Scrap Happens

Dear Everyone ~

Last week I was deep in assembling 30-plus extra-extensive kits for my two upcoming workshops via Zoom: Trio of Enveloping Techniques is happening this very Saturday (October 16), and Desk Beautification: Pencil caddy & Memo holder follows next Saturday (October 23).

This is the first time I’ve assembled two workshops’ kits simultaneously! It’s also the first time the kits have included so many moving parts: several sets of patterned papers, three sets of pre-cut bookboard, and a sixsome of tiny accessories.

The first parcels to leave my premises were actually leaving the country: four to Canada, one to Austria, and one to Australia. Gabriele in Innsbruck is one of my most ardent students—she has taken two Bookful workshops and will be taking both of the upcoming workshops, for which her parcel, containing both kits, weighed 3 lbs 11 oz, including their shipping box (a paragon of paper packaging, I must say). It thrills me endlessly that students from many time zones can participate in these workshops simultaneously.

As it happens, Kim in Southern California emailed this morning, having signed up last Sunday for both Trio and Desk Beautification. She won’t receive her kit in time for this Saturday, so I suggested that she still join in for the fun of it, and I offered to send her the measurements for the papers she needs. She enthusiastically accepted, adding that she is hopping on a flight on Friday. She plans to cut all her papers before takeoff, and will have her supplies with her, and will absolutely join us live on Saturday!

Meanwhile, back in the studio, beautiful scraps of paper were fluttering to the floor by my center table practically every minute. All horizontal surfaces were covered with rolls of paper, scraps of paper, bookbinding fabrics, and stacks of bookboard in a range of pre-cut sizes. My handy guillotine was at the ready to trim the sheaflets of paper that students will place in the memo holders they make in the Desk Beautification workshop.

The mini-accessories mid-assembly offered disproportionate packaging delight: from colourful buttons, to waxed-linen thread wrapped around a tiny piece of bookboard, to the teeniest butterfly-clips with teeny pre-cut papers to cover them. Cutting several patterns in a stack yields umpteeny little pieces, that only reveal their patterns once I start putting them in their glassines. For me, it’s a scrumptious visual moment: like single pieces in a jigsaw puzzle or a scrap-o-matic.

If you’d like to register for Desk Beautification: Pencil caddy & Memo holder you still can. If you’re in the continental U.S. and register by this Friday, October 15, there’s time for you to receive your parcel via priority mail before for next Saturday. And as always, if you have any questions about the workshop, please feel free to call or e me. I look forward to hearing from you and glueing with you soon!

Desk Beautification: Pencil caddy & Memo holder

Post Haste, Bari

The versatile case of the envelope-case

Dear Everyone ~

Last week’s big blog post was about two new workshops, one of which—Trio of Envelope Techniques—features what I’m calling an envelope-case as its centerpièce de résistance. It took me some time to engineer the case, as it was a new structure for me. My idea was to make an envelope with depth but without gussets. So, it’s a soft box to encase its contents. For the workshop, the contents will be a set of 8 Carta Pura notecards & envelopes.

As it happened, a longtime local customer, Susan E., had recently asked me if I could help her make something to protect the long-stitch-link-stitch book she had made in a workshop at Bari Zaki Studio a couple of years ago. She has made additional books, which she’s given away, and had decided that a “permanent wrapping” of some sort would be the case on the cake.

So, last Wednesday, Susan had a private workshop via Zoom to make her custom envelope-case. Her book is 7½ x 5¼ x 1¼, so her case needed to be a bit larger—taller, wider, and thicker—than the version we’ll be making in the upcoming workshop. I computed the dimensions for Susan's case, and offered her two different colours of St. Armand. Either will look lovely with her book, especially with the cheery polka-dot buttons from Soutache for her string-and-button closure.

I was so delighted that Susan provided such a perfect opportunity to test the versatility of the envelope-case. And then I got to thinking that you could also make a case out of Japanese decorative paper (using my paper sandwich technique). Before it's folded, it would look, just for a second, like a kimono. Naturally, I had to construct one immediately to feast my eyes.

For the contents I chose a small stack of Cambridge Imprint postcards. I wanted this case to be smaller and thinner than my previous two cases to test a petite model. I used Hahnemuhle Bugra to back the paper sandwich, and trimmed a small off-cut with a pinking shears and attached it to hide the string tails that secure the button on the inside of the top flap. I did the same thing on the inside of the bottom flap, although the envelope-case is so slim, you’ll rarely encounter it when it's open.

The kit for Trio of Envelope Techniques was already extremely extensive, and now I'm upping my own ante.
Paper-wise, you will have extra Japanese decorative papers to fold more envelopes sans top flap, additional Saint-Armand to fold a second origami box & and a second envelope-case with string & button closure, after the workshop. And now I'm also delighted to include one piece of Hahnemuhle Bugra and one piece of adhesive for making your paper sandwich, so that you can make an envelope-case of decorative paper on your own after the workshop. For dessert, at the end of the lesson, I will demo how to easily execute a paper sandwich. Bon appétit!

This week I'm beginning to assemble the kits for Trio of Envelope Techniques. If you register by this Saturday, October 9, there is time for you to receive your paper-packed-parcel via priority mail before the following Saturday, October 16. Please feel free to call or e me if you have any questions, or if you'd prefer to register by phone.

Trio of Envelope Techniques

Encased, Bari

Announcing a double debut of workshops

Dear Everyone ~

I’m excited to announce my two new group workshops via Zoom: A Trio of Enveloping Techniques and Desk Beautification: Pencil caddy & Memo holder. A Trio of Enveloping Techniques will envelop enthusiasts on Saturday, October 16, and Desk Beautification: Pencil caddy & Memo holder will debut on Saturday, October 23. Yes, they are happening soon, with or without a harvest moon! And, yes, both workshops will be recorded and available to you that very afternoon, to watch and rewatch at your leisure.

The lovely & heartwarming emails and calls I’ve received after the debut of Introduction to Glueing Happiness continue to fill me with enthusiasm and even inspiration. So, I’ve decided to raise the bookbinding bar, and by extension the kit assembly bar. As I like to say, the more materials the merrier. When I received (and was able to fulfill) several post-workshop requests for additional kits... this got me to thinking about including extra materials in the “official workshop kit”. If you are torn (not a paper pun) between keeping what you make for yourself, and giving it to someone else who will be thrilled...you will have the wherewithal (not to mention the materials) to have your paper cake and eat it too!

The kit for Desk Beautification: Pencil caddy & Memo holder contains a combined total of 43 pieces of pre-cut binders board, Japanese papers & fabrics, plus six (a binders handful) standard pencils. In the workshop, you will make one pencil caddy (2¾ x 2¾ x 4½) and one memo holder (4¾ x 6½ x 1½); and cover six standard size pencils with Japanese papers. I will share with you my techniques for trimming and wrapping the pencils seemingly seamlessly. You will be able to make a second memo holder—measuring 4½ x 7¾ x 1½, tall and narrow, perfect for list-making— on your own after the workshop, using board and papers provided in your kit. You can stock both your memo holders with its own trimmed-to-size sheaflet (1 inch thick) of Cat Bennett’s favourite drawing paper.

In A Trio of Enveloping Techniques, you will learn to (1) hand-fold an envelope sans top flap (a flat bag), (2) fold a petite origami box from luscious 100% cotton Saint-Armand handmade paper and cover the teeniest butterfly-clips (½) with Japanese paper. I will share my tips for trimming the clip-covering papers perfectly! (3) For the finale, as your fingers are feeling nimble, you will make one incredibly deluxe envelope-case with string & button closure. The envelope-case can hold three dimensional objects such as a book, a stack of papers, or a set of postcards. In the workshop you will make it to hold a set of 8 Carta Pura notecards & envelopes.

The kit of materials for A Trio of Enveloping Techniques is extremely extensive, with enough papers for you to make five more envelopes sans top flap, a second origami box, and a second envelope-case with string & button closure. All of the materials—except for the buttons from Soutache, our buttonerie neighbor—are from my paper reserves collected over years and years. I will be mixing & matching for you! Certainly, if a particular paper or pattern catches your attention, please feel free to e me (or call me) and I will do my best to grant your wishes.

I hope you will join me for the love of paper folding, enveloping, glueing & creative camaraderie for one or both of these workshops. No previous bookbinding or paper folding experience is necessary; a bit of glueing experience is a plus. And may I offer this enticement: If you register for both workshops, you will receive a $50. discount on the pair.

A Trio of Enveloping Techniques
Desk Beautification: Pencil caddy & Memo holder

Nimbly, Bari

A Morning Glue-torial at the Roundtable

Dear Everyone ~

I wrote about David Reed several months ago, when he took my Introduction to Bookbinding workshop, a 21st birthday gift from his mother, Frances. (He was one of the three youngest participants in that workshop, the other two being Rachel, aged 14, and Martin, aged 12.) Midsummer, David was visiting family in Michigan and detoured to Chicago specifically to experience Bari Zaki Studio in person. He subsequently sent me an incredibly lovely thank-you ensemble that included a nesting pair of handfolded envelopes accompanied by his calling card encased in a petite glassine. Here are just a few of my favourite bits:

“ It was fantastic to see the magic behind the scenes when I visited you in Chicago this summer. Your studio is one of those places where you see so many things that you like in great quantities and have the desire to take the whole shop home with you. It is the opposite of Costco. ”

Last month, Frances signed up for Introduction to Glueing Happiness...with David, and David’s brother William, and William’s ladyfriend Zelda, and David & William’s Aunt Janice, and intrepid family friend Beth. In the living room, Frances set a table for six people, their workshop materials, their refreshments, two laptops, and one black cat. She has supplemented her wonderful report below with these photos!

Dear Bari,

WE had a BLAST. Our little group of six (four women, aged 22 to 70-something; and two young men, 21 and 23) was somewhat rowdier than I’d anticipated, but we managed to hear enough of what you were saying to keep us on track, and all were pleased with our handiwork.

It was a wonderful way for folks to spend time together, to create common experience, without having to conjure conversational fodder. I wish these photographs better captured the sparkle and spirit of the assembly, but I think you’ll get a feel for the space and its energies.

We did have refreshments, because we don’t gather here without food and drink: some had coffee, some had Champagne; there were tiny smoked-salmon quiches, various cookies, a salad of berries and melon, and a loaf of banana-date-nut bread. Some of us wore fascinators, because they happened to be on hand.

We put two laptop computers back-to-back on the stand in the center of the 60"-diameter table, which worked pretty well for the six of us. (We muted one of the laptops.) Everyone had a chair, of course, but some of us work better standing up, so there was that.

All, too, are excited by the prospect of our doing another workshop in the same format. We could have used a little more work space… I may set us up in the dining room next time, if I can figure out the lighting. (The Venetian chandelier with 12 candles is lovely for dining but not for positioning an Xacto blade.) We’ve also ordered a folding table that is 72" in diameter.

For now, please accept my thanks and my most cordial regards.

Yes, you can do this at home! – Frances

Since the zoomcast of Introduction to Glueing Happiness, I have received a large handful of emails and phone calls from other students conveying their sheer joy, sense of accomplishment, and desire to make more noteholders at home on their own, and to give as gifts. Every email & call I receive thrills me end-to-end.

Brimming beyond measure, Bari

Small musings with my postal muse

Dear Everyone ~

I’m still mentally recovering & rejuvenating from my kit assembly marathon over the last two weeks for Introduction to Glueing Happiness & Gourmet Bookful of Delectable Edibles. In the last several days, I’ve received numerous heartwarming reports from students who are in receipt of their kit parcel. I admit, my heart smiles from ear to ear each and every time I receive such an email. For excellent example:

“ Dearest Bari — Just want to let you know that the kit for the glueing workshop arrived last week and the papers are so beautiful!! and the kit itself is a symphony of care and anticipation. Thank you so very much for making these workshops available-they’ve brought hope, respite and creative stimulation when I’ve felt deeply lacking in all three. Workshop therapy: I’m all in. ” With gratitude, Olwyn

“ Dear dear Bari, The most beautiful marbled green paper arrived in my thoughtfully packaged parcel today. Each carefully wrapped item arrived safe and sound and I must say that I’m feeling a little antsy (in a good way) for our class to begin. A big green thank you! See you soon! ” Warmly, Melanie

I’m also grateful that the Post Office continues to deliver with such speed, economy, and reliability.

Combined, the two kits totalled 27 pieces of papers & bookboards, all of different proportions & sizes. The longest were the five sheets of thick Stonehenge drawing paper, 6 x 44, which I rolled and wrapped to look like a party popper. Students in the Bookful workshop will use these for accordioning. The tiniest piece was the Cockerell hand-marbled paper, 1¼ x 1⅞, that students in the gluetorial used to cover a madame butterfly-clip. Naturally, I had ensconced it in a vintage petite glassine envelope sealed with washi tape.

As part of my recuperating, I was chatting with my postal muse, Alyson Kuhn, about recent stamp issues, and amusing ways to position or juxtaposition them on an envelope. They too range (Heritage Breed pun) from large to tiny in size. We became enveloped in examples.

Alyson has a philatelic friend & correspondent, Antonio Alcalá, who has designed many U.S. stamps. She asked him if he could send photos of envelopes she’s mailed him franked with stamps he has designed. He definitely earned an A+ on this little assignment. Here you see a pair of stamps of a painting by Cuban artist Emilio Sanchez (2021), joined by a perfect hand-cancellation.

In contrast, these John Lennon stamps (2018), which Antonio designed from a photograph taken by Bob Gruen in August 1974, have been boldly pen-cancelled by someone at Antonio’s local post office, to prevent re-use. This treatment seems a bit overzealous, given the Let’s Save the Post Office sticker.

And here is Antonio’s Hearts Blossom stamp (2019), with his “love” hand-lettering and a kiss of a hand cancel.

Alyson also likes to frame an address. Vintage stamps, such as this Christmas set (1964), are easy to tear along the perforations. The hand cancels on the stamps (totaling 60¢) are even a bit wreath-like. These particular stamps were the first U.S. setenants (from the French to join), meaning that the stamps on the sheet are not all the same.

Aside: Se-tenants are common today—including several recent issues: Emilio Sanchez, Heritage Breeds (You’ll squawk if you didn’t buy them before they sold out!), Western Wear, Mid-Atlantic Lighthouses, and Barns.

If you are careful, the selvages and other design elements of self-adhesive stamps can be peeled away from their backing sheet for decorative purposes. Alyson made this frame from part of the Classic Era souvenir sheet (2016).

The new Mystery Message stamp (also designed by Antonio) is more than eye-catching. It color coordinates with absolutely any envelope. Alyson rotated the stamp in 90º turns for her “corner treatment” to another correspondent, completed with a thoughtful hand cancel.

Closing musing: Alyson & I are endlessly fascinated by how much personality a tiny piece of paper can embody. Alyson has actually spoken about this to various audiences, including a seminar at the National Stationery Show (see one of her slides below) and a roomful of creatives at Hallmark in Kansas City.

Scraps of decorative papers are in themselves the stuff of memory and collage and gifts...and tiny butterfly-clips! As I assemble my packets of Extremely Exquisite Scraps, my mind goes back to the projects I’ve used these papers on as well as where I originally acquired them.

Wishing you many blissful moments whilst creating, collaging & corresponding.

May you be mused, Bari

Delectable kits for Gourmet Bookful

Dear Everyone ~

Last week I focused on assembling 45-ish kits for Introduction to Glueing Happiness. This week, I am finishing the assembly of kits for Gourmet Bookful of Edible Delights. This is the first time I have assembled two series of extensive kits in two consecutive weeks. There has been much cutting & trimming, and measuring of a multitude of papers, and my bins of snippets, shards and scraps are again overflowing! Next week I will be replenishing my stock of Extremely Exquisite Scraps. Happiness in scrappiness!

Gourmet Bookful of Edible Delights will debut in a little over two weeks, on Saturday, September 11. This will be my fourth Bookful collaboration with artist, author, and dear friend Cat Bennett. In this four-Saturday workshop via Zoom, we will celebrate the sumptuousness of the harvest season, by illustrating our favourite foods & recipes under Chef Cat’s gentle direction.

The book-structure appetizer you will make is a landscape accordion with a drop-spine hard-cover. The paper for your pages will be thick Stonehenge drawing paper. (We’ll use a heavier-than-book-page weight of Stonehenge, so that your panels stand up proudly.) Each panel will measure 6 x 8¾, so a spread is 6 x 17½. Your kit includes five sheets of Stonehenge drawing paper, each trimmed to 6 x 44 inches; we will attach them with a paper hinge, for a total length of 218¾ inches! Your Stonehenge sheets will arrive rolled like a party popper! Please unroll them and flatten for a few days, so that they will be ready for your accordioning.

In gourmet fashion I’ve assembled three mouthwatering palettes for you to choose from for making your cover: Berriest Blues, Très Rosé, & Golden Toasts. The materials I have selected for these kits are an array of Japanese Katazome & Chiyogami papers, and silky smooth to iridescent to two-tone bookcloths. I have been collecting and working with these for many years. As most are in limited supply, I will select the specific paper patterns for you. If you’d like additional kits, simply e me. I am delighted to share that one student has ordered all three palettes, and several other students have ordered an additional palette. I’m already anticipating seeing photos of these bountiful buffets of books!

As always, Cat & I want to emphasize that no previous drawing experience is necessary, and the workshop pace and camaraderie are welcoming. Also as always, all four sessions will be recorded live, so you will have the videos to watch and rewatch (in delicious detail). Cat & I both look forward to sharing our love of drawing, painting, and bookbinding with you in this four-part (12 hoursful) workshop!

Gourmet Bookful of Edible Delights

Bonbon appétit, Bari

Kits for my upcoming Zoom gluetorial

Dear Everyone ~

Assembly of the bountiful kits of materials for Introduction to Glueing Happiness, my newest group workshop via Zoom, is proceeding apace. The workshop debuts on Saturday, September 4, just two weeks away! This hyper-tactile three-ish hour gluetorial has been inspired by the book structure students will make in the Gourmet Bookful of Edible Delights workshop via Zoom that I will co-teach with author, writer, and dear friend Cat Bennett.

Introduction to Glueing Happiness will help students become more comfortable and even dexterous using glue & a glue brush on various surfaces. We will experience how various papers & bookcloths behave once glue has been applied—while making two deluxe and handy noteworthy noteholders. One is a clip-book measuring 4¾ x 9 x 1⅜ and the other a clip-board measuring 5¾ x 8¾. Naturally, stacklets of notesheets to populate the noteholders are included. I will also share the tips of my trade for covering butterfly-clips with decorative paper.

Each kit contains a total of 17 pieces of paper & board (plus 2 clips), an all-time record for me. The decorative papers for the clip-book are very vintage Katazomes from Aiko’s. And the clip-board will be covered with Cockerell hand-marbled papers from England. These papers are mostly from the First Zaki Dynasty, and I love the thought that they are going out into the world to new homes, including three kits to Canada and one to Austria (which are already well on their way). Because my reserves of these papers are limited, each ensemble I select is unique, a veritable buffet of mixing-and-matching.

When I began to cut and trim (yes, these are two distinct steps!) the assorted materials, I had to jot all the measurement notes in my clip-book to keep the range of shapes & sizes in check, and there were many. There’s much to say for measuring twice and cutting once. As I like to say, measure several times to cut your stress!

If you haven’t registered yet, you can still do so, and your Priority Mail paper-packed parcel will arrive in time. Shipping deadline is next Thursday, August 26th. And if you register for both Introduction to Glueing Happiness and Gourmet Bookful of Edible Delights, you will receive a 15% discount on the Bookful workshop.

I hope you will join me to share in the creative camaraderie, love of paper, luscious materials & beaucoup de glue!

Introduction to Glueing Happiness

Sticking with it, Bari

Lush-ious new brush pens from Japan

Dear Everyone ~

I have enjoyed drawing with brush & ink and brush pens in all seasons, on many surfaces. Numerous styles of brush and types of inks are available, and I have experimented with quite an assortment—from wide to thin, from long to short, to felt tip. Two of the joys I find when drawing with a brush is that you can achieve in a single swoosh onto your paper, a lush line or a dainty line.

After many interludes of drawing & musing, I have chosen to add these two brush pens from Japan to the Bari Zaki Studio repertoire of brush & ink drawing tools: a deepest black & a cool medium grey. Both pens have a wide brush made from synthetic bristles, with a very fine tip. They have replaceable parts for both the brush tip & for the ink, though I have yet to personally replace either. The brush tip holds its shape perfectly, and the ink supply seems endless.

Recently, whilst I was drawing outside on a very sunny afternoon with the grey brush pen, the ink began to feather a tiny bit as it touched the paper—I was smitten! I believe it had more to do with the Hahnemühle paper texture than the ink, but serendipity nonetheless and all the more. I was delighted by the surprise and doubly delighted by the outcome.

The inks in both pens take nicely to all manner of paper finishes & weights, from Esleeck Fidelity Onion Skin to heavy & highly textured Aquarello. As you can see (at top), I have become fond of using the brush pens on the toasty golden pages of the Eurokraft booklets. And charmed by the way the grey ink flows on the Hahnemühle Bugra.

We now have five brush pens in stock: two black, two white, and one grey, with various brush widths & ink consistencies. All delightful for a multitude of drawing & writing pleasures.

Lush-ious new brush pens from Japan

Thinky about inky, Bari

Introduction to Glueing Happiness

Dear Everyone ~

Introduction to Glueing Happiness is my newest group workshop via Zoom. It will debut on Saturday, September 4, exactly one week before Gourmet Bookful of Edible Delights begins! This is the perfect workshop to acquaint yourself with (or refine your dexterity) using glue & a glue brush. You will make not one but two noteworthy noteholders during the workshop.

To elevate your glueing comfort co-efficient, I have chosen three specialized bookbinding materials to work with: linen bookcloth, Japanese Katazome (stencil-dyed) paper & Cockerell hand-marbled paper from England. All three surfaces behave differently when glue is applied. Working with them side by side, you will experience their paper personalities while learning tips & techniques to use in your continued bookbinding projects.

The two structures you will learn to make in this workshop are a clip-book measuring
4¾ x 9 x 1⅜ and a clip-board measuring 5¾ x 8¾. Both will sport a butterfly clip that you will wrap in a complementary decorative paper. Also included in the kit are the papers to fill the butterfly clips to the brim: a stack of Hahnemuhle Bugra complete with one deckled edge, and a stack of Cat Bennett’s favourite drawing paper, trimmed for you to 5½ x 8½ (half of an 8½ x 11 sheet).

The materials I’ve chosen for this kit combine a tactile trio of colour, texture, and pattern. Each sheet of Katazome is very vintage from Aiko’s. The sheets of Cockerell hand-marbled papers I personally handpicked in Cockerell’s very own studio located in Cambridgeshire, back in the spring season of 2002. I’ve happily made hundreds of books using these papers, and it brings me joy to share them with you for your glueing pleasure in this workshop.

As the papers are in limited supply, I will mix & match each kit of materials to create a complementary colour combo. If a particular colour or pattern catches your fancy, please e me and I will do my best to accommodate your wishes. And if you’d like to order additional kits, you can.

If you were inspired to register for the upcoming Gourmet Bookful of Edible Delights via Zoom, but are feeling slightly, or even extremely, intimidated by the structure, this delightful three-ish hour workshop will absolutely help alleviate your glueing anxiety. I offer this encouragement: If you take both Introduction to Glueing Happiness and Gourmet Bookful of Edible Delights, you will receive a 15% discount on your Bookful registration.

Introduction to Glueing Happiness

Happy go glue-y, Bari

Announcing Gourmet Bookful of Edible Delights via Zoom

Dear Everyone ~

My next Bookful collaboration with artist, author and dear friend Cat Bennett has moved to the front burner. Our four-Saturday workshop series, Gourmet Bookful of Edible Delights, will zoom to screens everywhere next month, debuting on September 11.

September is a month brimming with so many delicious, voluptuous, and colourful fruits & vegetables. They inspire drawing as much as cooking. Recipes have a particular connection to people we love, to cherished dishes that warm our heart and feed our soul.

The book structure you will learn to make in this series is a landscape accordion book with a drop-spine hardcover. Your accordion panels will each measure 6 x 8¾ (so each spread is 6 x 17½), for a total length of 218¾ inches! This lovely style of book will lay perfectly flat whilst you are illustrating your favourite foods & recipes. The structure also allows your pages to spring up & out for display.

Cat will lead the group through a bountiful buffet of drawing and painting techniques in some of her favourite mediums: opaque watercolour, coloured pencils, and marker pens. Each two-panel spread will feature a recipe and a companion illustration. With some tips from Cat, we’ll hand-letter our recipes, and you will have created a delicious book of delectable edibles. (Absolutely no previous drawing experience is required.)

As Everyone knows, I take particular joy in selecting (and packaging) the kit of materials for each workshop. For Gourmet Bookful, I’ve decided to raise the “lusciousness bar” (not an Olympic event) and share a remarkable array of papers and fabrics that I’ve collected from various sources over the years. My reserves of these are very limited, and I’m excited at the prospect of sending them out into the creative world to become beautiful book covers. Students will be able to choose from one of three palettes, and I will select the specific paper patterns and bookcloths in each kit. As always, if you’d like to order additional kits, you can.

The Berriest Blue palette includes geometric Katazome’s (from Aiko’s, acquired during the First Zaki Dynasty) and blossoming chiyogami. The spine fabrics are so beautiful, you’ll wish you could wear them. And, of course, the fabrics take on the cast of the paper they are next to.

The Très Rosé palette includes Japanese mountain landscapes, magenta mums, and pale pink cherry blossoms. The spine fabrics are brighter and deeper: wine and jewel tones.

The Golden Toasts are appropriately mouth-watering, from mango-cinnamon to saffron, from mustard seed to turmeric. And an entire cortege of British country characters, illustrated by Harold Jones. The bookcloths in all three palettes are paragons of texture and tone: silky smooth to iridescent to two-tone.

In closing, we both want to emphasize that no previous art or bookbinding experience is needed to fully enjoy the workshop. The pace & camaraderie is very zen. Plus you’ll have the videos to watch and rewatch to taste.
We look forward to seeing you in September!

Gourmet Bookful of Edible Delights via Zoom

Bon Appétit, Bari