Presenting ’peccably Perfed Labels

Dear Everyone ~

This past week at BZS was a BZZZ of kit assembly for Hand-folded Envelope Happiness workshop via Zoom, coming up next Saturday, March 9. Overseas kits were dispatched first, natch, and the stateside kits are now winging their way to students’ mailboxes near & far & wide.
 
Backtracking a few weeks, to when I was percolating on my envelope workshop: I received an envelope via Real Mail from Cheryl M. in California. In January, Cheryl had completed the L-s-l-s with Hand-folded Envelope workshop, and has rapidly progressed from hand-folding envelope enthusiast to connoisseur status. 

The envelope structure she made me, which she referred to as an accordion, has inspired me to adapt it for the upcoming workshop. I’ve named it origami-esque gusset, and I previewed it in my workshop announcement blog post. I am truly grateful for Cheryl’s inspiration, and for her follow-up email. She wrote that my envelope-inspired-by-hers was utsukushī! I immediately googled the translation—it means beautiful. Arigata-là-là, Cheryl!

Seen above is Cheryl’s original accordion envelope. And herewith is a tour of the fine points: It’s made from thick kraft paper and lined with a printed pattern. The outer envelope has several embellishments including a strip of Stationery Store Day (SDD 2023) washi tape, Mina Perhonen’s ‘Well-dressed birds’, and splendid sprigs of pressed greenery. To secure the flap she used a 20¢ stamp from 1984. The envelope has also been cancelled on both the front & backside with the classic wavy lines. 

The Hand-folded Envelope Happiness workshop will also mark the debut of ’peccably Perfed Labels. I am perpetually grateful to Alyson, my postal muse, who deployed her math-mind skills (a subset of her envelope-arithmetic expertise) to design a symmetrical 8½ x 11 perforated-label template: three sizes co-existing cozily on one sheet. Her typesetting-wizard colleague, Olivia Bonifacio, designed the classic borders, massaged the template, and whisked the polished pdf to Portland Stamp Co., where Niko & Josh sprang into action. We could not have done it without you.

The right label for the job is, as we like to say, liable to elevate any envelope. With patterned envelopes, the label becomes a fashion accessory. One size does not fit all addresses, and one palette does not complement all patterns. 

The labels are available as a trio or individually. You can read more about them in the shop listing. And wait there’s MORE! We are also delighted to announce that a half-sheet of all three ’peccably Perfed Labels will now be included with the MORE Art of the Hand-folded Envelope kit.

If you’d like to spend a few quiet hours next Saturday morning being enveloped by beautiful papers and learning the why’s and wherefore’s of hand-folding three styles of envelope without a template—I will be delighted to ship your kit post haste! As always, no previous envelope-making or paper-folding experience is necessary. The pace is calm and there will be ample time to ask questions whilst we fold and stitch and glue.