Spring Shower of Stationery Joy

Dear Everyone ~

Writing notes is so much less taxing when you have splendid cards to choose from. We’re already halfway through National Letter Writing Month, and we’ve realized we should assemble some superior samplers to refresh your reserves.

Each Bundle of Stationery Joy à la Japonaiserie contains a range of notecards and postcards from European designers and artists: Eleanor Percival, Kiran Ravilious, Sarah Hamilton, Marimekko, Cambridge Imprint, and Hahnemühle Bugra. Envelope accompaniments include tissue-lined Pineider Monarch-y envelopes, Wanderlust envelopes hand-folded by me, and a vintage airmail envelope.

 As you may recall from past editions of our Bundles of Stationery Joy, they have always been ensconced (swaddled, really) in specific papers, from Japanese mulberry-fiber paper to crinkly non-Kodai Kikkō to Serizawa calendar pages to Wanderlust Paper to Cambridge Imprint. For this edition, we’ve upped our game, and will be wrapping each bundle in a unique vintage Japanese paper from our archives, most from the last century, all from Aiko’s. There is only one of each pattern, so you might want to spring into action if you have favourites. 

As you will see in the longest dropdown menu in BZS history, my postal muse and I have put our heads together to name each and every wrapping. The wrapping measures at least 12 x 16; some are as large as 14 x 18. All have been very gently folded, almost finessed, and we declare them suitable for lining a drawer or a couple of envelopes, or making a big envelope, or wrapping anew.

Permit us to point out what is tucked into the knot of the vintage Japanese cording beribbonment! Look sharp, and you’ll see a jumbeau pencil covered in a complementary paper. These are a big addition to our wrapped repertoire of half pencils with rosy eraser and standard pencils with erasers. And a charmola tag with the name of your bundle’s wrapping and, of course, a suitable seasonal stamp.

 If you aren’t in the mood for a shower of stationery joy, perhaps a sprinkling of new and replenished cards will float your bow. I’m delighted to report that two new series of notecards from the U.K. have just arrived: Jane Ormes’ English Garden watercolours (above) and Hannah Pontin’s quartet from 100 Drawings in 100 Days (below).

And Mary Feddon notecard portfolios, which sold out in a mad March moment, have been restocked. Plus we've added a third set of her cards: Two Cats and Cats & Compass.

Postcard-palooza!

Dear Everyone ~

Will has now delivered five days worth of freshly made postcards for our first-ever totally random drawing. We have received almost a binder’s dozen-and-a-half entries already, and they have exceeded our great expectations. What the dickens were they thinkin’, these clever correspondents! For now, we are keeping what people have written under our hat (a different hat than the one in which we will hold the drawing), but we cannot wait to show Everyone a few cards—to admire, and perhaps to inspire.

Here is a map-happy card from Siri B. in Chicago. She drew a map illustrating where her mailbox is in proximity to her home, and where some of her beloved natural wildlife hang out. She shares in her PS that she has sent a piece of mail to a dear friend every week for 25 years! (Do that math!)

Stacey P. in Florida has submitted two (2) postcards, because she “got so excited about the drawing for The Thing.” She asked on one of the cards if it’s OK to submit two, and we hasten to reply that it is AOK. Both will go into the hat. We say, the more the verrier!

Mary McM. of Maryland pressed into service part of a Serizawa calendar page from 1964, plus a few Katazome botanical embellishments adhered to the back of the postcard. She first encountered Serizawa-covered journals at BZS, by way of her daughter who lives in the neighbourhood. She has now imported an incredible number of Serizawa calendars for her personal creative endeavours. 

Carla J. in Virginia has recycled a very thick piece of corrugated (nearly ½"
 thick!) and used mixed-media & collage for the front of her postcard. She reminisces in her message about how learning to bind books during the pandemic opened her world to a deep love of paper, accoutrements for snail mail, and best of all—a new circle of friends.

 The thoughtful expressions, luxuriousness of mediums, and tactile nature of postcards I’ve received to date are beyond heartfelt. Reading Everyone’s connection to paper, bookbinding, and sending mail, brings a smile to my paper-loving heart from ear to ear!
 
More as it’s mailing, Bari

Announcing Bookful of Wordless Stories

Dear Everyone ~

Bookful of Wordless Stories is my thirteenth Bookful collaboration with artist, author & dear friend Cat Bennett. Our four-session workshop via Zoom will begin on Saturday, May 18. May the subsequent weeks be a wonderful time to be out & about walking amongst flora & folia, and sniffing spring breezes—an early warm-up for seeing and sensing summer. 

In this Bookful, as Cat describes in her spirited way, “We’ll illustrate three spring walks on which we encounter fanciful birds, fantastical flowers and a few fabulous people! Our art explorations will be on mixing mediums—drawing and painting with collage, colored pencil or pen with watercolor, and oil or crayon and paint. We’ll also explore making decorative collage papers by painting on tissue and mulberry papers. We will tell delightful short wordless stories with surprise endings. And we’ll look at the work of other artists to find inspiration.”

We will start by making a trio of single-signature booklets each with decorative stitching, a see-through window, a title page (which will also have a see-through window), and a pocket in the back inside cover. Each walk will be documented in its own booklet, and the title page will include a description and embellishment.

We will also hand-fold a trio of envelopes without a template, in which to enclose each booklet. Each booklet measures 6 x 7¾ x ¼ and will fit neatly inside its envelope for protecting, or presenting, or even posting! (We will discuss postage during the workshop.)

The kitful of materials for this Bookful features a colourful mix of Canson Mi-teintes cover papers in two palettes, for our covers and envelopes: Delaunay and Bloomsbury. This lightly textured (on one side!) paper is wonderful for many types of mediums, and its foldability is a joy to behold. And the creative, chromatic potential for mixing & matching is fairly intoxicating.

 In weeks #2, #3 & #4, Cat will begin the workshop session with a curated slideshow. She will then lead the class in painting & drawing exercises using a variety of mediums.

Cat & I want to assure you, especially if you are a Bookful newcomer, that truly no drawing or bookbinding experience is necessary—all levels of artistic skill & enthusiasm are encouraged to join us! The pace is peaceful 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!

 To celebrate our thirteenth—The Binders Dozenth—Bookful, every kit will include a glassine sleeveful of BZS Exquisite Scraps, suitable for collaging, massaging, admiring, and kaleidoscopic contemplation.

Bookful of Wordless Stories
 
Bookfully, Bari

May we draw your attention to the first-ever BZS drawing?

Dear Everyone ~

We invite Everyone to enter our drawing, to be held on Monday, May 13, 2024. Guess how you enter? By sending a 5 x 7 postcard (no envelopes, please) to A–Z at Bari Zaki Studio, 3858 N. Lincoln Avenue, Chicago, IL 60613. Your card will require real stamps (at least 68¢, not the postcard rate), and it must be received, via USPS, by Friday, May 10. Further practicalities below.

Let us not put the card before the hoarse. Here, as pithily as possible, is an explanation of why we are having a drawing. My postal muse, Alyson Kuhn, is coming to Chicago with her niece Audrey Kuhn, another AK. (Photographer John Madere chose his favourite shot of Alyson, commenting, “You look like you’ve just won the Academy Award for Stationery!”) Audrey has her aunt’s stationery-hound inclinations, and her own jaunty hand-lettering style. Here is my freshest missive from Audrey, an homage to the arrival of spring. She notes, “This neon ombré ink pad is a bit more aggressive than I planned but maybe it reads as SPRING vs. spring.”

Who else will join our papery party? Ruby LaPorta, my current nimble shop assistant extraordinaire, will be there. Scene below is her desk in action.

And Emmy Kennett, my original nimble shop assistant extraordinaire (now emerita). Scene below is her sitting room without her sitting in it. She’s in the process of painting the walls.

And Janet Bouldin, BZS’s in-house watercolourist & illustrator. Here she is in her home studio, painting BZS’s Rag & Pulp bookmarks.

And Tammy Stams, my co-stitcher, waxed-thread winder, and vintage-postage assembler. Below is Tammy’s craft emporium.

We have also invited Wendy Sherwood to motor in from The Wiilds of Minnesota to join us. Wendy is not The Mystery Guest, she is The Marble-y Guest, and she has made a previous guest appearance at BZS. Here she is, in her studio, with a wallpaper of actual sheets she has marbled… and a bounty of boxes she has covered.

So, the octet of us will have a paper-palooza. We will talk ourselves silly. We will bring each other papery party favours. And, most importantly, we will make something together… to give away to The Winner of the Drawing, who could be You! Not a kit, not a keepsake, more of a mini-compendium of our papery predilections… which is apt to be wrapped in a multi-media manner.
 
And Audrey will fabulously photodocument, both via vignette and video, the proceedings. Here she is, shooting for one of her restaurant clients. (Photographer Frankie Frankeny, Audrey’s mentor, took this photo, frankly perfect for our purposes.)

Back to your postcard: Include your full name and email address and show-or-tell us, on either side (or both!), visually or verbally, why you are entering, or something about your relationship with paper, or something else altogether. We will enjoy reading Everyone’s response—possibly together, possibly out loud— but this is not an essay contest. The winner will be chosen totally at random. In fact, the winning card will be pulled out of a hat. We cannot divulge at this moment who will do the actual drawing, but we can hint: We would describe the person as a local epistolary celebrity.  

And what will become of the glorious postcards? It’s absolutely too soon to tell. But when we know, so will you!
 
 Excitedly, Bari

Spring into spring with our freshest papery provisions

Dear Everyone ~

Organizing the array of cards on my card cabinet is a labour of double love, because the cabinet itself was a gift from Chuck when Aiko’s closed in 2008. For me, arranging a display of cards is akin to working on a jigsaw puzzle, which I find endlessly satisfying—especially when new cards arrive and I have a rationale for rearranging. The base of the cabinet has six roomy drawers, where I keep assorted paper & envelope reserves. The cabinet & its contents provide constant inspiration for envisioning what I will showcase.

Last week I received a much anticipated parcel from the U.K. brimming with notecards by colourist painter & printmaker Sophie Harding. For many moons I’ve swooned over her paintings and am delighted to be the first stockist of her cards in the U.S. 

 Also in the Department of Whimsical Mailables are sets of notecards by British artist Mary Fedden. I’ve stocked these pocket portfolio sets in the shop for several years. In-person shoppers have loved them, and I’m delighted to finally debut them online.

The delightment continues with a menagerie of PasteSF collage cards. Our current selection has been amply restocked and then some. We are pleased as paste to now be offering 18 Denise Fiedler cards.

Hahnemühle recently added two irresistible new paper products. The most apropos is a pad of watercolour bookmarks, with an enchanting cover. The other is a set of round watercolour-paper disks presented in a handy tin. I asked Janet Bouldin, our in-house watercolourist, to test drive both products. I think her samples speak for themselves, but here’s what Janet said, alphabetically speaking:
 
“ A) The precut shapes are beguiling and freeing. B) The bookmark size is perfect for designing a bookmark or making a special gift tag. C) The round size provides an easy way to highlight a piece of something in my view—I’m always drawn to the smaller details of life around me. D) The paper can take an adequate amount of water, and it will handle pen and ink too. E) I plan to always have some of these precuts on hand. I loved using them! ”

The Grey Pad, also from Hahnemühle, has been added to my repertoire of lovely padded papers in two portable sizes, A6 & A5. Its counterpart, the Cappuccino Pad, is delighted to have company and be part of a papery pairing.

Treat your correspondence to an album of its own

Dear Everyone ~

Correspondence Album via group Zoom debuts March 23, coming up next Saturday, the first weekend of spring.

The structure students will make is a voluminous & voluptuous buttonhole-stitch album (9½ x 11½ x 2½). The octet of hand-folded envelope-pages can hold letter-sized sheets, including A4’s. The book’s spine is ’specially spacious (2½ inches wide), providing a fabulous file book for organizing your correspondence. You can, for example, assemble all the elements of an outgoing communiqué in an envelope-page. Or, you can file by element: stamps in one envelope-page; letter sheets in another; postcards in another; and so forth (and fifth…). Or, your album can become an incredible scrapbook or memory book of special correspondence received. I look forward to hearing students in the workshop describe how they envision using their books. 

The completed album will be a papery patchwork quilt of eight different Cambridge Imprint patterns, tucked into a cover of indigo-dyed handmade paper from Cave Paper. My mini-rave about Cave: I find it beguiling—and beyond sturdy. I love working with it. Our interleaving sheets (16 pages/32 serendipitous sides) are Stonehenge with a deckled fore-edge. You can use these pages to record communiqués sent & received and/or to jot what-not. Kits are currently winging their way almost around the globe—to Canada and Austria, and to students from Hawaii to the Eastern seaboard.

The Correspondence Album will be the largest book I have taught via Zoom. I have already tested elevating my overhead camera to showcase my hands working with lusciously large full-sized sheets. You can read more about the structure and materials here.

If you’d like to try your hand at measuring, scoring, trimming, folding, and stitching a large buttonhole-stitch book, but you haven’t yet registered, you are not too late. A handful of kits are at the ready for extra-expedient expediting!

 
No previous bookbinding experience is necessary. The pace is calm and there will be ample time to ask questions whilst we work. I will live record this workshop session, and it will be available to you later the same afternoon to watch and rewatch at your leisure. If you have any questions now, please feel free to call or e me to discuss!

Correspondence Album
 
Feeling springy, Bari
 
PS:
We have yet MORE news in the envelope department! The kit for last week’s Hand-folding Envelope Happiness workshop debuted a new-to-BZS paper from India—a recent discovery by my postal muse, Alyson. (I was enveloped with ecstasy to receive her “twin-set” of test envelopes.) Students in the workshop ooh’d & aah’d and oh-là-là’d, and gave the Indian paper highest marks for foldability, glueability, and tactility. This joy has inspired us to brew up a trio of fresh (and fabulously foldable) palettes to complement or supplement our MORE Art of the Hand-folded Envelope kit, which we will present next week. The palettes will be available independently.

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.

New workshops: Springing into advanced enveloping

Dear Everyone ~

I am doubly delighted to debut two envelope-centric workshops via group Zoom: Correspondence Album and Hand-folded Envelope Happiness.

My inspiration for Correspondence Album has been percolating for some time. Essentially it began with my love of keeping mail recently received and outgoing mail-in-progress organized, of finding a system that works for me, and ideally for that system itself to be aesthetically pleasing—Double Happiness!

Now, I’ve brewed up a voluminous volume (9½ x 11½ x 2½) for keeping track of both your incoming and outgoing communiqués. The album holds eight hand-folded envelopes, with blank sheets in between, for recording what you sent to whom when, with which enclosures. It’s a beautiful way to organize your correspondence however works best for you—and delights you every time you open your album. You can write right on each envelope “who” is inside.

 The cover and binding style pairs two of my favourites: the Buttonhole-stitch—so manageable when you’re working at large scale—and Cave handmade paper. It’s made of 100% Belgian flax, which is incredibly durable, and each sheet of indigo-dyed paper is unique. All are beguiling.

 The kit for this workshop is quite deluxe, and you can read details (and see more photos!) in the shop listing.Two menageries of eight complementary Cambridge Papers are available for your envelope octet: Carousel and Rhapsody.

Hand-folded Envelope Happiness is for creative correspondents wanting to up their envelope game. Students will make three different styles of envelopment without a template: a backless, an enveloped booklet, and an origami-esque gusset. All three are mailable and cherishable. 

The range of papers that are ideal for folding and for mixing & matching, is inspiring and can seem overwhelming: almost too much of a good thing! When that happens, it’s tempting to make a duo or trio of nesting envelopes!

I’ve selected a quintet of papers in assorted weights (from 20 lb Plover Bond to 100 lb cover stock from French Paper Co.) and decorative patterns (Grafiche Tassotti from Italy, Shizen from India, and Cambridge Imprint from England) so that you can feel—and experience them—first-hand whilst folding. Their textures are distinctive, and they deserve a different “touch” for scoring and folding. The kit is close to overflowing with oh-là-là. You can read details (and see more photos!) in the shop listing.

On a readymade envelope, the postage is the finishing touch. On a patterned hand-folded envelope, it is the address label that can really set the tone. Depending on your paper pattern and the real estate required for the stamps, you may want the most petite label possible, or you may prefer a large label (especially if you have calligraphic tendencies). The sheet we’ve designed—which is being perforated in Portland right now—is a paragon of versatility. We can’t provide an enticing photo just yet, but we can say: The white sheet has classic red borders in three handy sizes; the other two sheets are unprinted, with the same three dandy sizes of label, on two elegant iridescent stocks. Like friends new and old, one is silver, and the other’s gold.

Correspondence Album
Hand-folded Envelope Happiness
 
May you be enveloped, Bari
 
PS:
Customers who have previously purchased a MORE Art of the Hand-folded Envelope kit will receive a 15% discount on the Hand-folded Envelope Happiness workshop. Students who register for the workshop and would also like to acquire a MORE kit, will receive a 15% discount on the kit.

Newly in stock, from Aquarello Nero to Zeichenblock

Dear Everyone ~

These past few weeks at BZS have been a whirlwind of incoming papers and outgoing parcels. Fortyish kits for Bookful of Fanciful Faces were posted to multiple students in fourteen states, including three to Hawaii; two flew to Canada and one to Austria. Fresh shipments arrived from Carta Pura in Germany, and from Cambridge Imprint and Hadley Paper Goods, both in the UK. All were quickly decanted and displayed. We have a few new items to share with you, including a bit more LOVEly inspiration in the Valentinian Dept.

For starters: the 2 x 2-inch Hahnemühle mini-concertina book is back in stock. Ruby has turned one into an incredibly sweet valentine, illustrating a different heart on each of the panels, taking advantage of all the mediums we stock in the shop: Lyra Colour pencils and LePens, washi tape, and waxed-linen thread. On one panel, she has attached a petite origami heart folded from a 3 x 3 piece of Cambridge Imprint paper. I then “finished” the book with a 6 x 6 piece of CI Selvedge Madder pattern paper and beribboned it with a piece of Italian cotton ribbon. You could present it like a bonbon, on a little plate, or hide it in someone’s pocket, or place it atop a pillow….

As elegant as a little black dress: Carta Pura’s most recent addition to their paper repertoire is Aquarello Nero (which almost sounds like a cocktail). The pages share the delicious attributes of the Natural White in terms of texture and receptiveness to all manner of mediums. Ruby immediately tested it with both Kuretake white brush pen & fine white brush pen for the PVA glue signage in the shop. I’m stocking two handy sizes of these pads. 

Two new-to-us colours of Carta Pura papers have joined our repertoire of Rivoli Rose: Vanilla and Light Licorice (which you could call Dove Grey, but we are in dessert mode). Available in A6 Rivoli pads & matching envelopes, you can read more about both shades in their respective shop listings.

 Blocks are back in stock: The almost everything Schreibblock and Zeichenblock good for everything pads are ready for your sketching, doodling, drawing, and musing pleasure.

Our Cambridge cup almost overfloweth: We’ve brought in seven new parent sheets from Cambridge Imprint, bringing our ever-growing selection to fifty! That’s a lot of nifty mixing & matching! The feline, canine, and  equine patterns are divine!

Huzzah-là-là: Herewith a preview of six new charmola greeting cards by Hadley Paper Goods, perfect for all seasons and reasons.

Here’s a sampling of lovely emails received from customers about their BZSamplers for Valentines Day. Judith, who lives in Chicago, had motored right over and was quick to pick up her sampler… and to begin mixing and matching and catching up with friends. She wrote “… I have moved many times during my eight decades, leaving friends behind and making new ones. So your offer of a Valentine sampler of lovely papers aroused my creative juices. I was able to put the Heart Bunting origami kit that I already had to good use. Here are the results of my fun afternoon spent folding, cutting and writing. Thank you for putting the sampler together. It’s a beautiful way to tell my friends I’m thinking of them.” She also sent this photo of her heartfelt handiwork.

Laurie, all the way in Hawaii, wrote, “OMG, the package arrived yesterday and it is just gorgeous. Once again I don’t want to touch any of it…I just want to look at it. I am always making my sister a card for Valentine’s Day, so I have to bust into this, but I don’t want to…it is so pretty. Thank you!” 

Aquarello Nero
Rivoli Vanilla
Rivoli Light Licorice
BZSampler for Valentines Day
 
For your heart’s content, Bari

LOVE (stamps) are in the air!

Dear Everyone ~

Yes, we love the new LOVE stamp. Its geometric shapes are surprisingly elegant yet whimsical. We—my postal muse & I—were so enthused about the illustration, that we reached out to artist Katie Kirk, who had also done the 2023 Winter Woodland Animals stamps. We asked her umpteen questions about her inspirations and her connections to sending mail. We’ll share her responses below, after we debut the BZSampler for Valentines Day.

The sampler doesn’t come in a heart-shaped box (which you can get almost anywhere, ideally with bonbons). What is far more rare—and delicious in its own way—is a 9 x 12½ Rivoli Rose envelope! Inside reside a profusion of papers eager to provide Valentinear inspiration. And, of course, a suite of more petite Rivoli Rose envelopes. And a trio of notecards we could not resist.

You can read about the extravaganza of enclosures in the shop listing. We have also enumerated and elaborated on an insert, more descriptive than the famous “legend” on a certain classic sampler.

Preview: We have pre-cut mini-pieces (barely bigger than a bonbon) of 12 Cambridge Imprint Special Red Papers for you to fold your heart out with.

How long a piece of red Italian cotton ribbon by Studio Carta have we used to beribbon the sampler? Why use 4 ft. when 2 yds.will do! We’ve left the Rivoli Rose presentation envelope perfectly unembellished, for you to use for whomever you choose.

Katie Kirk’s Valentinear Musings
 
“For me, the dove is the messenger of a love note. I took inspiration from vintage Valentine images and cards, which often used birds. That said, I also love how the symbolism of the dove goes beyond romantic love and can invoke universal love, friendship, and peace. My hope is that it depicts love, positivity, and hope.”

“As a designer and illustrator, I enjoy the tactile quality of sending and receiving letters and prints in the mail. It feels personal and thoughtful in a way that’s unique these days.”

 “I’ve always been attracted to geometry. There is a satisfaction when you can reduce a subject to a simple form. I would say it is both challenging and freeing. The challenge has been finding the balance between abstraction and detail. The freedom has come in learning to listen to the geometry and let it guide the art.”

We had to ask Katie if she plans on sending Valentines this year, and she humorously replied, “I truly had not thought about it until this question! I probably should, huh?”

 BZSampler for Valentines Day

In the pink, Bari