Sending gifts to friends is the cat’s pyjamas

Dear Everyone ~

I continue to receive lovely appreciative emails from customers …
some of whom have ordered gift parcels for friends …
who in turn send wonderful emails of thanks to the gift-givers,
who then share them with me. And, now, I am sharing them with you.

I have to start with Jill,
who did not order a gift for her cat,
but the cat didn’t know that. Jill wrote:
“ My curious 10-month-old kitten got ahold of
your lovely package before I did…luckily the only
damage was to the tissue paper! Thank you again and I
welcome the distraction these beautiful pencils will surely bring.”

I’d been out of one of the Luminous Lyra Colours
Jill had ordered, so when I had restocked,
I let her know her pencil would be en route …
and she decided to add several items to her order.
When she received her parcel, she said:

“ Getting a package from you is like Christmas in April.
Thanks so much! ”

Last Friday, Alyson, a long-time customer, asked me to
send a Bundle of Stationery Joy as a surprise to her friend Bob.
She hoped I could include a card that said With the compliments
of the Maven of Mail. Absolutely! Alyson was able to track
the progress of Bob’s parcel on the USPS website … and minutes after the
mailman had deposited it by the front door midday-ish on
Monday, Bob emailed Alyson. He has graciously allowed me
to share this bit of his e-thanks to her:

“ My Bundle of Stationery Joy has provided the final nudge
I needed to recruit more people into my correspondence circle.
I have been contemplating reaching out to my collection of friends
from college and asking them to forgo digital in favor of
pen and ink. I have a degree in Creative Writing, and my old friends
were all artists and writers. This is the motivation I needed to spur
me on to recruit more folk into the lost art of correspondence. ”

Susan K. lives in Chicago and is a frequent visitor to the shop.
She has recently taken to sending gifts to numerous
friends who live in and near New York City.
In each, I enclose a postcard on which I write,
It’s a delight to assemble this parcel for you,
with love from Susan.
A few days ago, Susan shared with me
her friend Lydia’s thank-you for her parcel:
 
“ Thank you so much for the beautiful package.
It’s all so wonderful. I've been looking at every piece several times.
It was wrapped so beautifully, and  every detail was so
interesting: the stamp [1¢ apples on the postcard],
Bari’s business card, the string, besides the stationery.
I just love it, and it took my mind off what's happening in the world.
The pencils are fantastic and it's inspiring me to do some artwork.
I'm going to try to sketch now with the pencils.
What a wonderful store to have nearby. ”

Last week, Susan asked me to assemble an assortment
for 10-year-old Yael, who lives in New York City.
I had a fabulous time implementing Susan’s creative vision
for her young friend. Here’s what I sent. I am tickled to have
received from Susan a video of Yael decanting her parcel.

Tree, who lives in California, made my heart sing
with her most recent acknowledgment:

“ I received your package yesterday, and it was such a healing balm.
I love that each piece is wrapped in such beautiful ways.
I have a Bari box on my worktable in which I save the wrapping
elements to use. May you find many happy moments in this fine day. ”

Kristina ordered a gift certificate for her friend Elise. She wrote:

 “ Elise’s birthday was yesterday, and I can’t think of
anything better for her to look forward to than
visiting your studio in person eventually or online now.
Our minds should be able to wonder and wander while
we’re at home and saving lives. Hope you’re staying healthy. ”

It’s uplifting for me, in the midst of packing parcels,
to receive details from customers and their friends.
I am always honoured to be asked to include
a personal note on behalf of a gift-giver.

Your delighted scribe,

Bari

Brilliant British cards are coming!

Dear Everyone ~

Actually, they’ve arrived, and we're chuffed!

Illustrator Eleanor Percival grew up with avid gardener parents.
Her whimsical botanical cards make a bright splash,
from single blooms in glorious detail to lovely little nosegays.
We are smitten with the decorative border on her teacup’s saucer,
and with the chevroned ribbon on her For You package.
The artist’s handwriting is definitely part of her cards’ charm.

The cards are printed on heavy, textured paper that is
receptive to all manner of writing implements, including Sharpies.

Prepare to pitter-pattern!
We’ve received our new order of cards from The Pattern Book:
a veritable colour wheel of chromatic nuance and delirium,
plus a pair of Fly Agaric Mushrooms we couldn’t resist.
In fact, we welcome this fungus among us.

The new selection of cards still includes a detailed
attribution on the back (plus a tasteful snippet or miniature 
of the design on the front). One of our favourites is:

Spectra of Daylight Through Coloured Glass & Vapours
adapted from diagrams by William Allen Miller (1845).
Miller also studied the spectrum of starlight and was one of the
first scientists to determine what stars are made of.

Elegant Eleanor Percival Cards
Char'matic Chromatic Greeting Cards

Keep comma,

Bari

Indulge your penchant for a zen desk

Dear Everyone ~

I’ve just added several “staples” to my online shop.
These are all supplies I’ve carried in the shop-shop
for a very long time, but had never put them online.
Given that it’s not possible to visit the shop-shop at present,
I decided I should put them online pronto-ly.

Let me start with the Hexagonal Collapsible Pencil Cups,
which are diabolical to photograph. The cups are paragons of
Japanese paper craft and attention to detail.
They are fully lined in Moriki, in a shade somewhere
between salmon and coral. Traditional red Japanese cording
provides the “structural integrity” to support the
hexagonal base, likewise completely covered in Moriki.

If you’d like some fresh writing accessories
to inhabit your pencil cup(s), what could be more fun
than having a pencil to match your every pad or mood?
The answer may well be: having three dozen assorted
pencils at hand, from graphite to colours, from Japanese
paper wraps to exotic miscellany, including the occasional
Italian item or vintage gem. Each Pouch o’ Assorted Pencils
is a triumph of global pencildom, with very few duplicates.

If you’d like a rainbow of writing—or drawing or
doodling—tools, felt-tip markers by LePen
will brighten your day and your desk.
We stock them in 22 colours, all  acid-free,
smudge-resistant, and non-toxic.

Pouch o' Assorted Pencils
Hexagonal Collapsible Pencil Cups
Felt-tip Pens by LePen

From the Desk of,

Bari

E is for Electronic Engagement

Dear Everyone ~

I’ve received many wonderful emails from customers
in the last few weeks. They are gratifying and heartening
and encouraging. And they “punctuate” my seemingly endless
preparing of parcels, now that all purchases have to be shipped.
I’d like to share bits from several of these e-notes.

Ashley has come to my shop on several occasions.
She recently sent me a lovely message through the
contact page on my website.
Before I even read her delightful note,
I was charmed by her opening salutation:

Subject: <3
Message: Good Morning!  

Here is my favourite snippet from Ashley's note.

“ I wanted to reach out to thank you for providing
such a beautiful and magical space for our community.
I will miss stopping by your shop, and wanted to wish
you the best during these unprecedented times. ”

Several months ago, I featured Bradford’s wonderful
storybook for his grandson Charlie. I received an email
from Bradford toward the middle of March.
His note’s middle reads:

“ I’ve been using this time at home to finish up a
new book for Charlie. I was wondering if you would
be able to work on it while the store is shuttered.
I love shops like yours and am looking for ways
to help just a little bit in these weird times.
If you’re interested let me know and we can
arrange a contactless drop of the materials. ”

The contactless drop has been accomplished,
and I’ll be starting soon on Charlie’s new storybook.
You can read about the making of the first
storybook at the top of the Project Gallery.

Janice, who lives in Chicago, was planning to come
into the studio to finish her mighty fine nine-signature spine,
when I decided to become socially solitary (but still ship stationery!).
I recently checked in with Janice, and she replied:

“ I have been thinking of you often and yes,
finishing the Nine Signature and the long stitch
with you privately will be awesome. Also, I can hardly wait
to see your loopy link-stitch—I love the colours—so cheery. ”

Barbara, about whom I know truly naught,
sent a lovely email in response to last week’s
Extremely Mellow Yellow Parcel post:

“ Hi. I’ve never been to your store but sure hope
to after all this uncertainty is over. But I want to say thank you
for all the beautiful things and colours you send in your emails.
Brings some sunshine into my home and life. ”

Susan has taken several bookbinding workshops
at the studio. She lives in Chicago, but is sheltering
out of state for the duration. She recently wrote:

“ I just love what you are doing! 
You could be a good example for the rest of the nation!
You are a great model for us all—how I love your
enthusiasm!! It was a wonderful day for me when
I happened to walk into your store!
Also, ‘Hi’ and thank you to Will [my marvelous mailman]. ”

Heather is taking the year-long online Words & Pictures
class developed by Sonheim Creative.
I’ve never met Heather, but look forward to!

“ Thank you so much for the class you offered last week
on Carla's website. Your quiet and beautiful space and,
even more so, your calming spirit were a balm to me in this crazy time.
Next time I am passing through Chicago, I will find your shop.
I think just walking through the threshold will be healing. ”

Terry, a new online customer, sent this “review of receipt”:

“ Hello! I received my package yesterday. So fast! Amazing!
Everything was wrapped so beautifully that I just sat
and looked at the packages for a while before
I carefully peeled off the tags on the waxed paper bags. 
Everything is perfect! Thank you! ”

I am touched by each and every one of these appreciations.
Many of them include closing salutations that make
my heart full, from Take Good Care to Be safe,
and from xxooo to Fondly, and, last but not least: Peace.

Be well,

Bari

Extremely Mellow Yellow Parcel

Dear Everyone ~

It’s the start of another week of sheltering in place.
I continue to be heartened by people who are turning to
creativity for comfort and connection in this challenging time.

Kristen is an occasional customer who loves,
as do many of us, colour. Kristen, however, takes it to a
higher intensity, and sometimes shops by colour.
Usually, she does this in person, but the other day,
she emailed to say that she had been inspired by
the newest Lyra colour, Lemonade … and asked
if I could put together a yellow (leaning toward
chartreuse) accessory assortment for her.

I was delighted to wander around the shop,
selecting everything in her palette. I realized
I was compiling somewhat more than she was anticipating,
so I took photos for her to peruse. I also asked Kristen if she
happened to remember what palettes she’s shopped for previously.

“I’ve done it twice near a holiday, so that all my
outgoing mail can match the theme of the occasion.
Pinks and reds for Valentines, and all of the orange supplies
for Halloween. The Lemonade Lyra pencil caught my eye
and sparked this request.”

I asked out of blatant curiosity whether she’s
done this “shop by colour” exercise elsewhere,
and she said No, but added…

“At first, I was so overwhelmed by all of the beautiful things
in your shop that I wanted to limit myself
somehow—or spend $1000—so I picked a colour.
Now I repeat that every time.”

I loved coordinating the wrapping of each item to
create an ensemble. I made the bag for the writing accessories
from British wrapping paper I’ve had almost forever.
I thought the lemon-and-cream colour combo was pretty perfect.

Vive shopping by colour,

Bari

Cause for delyr’ium!

Dear Everyone ~

I’ve just received my order of 29 dozen
Lyra Colour Giants. This is my largest pencil order ever,
and I’ve photographed a few points in my decanting process.
Here you see the two boxes that were inside my 14-pound UPS parcel.

To replenish my depleted stock (see forlorn photo below),
I ordered a dozen each of a dozen colours and two dozen
each of eight colours. And, I ordered a dozen of one new-to-me
colour, Lemonade, which is lighter than Golden Yellow.

Incredibly, I can make room on the shelf for
just one more pencil jar, for Lemonade. So,
whereas Baskin Robbins has 32 flavours,
I at this moment have 33!

* * * * *

The other day, a customer who is also a new mom,
let me select five Lyras for her. She’d also
ordered a Bundle of Stationery Joy (as distinct from
six-week-old Zev, her Bundle of Stationary Joy).
Here’s the lovely email she sent me
once she’d received her supplies:

“Thank you for the delightful selection of pencils, Bari!
I don’t have a particular plan for their use,
but it seemed like a good idea to have something
pleasant to doodle with during a stressful time.”

“I very much enjoyed unwrapping my stationery.
I took my time and carefully undid each knot and bow,
and I’m saving each piece of string and tissue for later use.
I’m going to challenge myself to send as many of the cards
and postcards as I can. It seems like there are a lot of people
who could use cheering up these days, so I’ll get to it!”

I love her self-challenge!
I’m mailing even more correspondence than usual
(in addition to Bundles and Kits!). And I invite everyone
to join us in spiritually communing while socially distancing.

Bundle of Stationery Joy
Lyra Colour Giants

 Gigantically grateful,

Bari

Loopy with anticipation (I'm kitting!)

Dear Everyone ~

Tomorrow morning, my loopy link-stitch booklet lesson
will air on Words & Pictures on Sonheim Creative.
(If you missed my recent “O, Words & Pictures!” post about
Carla & Steve Sonheim filming at my studio, you can find it
on my site by clicking on Blog and then scrolling down to March 6.)
The kits I’ve assembled for the lesson have been available in my
online shop for two weeks … and have sold fairly wildly!
Here is my marvelous mailman, Will, taking the first batch of
packed-up orders out to his little truck.
He picked up the second batch last Thursday,
and I personally delivered the third batch to my
studio post office on Saturday morning.

You can view the kits in colourful detail in my online shop.
The Sun-drenched pairing of papers and threads was so popular
that it has temporarily sold out. (A fresh supply of paper is already
en route from Saint-Armand in Montreal.) And I’ve
added two new palettes, Venetian and Summer Fruits.

Inside tip for Instagrammarians:
I’m offering a give-away of a free registration for the entire
Words & Pictures year-long workshop. It’s as easy as
2-1-3: Like my loopy link-stitch post on Instagram.
Follow me @barizaki. Tag two (2) friends in one (1) comment box,
and all three (3!) of you will be entered as participants in the give-away,
which ends at midnight tonight (March 23). The lucky randomly
chosen winner will be notified via DM tomorrow (March 24) at 10 a.m.
Chicago time. And I will hope to feature you in a story forthwith!

Kit for a Pair of Loopy Link-stitch Booklets

Kit & caboodle,

Bari

Stationery for the Socially Stationary

Dear Everyone ~

In these trying times, I want to do everything
I can to help people express themselves on paper.
Yesterday evening, I received an email from a long-time
customer who lives in Wisconsin and finds herself
stranded in Florida. She asked that I call her, and we spoke
early this morning. She placed an order for assorted supplies,
as shown here. I’m looking forward to packing this up for her
and shipping it forthwith!

My studio is closed to shoppers until at least the end
of the month … but I will be here, working on custom projects
and packing up online orders. If you live within driving distance,
you are cordially invited to place an order,
which I will pack up in advance, and you can swing by
for stylish curbside pick-up. Call, or email, or send me a note!

If you’d like an epistolary pick-me-up
(for pick-up or posting), may I suggest a newly assembled
Bundle of Stationery Joy? Each is bundled in a sheet of
Japanese paper that I have treasured for about 25 years.
(I think I bought these either at the original
Paper Source or at Aiko’s.) Every one-of-a-kind assortment
presents 30-some pieces eager to do your bidding.

No two bundles are exactly the same,
but each contains a fairly dazzling array of
correspondence papers & envelopes. Marvelously mix-&-matchy:
here a European postcard, there a hand-bordered treasure.

I hope correspondents will be frankly (petite postal pun!)
delighted to learn that I’ve also refreshed my
vintage postage reserves to create bouquets of
lovely springy stamps. Handy for mailing,
dandy for decorating & thoroughly therapeutic.

Bundles of Stationery Joy
Bouquet of LOVEly springy stamps

Bundled up,

Bari

Sharing My Love of Lyra

Dear Everyone ~

I have stocked 20 colours of Lyra Colour Giants since
opening my shop almost five years ago,
and added Licorice and Espresso soon thereafter.
Allow me to share my admiration, even adoration,
of these incredibly photogenic more-than-mere-pencils,
including their marvelous metallic counterparts
and their luxurious luminous relatives.

I admit that swatching the Lyra colours is endlessly satisfying to me,
on all different kinds of paper, and in various colour combinations.
I also admit that I envisioned the long shelf of glass jars
of Lyra Colour Giants before I even opened the shop.
I have loved these pencils for many moons.
I kept my own assortment at home in a Japanese ceramic cup.
And I further admit that one of my favourite pastimes is
restocking the pencils in the shop. I love the way they feel,
and even the way they sound when they clink together in their jar.

Let me sing the praises of the Lyra Colour Giants:
They are creamy and highly pigmented. They are break resistant.
They sharpen to an excellent point, especially with the
m+r double brass sharpener. For those of us who prefer to have
our shavings collected and contained, the Double Dux sharpener
does the job divinely. The Lyra Colour Giants are substantial,
robust without being pretentious. They are surprisingly
popular and comfortable even for little hands.

When young customers come in, they scribble and draw
with great concentration, using the cup of sample pencils on the counter.
When they’ve finished, they tend to snatch their artwork to take home with them.
I find this so endearing. Some grown-ups have been known to doodle and draw
while they ponder their colour selections …
and then they offer me their oeuvre to keep.

When a customer (of any age!) purchases an entire set
(and this happens frequently), I package them in a Japanese or
hand-marbled bag I’ve folded. If you purchase the entire Lyra collection
(all 34 pencils!), then I will offer one of my cherished cigar boxes for presentation.

Lyra Colour Giants
Lyra Metallic
Lyra Luminous

In a riot of colour,

Bari

O, My Words and Pictures!

Dear Everyone ~

Earlier this week, Carla & Steve Sonheim of Sonheim Creative
visited my studio. They came to film me as part of their
2020 year-long online class, Words & Pictures.
When I collaborated with Carla & Steve in 2017 for my
online bookbinding course, we worked at their awesome studio
in Seattle. For Words & Pictures, they are filming the
guest instructors in their own creative spaces.

Carla & Steve’s whirlwind visit was exhilarating
almost to the point of levitating. Now that I have come back
down to desk-height, I’d like to tell you about the afternoon.
Steve’s official mission is to film me teaching a simple binding technique,
for which I’ve chosen one of my very favourites: a loopy link-stitch booklet.
My segment will air on March 24, paired with a lesson by
my friend (& Bari Zaki Studio guest instructor),
illustrator Cat Bennett. Here’s a photo Cat has posted of
Carla & Steve filming in her studio.

First, I make a booklet from start to finish, so Carla can see the entire process.
Then, she & I chat about how to present the binding technique,
while Steve photographs and films my studio high and low,
far and wide. I’ll be thrilled by any glimpses of my premises &
wares that make their way into the segment.
And then it is time for my close-up,
an hour-ish under Steve’s expert eye.

I have made a dozen loopy link-stitch booklets
in advance of the filming, showcasing the lovely springy colours of
Saint-Armand cover stock. The pages are creamy Stonehenge,
folded into a single signature. I stock 7-ply waxed linen thread in
umpteen shades, and selecting the thread colour for
the range of covers is definitely part of the pleasure.

Carla, who is an artist, also shops while she is here,
selecting several sketchbooks and inks.
Then I invite her to choose three loopy link-stitch booklets …
which of course I’m fantasizing she will start to use right away,
so that she can show them in her introduction to my segment!
Here’s hoping!

Loopy with delight,

Bari