Glimpsing the whimsies of my mail!

Dear Everyone ~

Today, June 26, I am celebrating my 8-year anniversary as a shopkeeper on Lincoln Avenue! As I sit and type at my center table—where I also taught many bookbinding & boxmaking workshops in pre-pandemic days—my heart is smiling from ear to ear. It is here, in my expanded studio space, that I’ve connected with so many incredibly creative kindred spirits, in person, via Zoom, and lovingly through the mail!

This year, my BZS shop postcard, part of my Glimpses & Whimsies of Bari Zaki Studio, has gained a lot of attention and embellishment. I thought it apropos to showcase several creative shopfront illustrations, beginning with Emery Kennett’s (my nimble shop assistant) original, leading up to the most recent I received in the mail, and every lovely work of creativity in between.

Back in 2017, I had commissioned Emery to illustrate the entire row of charming shops (seen at top) for the neighbours page on my website. Her original pen-&-ink and gouache is now framed and hangs in the shop (seen here).

In 2019, inspired by my dear friend Janet Bouldin’s whimsical pen & ink drawings, I commissioned her to draw a few of her favourite things around the shop. My only art direction was, There is no art direction! I left it up to Janet to select what she enjoyed looking at, touching, and drawing. Here is her original 6" x 8" illustration.

Last August—Saturday the 5th, to be exact—was the inaugural Stationery Store Day. BZS was excited to participate, spreading the word, the joy, the swag. Kristen Hermanny—artist, calligrapher, penpal, and shop-by-colour customer, which you can read about here—came to visit that day, bearing a poofy envelope that she hand-folded. I could never have guessed what was inside, and was speechless beyond delight when I had decanted it to reveal a three-dimensional pop-up studio that she had furnished in a multitude of mediums. It sits prominently atop a shelf in the shop.

To celebrate the launch of the Glimpses & Whimsies postcard set, Alyson, my postal muse, and author of the cards’ enchanting captions, sent me a backless envelope she had made from a slightly enlarged B&W photocopy. Before posting the envelope, she subtly coloured just a couple of the shop fixtures and typed an address label as the welcome mat.

In April of this year, I received an unassuming hand-folded envelope in the mail from Deborah Rantz, a newish customer. I showcased her postcard in a recent blog post, April showers brought a bouquet of mail, which you can enjoy here. I describe Deborah’s work of postcard art as a “triple-tiered letter cake”. 

In May, Carla Jacobs popped into my inbox with this virtual surprise. Her caption: Does she sell coffee too? I want everything inside! melted my heart. When I replied to thank her, she said and I quote, “Today I discovered a stash of postcards from you so I expect I will continue to play with collage images of your storefront! She has since e’d me two more images, reporting that she has decided to make a concertina book with her continued inspirations. 

Carla previewed her second collage as Neighborhood watch...

... and her third as I brought a truck for everything I want to purchase! (Hilariously, Cheeky Spellcheck wants me to change “brought” to “bought”!)

Also in May, Shirley Coppi, colour pencil aficionado, longtime student, customer & friend surprised me with this cheerful greeting. Her caption was Fill in the Blanks. Her colour choices are light & bright, and I spy a couple of Luminous Lyra Colour Giant hues. I first met Shirley during a colour pencil botanical drawing class at The Botanic Gardens back in 2012. My mom was also in that class, and I love that Shirley and I have this connection.

When I first began teaching here on Lincoln Avenue, I was able to comfortably host a maximum of three students per workshop, so each of us had our own “side”, two yards worth of space for folding large sheets into signatures and enough elbow room for expansive glueing. Occasionally, I squeezed in a fifth, or even a sixth, person. Since going Zoom, I have had the pleasure of teaching as many as 40-ish students simultaneously, and have shipped kits to the north, the south, east & west coasts, and around the world.
 
I admit that one of my favourite things about teaching is creating and assembling the kits for each workshop. In recent years, these have become quite elaborate, with an increasing number of pieces. As a result my Extremely Exquisite Scraps (XXS), a long-time customer favourite, now includes Cambridge Imprint,  Grafiche Tassotti and Wanderlust papers—in addition to the original mix of Japanese Chiyogami and Katazome (new & vintage) and hand-marbled papers from a range of artists. Some of the tinier scraps in the XXS sets are edges or corners from my own bookbinding and boxmaking projects. My dear husband Zak expertly assembled the freshest batch of XXS. XOX to him!

To celebrate my 8-year anniversary (and 34 years in bookbinding), I am offering a gift-with-purchase starting today until Saturday, July 8. The anniversarial bonbon is a glassine sleeve-ful of XXS shipped with every order of $88 or more (excluding shipping, natch).

I could go on, and on and on, about scraps, and no doubt I will be writing about them again soon. For now, my deepest and heartfelt appreciation to Everyone for your continued enthusiasm, creativity & inspiration—each piece of paper, snippet, or scrap, no matter its shape or size, gets to go to a new home and be creatively repurposed. 

From the bottom of my ❤️, Bari

Envelop your mail in summer fruits

Dear Everyone ~

Today is the summer solstice, the official start of summer. Farmer’s markets are in full swing, brimming with seasonal fruits, vegetables, and beautiful bouquets of flowers. In honour of the season, we have refreshed our Summer Fruit Sampler. We added a row of the 10¢ pears by John Burgoyne—making our suite of fruit complete. And two rows (!) of Rigel Stuhmiller’s Butterfly Garden Flowers. Though Rigel’s stamps are officially for non-profit use, they definitely add a dash of panache and cheer to your envelope flaps, gift wraps, jam labels, picnic tables, &c.

For an artist, having your work on a US postage stamp is quite the plum! John Burgoyne’s series of low-denomination, high-charm fruit stamps now includes 1¢ apples, 2¢ Meyer lemons, 3¢ strawberries, 4¢ blueberries, 5¢ grapes, and 10¢ pears (a pair of pears, in fact). We love Rigel Stuhmiller’s Butterfly Garden Flowers, even though we cannot use them as postage ourselves.

We had an e-xchange with Rigel about her stamps—which we hope she will soon be able to refer to as her first stamps for the USPS. Here are some highlights:

“I handcarved the original images into linoleum blocks many times the size of the final stamps, about 6" across. I scanned them into the computer and reduced them for testing at stamp size.” 
 
“I’ve received so many letters with the stamps on them, and friends have collected their nonprofit envelopes and sent me photos. The stamps are only for official use by nonprofits, so all the letters received have been from various organizations. I’m really happy to see my artwork on the letters of nonprofits I know—and even one or two I’ve worked with—and also to see that all kinds of organizations have used them.” 

“Every organization can use these stamps, everyone can receive them… isn’t that cool? I know that every single stamp works this way, but I’ve never thought about the equality of stamps before this project. In a very (very!) (very!) small way, it makes the country seem a little more like a community.” 
 
“I had a great time working on this project. (I’m about to use a lot of loves but the sentiment is honest.) As a kid I used to dream about making stamps and so this opportunity was incredible. I love the postal service, I love our mailman, I love getting letters, and I’ve always loved the idea that everyone who mails a stamped letter is by default required to send someone a piece of artwork. I very much loved the process of working with Antonio [Alcalá]. I’ve worked with a number of art directors but he stands out as my favorite.” 

Alyson, a.k.a. my postal muse, has corresponded for years with Antonio Alcalá, who is an art director for the USPS stamp design program. (He has also designed many US stamps, which Alyson likes to use on her mail to him. We showcased several of those envelopes here.)  We were able to ask him what about Rigel’s style led him to commission her beautiful blooms, and to ask him about nonprofit stamps as a category. He replied:
 
 “I think I first saw Rigel’s work back in 2012 on an artist’s rep website. I liked the ‘less-polished,’ more natural tone to her artwork, and I was attracted to the grace and simplicity of her flower images. The two she created for these stamps complement one another.” 
 
“Nonprofit Org can be a challenging category to design for because the mailers cover such a wide spectrum. They want to have stamps with appeal to the broadest market segment possible. Flowers can be a good solution, because they generate an optimistic and positive impression on the envelope.”

Speaking of sending mail, we’ve added a baker’s dozen of Hahnemühle Bugra (HB) A7 envelopes to the Summer Fruit Sampler. They are assorted in four delicious shades: iced coffee, French vanilla, crème brûlée, and fresh toast. These envelopes are a very limited edition, freshly converted from parent sheets of HB by my dear paper-purveyor pal Pavel. If you have any other Hahnemühle items on hand (such as HB Ultimate Palette Housemade Pad or the HB envelopes & notesheets), you know that the paper’s texture is part of its distinctive charm.

Summer fruit sampler à la envelope mode
 
Deliciously, Bari

Newest nature inspired notecards by James Winrow

Dear Everyone ~

I am delighted to herald the arrival of a series of photographic notecards by artist (and photographer!) James Winrow. His newest edition of nature-inspired cards presents incredible close-ups of nests. They are mostly avian, but there are also two mouse nests, one wasp’s nest, and one emperor moth cocoon. All fairly fascinating and a bit mesmerizing.

Since I began stocking James's cards, I’ve had the pleasure of speaking with him via Zoom on a couple of occasions. It’s always a delight to commune with him about his drawings and collections, and our shared love of nature. 
 
James had sent me his nest images via email, before they were printed, and I was aswoon. Seeing them “in person” on paper revealed James’s lovely & lyrical description on the back of each card. In the shop listing, you can savour his full description for the Goldfinch.

I e’d James a few questions,  to which he has graciously replied.
 
Where & when—perhaps I mean how—do you find these nests?
 
It varies considerably. First up, timing. I won’t deal with nests in nesting season. I will often find nests when I’m out and about walking and spending time in nature—in woods, fields and hedgerows mainly. It’s actually a marvellous challenge to set yourself if you’re interested in connecting with nature more and having your eyes opened—albeit one that must be done with respect and care not to disturb the nest or birds.

Do you have a designated space in your studio for displaying them?
 
Do you know, I don’t… I’ve garnered quite a collection now, so I should really have a shelf set up for them. Perhaps that can be a project for the studio.

Do you have a specific way to document them?
 
Yes. I will set up a small photographic studio with a plain backdrop and then photograph them in natural light and with studio lights, depending on the nest and what quality to the image I’m after. Photography forms a large part of my artistic practice. It’s a useful tool for documenting and creating reference material to work from later.

Do the nests change over time, even though they’re indoors?
 
Yes, they do. They’re made of natural materials and will fade and go rusty in colour, or a washed-out brown. A bright, vivid green wren’s nest made from moss will turn to a ball of russet, grey and washed-out brown in a few months, which has a charm of its own, but I like to capture the colour and form when they’re as fresh as possible, which is what the camera is so good for. 

The nests seem quite varied. Have you found them all in your immediate vicinity?
 
Most of these nests have been found within about a half mile radius. Exceptions are one of the mouse nests, the moth cocoon, and the fragment of the long-tailed tit nest.

Do you have a favourite foot path? 
 
I actually don’t! There are some animal trails on the land here that I like to follow. I’m terrible on a walk. I can’t do the A-to-B route march. I could spend a whole day walking a 500-yd stretch of path. I meander and wander, following any little sign or track. I will often want to stop and see and look for a while. That’s where the magic happens. 

Also new from James is a portfolio envelope with string-and-button closure that holds his set of four nature inspired postcards. And when you’ve sent, shared, or framed the postcards, you can adapt your portfolio for stamps, other cards, or little treasures. If you’ve already purchased a set of James’s postcards and would like a portfolio envelope, please just e me, as James has been generous with extras.

Nests & nature objects by James Winrow
Nature inspired postcards with portfolio envelope 
 
Aswoon in mid-June, Bari

Boxful of Summer produced

Dear Everyone ~

Boxful of Summer, my tenth Bookful collaboration with Cat Bennett, begins in just under three weeks, on Saturday, June 17—right before the Summer Solstice. Students will make a drop-spine box to hold their notecards, postcards and freshly-folded envelopes. The box also has a slim divided section for the binders dozen pencils we will cover in 13 different patterns of Cambridge Imprint papers. (If you decide to display your pencils elsewhere, of course you can keep other writing implements, or strips of postage stamps, in that compartment.) The drop-spine box will likewise be covered and lined in a complementary pair of “Cambridge riches”. 

Last week, I organized and assembled the papers, bookcloths, and extensive etceteras for the kit of materials, which you can read more about here. The center table was aglow with pattern & colour. And, as I type, a large armful of parcels are already en route to destinations from coast to coast in the U.S. & Canada.

Cat and I anticipate that students will be eager to mail the cards they make—and their companion hand-folded envelopes. So, I have devised a “replenishment set”, which is a first for me. It includes all the papery materials for making & mailing a fresh supply: Stonehenge cover weight paper, a sheaflet of Cat’s favourite drawing paper, Cambridge Imprint papers from the Special Starry box set for hand-folding yet more envelopes, a large glassine brimming with Cambridge Imprint scraps (for collaging, lining & general embellishing), ranging in size from 1 x 4 to 7 x 9 inches, plus a philatelic stock page with 77 summer fruit stamps issued by the USPS in diminutive denominations: 1¢ apples, 2¢ lemons, 3¢ strawberries, 4¢ blueberries & 5¢ grapes. They are perfect for franking, embellishing, sealing, or even inspiring an artwork. And, of course, they are all in mint condition!

Cat loves to incorporate stamps in her drawings and collages, and sometimes they are the starting point of the work itself. When we were musing on what our next Bookful series would be, correspondence struck the perfect note. Cat’s creativity continues, time and again, to inspire me. Savor her description of making & sending summery mail:
 
“I have long been an avid sender of letters and cards, and I love the idea of small pieces of original art flying around the planet in handmade envelopes, ready to surprise and uplift their recipients. Just looking at my tin of cake watercolors was enough to get me started making cards of summer pleasures. There are lettuce greens and iris purples and plum plums! I’m not sure which comes first in beginning such work—the subject or the colour. I do know it all just comes together once we dip our brushes into the paint and make our first marks on paper. I start with scrap paper and splash about a bit making rough sketches in a quick, playful way. Then I move onto the cards I want to make and send. And somewhere in the back of my mind is the thought of a friend finding a happy surprise in their mail one summer day.”

If you are considering joining us, there is still time to ship your kit(s). As always, Cat & I like to emphasize, especially if you are a Bookful newcomer, that absolutely no drawing, painting, collaging, or boxmaking experience is necessary. The pace and camaraderie are truly zen. (Plus you will have complete videos to watch and rewatch—all 12 hours-ful!)
 
Boxful of Summer
Replenishment Set
 
Summer zooming, Bari

April showers brought a bouquet of marvelous mail

Dear Everyone ~

April was National Card and Letter Writing Month (NCLWM) month. My “outgoings,” as Constance McCarthy refers to hers, were slightly slim (though not anemic). I am delighted to have received a very large handful of creative missives & postcards from far & wide, and close by. I’d like to share a few with you, for their diversity, their charm, and their reflecting of their senders’ generosity of epistolary spirit.

Deborah from Monterey sent me a triple-tiered letter cake. The centerpiece of her confection is the official postcard of my shopfront (shown at top), lavishly & brilliantly embellished by Deborah. She went so far as to open my front door, revealing a veritable wonderful of papery surprise. The printed caption on the back of the BZS postcard, illustrated by my friend Janet Bouldin, reads: Welcome to my world, wherein all you encounter has been made or selected by me, for you. I am aswoon at the world Deborah created for me! But wait, of course there is more.

She swaddled the postcard in a furoshiki-style plain paper wrap (with an hilarious post-it note attached, acknowledging her self-adhesive postage fiasco) inside a decorated hand-folded envelope! Oh, my! 

Alyson Kuhn, my postal muse, also happens to live in Monterey…and it occurred to me to e-introduce her to Deborah without delay! (Late-breaking news: they may be meeting at their local stationery store today.)

Cat Bennett was sojourning in Florence, Italy, in March. At the end of April, I received her large-ish postcard, selected on her visit to the Basilica di Santa Croce. Even on a postcard, Cat was able to tell me quite a bit about her travels and add a whimsical watercoloured lemon branches. Receiving this was a waft of spring—I could almost smell the blossoms.

I have been postcard pals with Bonnie, who lives in Chicago, for nearly ten years. We write to each other infrequently… and whenever I receive a postcard from her, it’s a treasure. Back in February, she travelled to Oaxaca. This postcard is from the Museo de Filatellia (stamp museum) a.k.a MUFI. She writes (& asterisks) **they have Frido Kahlo’s letters to her doctor—on original hotel stationery.

The stamps themselves are also a work of art. They may be the stampiest stamps I’ve ever seen! Not only is the philatelist looking at his album with his magnifying glass, but the elbow of his jacket seems to have been patched with stamps. Note the envelope floating behind his head, which  actually has a stamp on it! The seal printed at upper left declares the stamp to have been issued for World Philatelic Day. When I enlarged the stamp to show Alyson, she commented that “stamps on stamps” is a real collecting specialty. Philatelic fabulousness!

Back to hotel stationery, George in Whitefish Bay writes to me regularly on sheets from his extensive collection. And when he runs out of room on the hotel lettersheet, he continues his thoughts on pages that feel like onion skin, but I think is tracing paper. It has a fabulous crinkle when I unfold and flatten it to read, and then when I refold to place it back into the envelope. He always writes with his favourite fountain pen and rarely uses the same ink colour. I have to wonder whether he keeps some sort of register or record. (Aside: George & I still have not met! He is truly a penpal, and a prolific one.)

Constance in Machesney Park is an avid correspondent, and it was her IG post that reminded me in the first place that National (Card &) Letter Writing Month was upon us. She is exemplary about dating her correspondence, even a postcard. And in April, she numbered her outgoing pieces of mail, on the flap of her tiny rubber-stamped envelope-in-heaven. I have number 44, and a Letter Carriers: We Deliver! stamp.

She writes “I’m sending a LOT of mail this month, so I’m like a rat on an epistolary treadmill.” I, for one, would buy multiple copies of a postcard showing a rat on an epistolary treadmill! I asked Constance how many pieces of mail had gone out in April, and her response was an astounding 136! She added that she maintains a register, only for the month of April, including not only when she writes to each recipient, but also what card/stationery she uses and what items she encloses!

Melanie in Florida & I have an ongoing postal exchange (it’s like a sketchbook exchange, only through correspondence). Occasionally, it can be weeks and weeks, and weeks, without either of us sending each other mail. This recent envelope made up for her long-ish lapse, containing several missives in one, written over the course of three months. Melanie hand-folded the outer envelope, which measures 8 x 8, from a sheet of screen-printed wrapping paper that feels as soft as (and may well be) cotton. Ensconced was her watercolour on handmade paper, a second hand-folded envelope with a mini missive on Rivoli Rose, and a notecard she had chosen on a trip to Mexico. 

Will, my beloved mail-carrier, further endears himself to me when he presents these letters & postcards. He can tell he is delivering delight!

Stationery supplies that sing and surprise
 
May your May be brimming with epistolary inspiration, Bari

Announcing a bountiful Boxful of Summer

Dear Everyone ~

Boxful of Summer is my tenth (!) bookful collaboration with artist, author & dear friend Cat Bennett. Our four-session workshop via Zoom will begin on Saturday, June 17, shortly before the summer solstice.

Our inspiration for this bookful is a boxful of summery stationery: notecards, postcards, and hand-folded envelopes to share with your correspondents. We will celebrate farm stands, farmers markets, and their bounty of colourful fruits & vegetables, flora & foliage, and the season of sunshine. 

The drop-spine box structure you will make measures 7¼ x 8 x 2 with a single three-sided tray covered in Cambridge Imprint papers & linen bookcloth, with a flax linen ribbon tab. The main compartment will hold your stack, your stash, your cache of freshly hand-folded envelopes (A7 size, 5¼ x 7¼), notecards & postcards, ready for embellishing and sending. The box will also feature a slim divided section to hold a binders dozen of pencils you will cover in assorted Cambridge Imprint papers.

In sessions #2, #3 & #4, Cat will lead us in creative exercises using a variety of mediums including coloured pencils + watercolour, pen drawings, and collage. For the first time, we’ll also explore gouache painting. We’ll embellish our hand-folded envelopes inside and out, including experimenting with putting an all-over pattern on the inside. 

The kitful of materials I’ve selected for this boxful showcases bright & cheery patterned papers from Cambridge Imprint. They will be paired, by me, with complementary linen bookcloths for the spine of the box. We will hand-fold our envelopes from Cat’s favorite drawing paper, and the notecards & postcards will be Stonehenge heavy cover stock, in natural white, with a smooth finish.

And, natch, you can restock your box for subsequent seasons. We are devising a “replenishment kit” of supplies and will announce this in our upcoming kit assembly post.

Cat & I want to assure you, especially if you are a Bookful newcomer, that truly no drawing or boxmaking experience is necessary—all levels of artistic interest are welcome. Our pace is relaxed & supportive, and the camaraderie is delightful. Plus, you will have four complete workshop videos (recorded in real time) to watch and rewatch at your leisure. We look forward to seeing you soonish via Zoom!
 
Boxful of Summer 
 
Springing towards summer, Bari

Boxing Day in May

Dear Everyone ~

Introduction to Drop-spine Boxmaking via group Zoom debuts on Saturday, May 6, a scant two weeks from today. This past week, I shipped kits to all the students who have registered. These parcels are now wending their way across the U.S., plus three to Canada, one to Austria, and one to Arctic Norway! I truly love connecting with bookbinding & boxmaking enthusiasts around the globe. Increasingly, I wish I had a world map on which I could pin tiny flags to show everywhere I’ve sent a kit. Now that I think about it, the size of flag could reflect the number of kits that have landed at a given destination.

The kit for this workshop set a new record for assembly complexity, to the point that it had to be assembled in several stages. For each kit there are a total of 22 pieces of pre-cut bookboard, in 20 different sizes. Thankfully, Zak and Tammy were on hand to assist me with trimming, organizing and stacking, which preceded recounting, reconfirming (measurements), and collating before wrapping. The Japanese Chiyogami papers with their complementary silky bookcloths looked oh-so-glorious stretched out over my center table. You can read more about the kit and the boxes we will make here. Tammy, might I add, has further endeared herself to me by dubbing me her “glu-ru”! Hah!

When I teach workshops involving glueing, I always show & tell how I use cloth-covered bricks for pressing freshly glued books and boxes. They are, in my opinion, one of the best tools for this important job. You can certainly improvise with a heavy book or books, or other weighty objects, and these typically provide satisfying results. That said, when I’m making a drop-spine box, or any box structure, my personal preference is for a cloth-covered brick or bricks. I will reveal that I have 30 of them in the studio, and for certain commissions, they are all in use simultaneously. So, in honor of this upcoming workshop, I have recorded a five-ish minute video demo-ing how to wrap a brick in bookcloth. Nota Bene: Bookcloth for this purpose is NOT included in your kit, and brick-wrapping is optional. Think of it as a “weighty topper” on the workshop cake. Students will receive the link to this brick preview video early next week.

If you’ve been waffling on the workshop fence: There’s still time for me to assemble & ship your kit. As always, I’d like to emphasize that even if you are a boxmaking novice, you will be able to work comfortably to complete your first box during the workshop. Our pace is calm, and there’s ample time to ask questions as we go. I will live record all workshop sessions, and these will be available to you later the same afternoon to watch and rewatch at your leisure!

Introduction to Drop-spine Boxmaking
 
Zooming Mayward, Bari

A bellissimomento for new Tassotti wrapping papers

Dear Everyone ~

I’m delighted to announce the arrival of sixteen new-to-BZS Tassotti patterned papers. I’ve grouped them into a quartet of themed palettes: Sprigs & Twigs, Mille Fiori, Fancy Foliage, and Genius Geometrics. 

To highlight their fabulous foldability and paste-ability, I’ve put the papers through their paces. 

The Sprigs & Twigs patterns are abloom on a quartet of baby buttonhole-stitch books. These are among the smallest buttonhole-stitch books I’ve made, measuring 3 x 3¾ x 1¼. The pages are Stonehenge paper, of which a single parent sheet yielded 16 petite four-page signatures. Each book feels like a charm.

The Genius Geometrics patterns have wrapped their way around a quartet of pencils. They will dress up any desk, pouch, or notebook, and they sharpen easily breezily with a manual sharpener. I have, in fact, just successfully sharpened one in my electric sharpener (which may be sharper than yours, if you see what I mean).

I folded a foursome of envelopes in ascending sizes from 3½ x 5 to 6½ x 10 in the Mille Fiori patterns (Dahlia, Bougainvillea, Acacia, and Bouquet-a).

Whilst at the post office entrusting parcels last week, I checked in to see what new issues were available. How auspicious that one of the freshest spring Forever stamps happens to be a booklet of tulips! Alyson, my postal muse, & I give the tulips our stamp of approval in their own right—and right on these envelopes!

For the finale, I wrapped four boxes in Fancy Foliage, with complementary seam binding.

Grafiche Tassotti papers from Italy
 
Stepping into spring, Bari

It’s a win-winrow-winsor situation!

Dear Everyone ~

I am delighted to report that my freshest parcel from James Winrow arrived last week, speedier than a sparrow. It contained his newest selection of avian-inspired postcards, and I am aswoon. James had told me about the cardstock that he selected to print on, and I was so eager to hold the cards, a bird in the hand, so to speak. And, natch, to try writing on one. The stock is heavenly heavy (300 gsm) and slightly toothy.

 The set includes four different studies from James’s sketchbook pages, with delightful details on the back: the bird’s common name, its Latin name, where he spotted it, and when he sketched it. The cards depict rock pipits, dippers, and purple sandpipers in two settings.

I now have a trio of lovely order-accompanying notes from James, each with a small feather affixed: a snipe, a teal, and a red-legged partridge! They are the beginning of my Winrow collection.

Upon seeing Jame’s postcards in person, I was quite curious about his creative process. I sent word to ask him if he wouldn’t mind sharing a sentence or two, or three, about how he works in his sketchbooks, and he graciously replied in fluid detail:  
 
“All my finished drawings start life in the sketchbook. Some are done in the field whilst observing, and others back at the studio from photographic reference and memory. The sketchbook is where I learn the finer points of the form of the bird—the geometry and shape. I spend time making outlines and impressions, then more detailed sketches of the head and wing. This is when I start to build a rapport with the bird—you begin to see the intricacies and details in its shape, the adaptations of its beak, wing, and body that make it unique. The character of the subject also begins to form through these musings, and ultimately the finished drawing coalesces from this sketchbook time.”
 
James added, “Paperwise, I use Strathmore Toned Tan or Grey. It’s the best! You can use white pencil or pastel to create highlights on it, and the softer tone somehow enables me to sketch more freely than normal. I find the frank starkness of white to be quite rigid sometimes, which is great for finished highly detailed pieces, but not sketches. But that’s just me!”

*        *       *        *

 New drawing pens, in four different point sizes, are now stocked in the shop. I've demo’d the widths on one of   Jame’s postcards. They glide smoothly, evenly & consistently. These fineliner drawing pens are by Winsor & Newton, and I learned about them from Cat Bennett, who introduced us to them during our last Bookful workshop. I was intensely curious to try them, and I’ve enjoyed writing with them ever since.

Postcards by Nature Artist James Winrow
Winsor & Newton drawing pens
 
Toodle-pip, Bari
 
PS:
Speaking of Bookful, Cat B & I have finished planning our next Bookful adventure, and we will be announcing that soon. Hint: It has something to do with Summer, and it starts in June. (And, yes, we are both over the moon.)

Instead of staying glued to your screen…

Dear Everyone ~

Glueing Happiness Season 3 via group Zoom debuts on Saturday, April 22, followed a fortnight later by Introduction to Drop-spine Boxmaking. In the lead up, assembling kits for both workshops semi-simultaneously has been all consuming. My nimble studio assistant Tammy, as well as my dear Zak, provide masterful assistance, trimming bookboards and offering second opinions on the pairings of patterned papers & bookcloths. After we’ve wrapped & packed the paper-packed parcels, Will, my beloved mail-carrier, swoops in to scoop them up. I am so grateful for all the extra hands. Here is Will picking up an armful of kits for my recent L-s-l-s with Handfolded Envelopes workshop. Service with style and a smile! 

The two current kits total 75 pieces, 30 for Boxmaking and 45 for Glueing Happiness. The first batch has just left my premises, and the balance will follow swiftly. Gabriele in Austria is eagerly awaiting the kit for her upcoming private Zoom, Petite Accessory Box, which is en route. She is a long-time-quick-study Bookful student, and her phrase for the overseas shipment of her kits is over choppy seas and bumpy mountains.

Back to Glueing Happiness Season 3: As it happens, three is the operative word. Students will make three hardcover padholder-folders (hcph-f) using three very different papers (to experience their behaviour!) plus bookcloth. They’ll also learn my technique for covering butterfly clips and pencils. The latter will be covered in Tassotti patterns, from Italy, providing a fourth paper type for students to master glueing.

For the blog post announcing Glueing Happiness Season 3, I had made a trio of hcph-f’s to photograph. I promptly began using one of them, taking it with me everywhere. The structure provides a stable writing or drawing surface, and the madam butterfly clip is dandy for holding a handy sheaflet of lovely paper. It has proven to be a joy to jot on and tote about. I discovered that a second butterfly clip, for the front cover, is quite useful, so I’ve added three (3) tiny butterfly clips to the already extensive ensemble of materials. I tend to have a multitude of notes and bits of paper on the go, and clipping them into the hcph-f makes me feel organized. You can read more about the materials here. 

 As always, the workshop will be recorded live in its entirety and will be available later the same afternoon for you to watch and rewatch at your leisure. The hcph-f makes a delightful gift, for a mother or another. Even if you are new to glueing, you will not encounter any sticky wickets. The workshop pace is calm, with ample time to ask questions as we glue.

If you haven’t yet registered but would like to: hop on it…and we will skedaddle your kit right to you! I look forward to glueing with everyone in this four-ish hour workshop!
 
Glueing Happiness Season 3
 
Zooming & glueing, Bari