreme.) Her postcards to me always include a bit of collage or original artwork on the message side and a “framed” quote on the front.
Talk about having philatelic friends! Alyson, a.k.a. my postal muse, asked her friend Mary, who was visiting Canada, to see if 1¢ ladybug stamps were still available…for me! (As you may or may not know, I love ladybugs.) Mary, who lives in San Francisco—and is in fact the co-founder of the San Francisco Center for the Book—had visited Bari Zaki Studio pre-pandemic for an in-person shopping stop. Mary accepted the mission and reported via text to Alyson:
“ Oh you are in luck. I’ve been stopping by every post office I have passed and have gotten two sheets of 1¢ stamps here, five sheets of 1¢ stamps there. Canada Post is phasing out the low denomination stamps. As luck would have it, I went to a tourist part of town where people are not actually mailing anything other than standard letters, and they had two sheets of ladybugs which I picked up for Bari pronto. ”
Mary mailed me 10 sheets of ladybugs! So, I have 500 ladybugs to use for decorative purposes. The accompanying note is inside what turns out to be Mary’s signature notecard. On the front, she drew a little ladybug perched on a…punctuation mark that Mary and Alyson have named the EPT, for Emphatic Pause Thingy. (Quick def: A punctuation innovation to show or express emphasis within a sentence, like a semicolon with attitude.) Mary makes herself emphatic pause notecards in various colour schemes. I can’t make an EPT on my computer (at least, not yet!), but Alyson makes them on her typewriter, by typing an exclamation point and then backspacing and typing a comma.
And yet one more gift of flap-happiness: My friend Michael made me a letter opener of zebrawood. Please note that zebra contains a b and a z. My initial delirium has not diminished! I actually know Michael through Alyson, and he presented her with a “companion” black acacia letter opener he made, awesome for a correspondent whose favourite letter is…a.
As the frosting on the camaraderie cake, I received a trio of particularly lovely emails in response to my 7-year-anniversary blog post.
Tammy D. wrote:
“ 7 years! I must’ve met you early on as I have memories of browsing your store with big dreams, well before the pandemic. Congratulations on making your evolving dreams come true and, in the process, helping your patrons bring theirs to life. I just love your emails. They are little moments of meditation. – Sighing blissfully. ”
Lynn L. wrote:
“ Frankly, I'm not a Zoom class lover but your classes are the exception. I love your clear instructions and your well coordinated kits.The classes are unique and well paced and produced, making it a fun experience. Thanks again, Bari. As they say ... I'll be back. xoxo. ”
Shea M. first emailed:
“ Big Cheers to you Bari!! I hope you have a great 7th year celebration, and I can't wait to see how your business continues to expand in creative and exciting ways. I wish you all the best. ”
The following day, Shea wrote:
“ What I really wanted to say, ---I look forward to following your paper trail and listening to your paper tales! Do you think I'm a little obsessed? ”
And, my Instagram post (showing a new photo of me in the shop) received the most comments of any of my posts ever! Thanxox to everyone who shared the occasion!
In deepest bow, Bari
P.S.
Also last week, I finished assembling & shipping all the kits for the Mighty-fine-nine-signature-spine-book (MFNSSB) workshop, which debuts a week from Saturday, on July 16. As an additional layer of loveliness here at the Palette Palace, two students requested one additional kit, and one student requested two additional kits! Later this week, I will showcase several MFNSSB’s made by students in months past.