Dear Everyone ~
We are delighted to announce our Blooming Bundle of Summery Stationery Joy. They are so florabundlissimi that we have enveloped each bundle in a hand-folded (by me) backless envelope with a charming string-and-(paper!) button closure. The highly re-useable envelope measures 8⅝ x 11½.
For Everyone who may have forgotten about backless envelopes, we’ll back up a bit: We call them “backless” because the paper on the front is not what we use for the back. In happy fact, the backside is a separate piece of paper, in this case complementary cardstock (made in Michigan by French Paper Co.) The backs are Lemon Drop, the paper buttons are Sno Cone, and of course we have colour-coordinated the eyelets (baby grommets). The string is unwaxed Irish linen thread.
Each bundle contains a fresh array of notecards & envelopes by artists and designers from the UK and the Continent: James Winrow, Hadley Paper Goods, Rossi, Cambridge Imprint, Season Paper, Kiran Ravilious, Art Press, and textile designer Neisha Crosland. And from Brooklyn, seemingly the creative epicenter of the Eastern Seaboard, a triple-thick sunny golden card, hand-edged in gold foil, with a matching sunny golden envelope (scene here at 4:ish o’clock), designed by Wms & Co. And, petitest but not leastest, postcards from truly everywhere, from my vast collection. The bundle itself is enveloped in our signature white tissue secured with French embroidery thread.
Back to our backless envelopes. We’ve made them from three Varese floral patterns: Primavera, Millefiori, and Splendido Azzuro. Their wrap-around flaps are 2½", and their chic button makes them the happiest flaps ever.
Speaking of making envelopes: We’ve recently become a huge fan of Sookwang (a.k.a. Scor-tape) double-adhesive roll tape, so we’ve begun stocking them in ⅛" and ¼" rolls! Brilliant for sealing your hand-folded envelopes’ side flaps, for constructing your backless envelopes, and for preparing any envelope that you are going to seal later. Scene here is Ruby attaching the Sookwang for a Blooming Bundle of Summery Stationery Joy backless envelope.
I’ve become quite the Sookwang kook, and now use it for all manner of adhering whilst making books. We will be “deploying” it extensively in my upcoming Art of The Hinge workshop, and I plan to include a full roll in Everyone’s kit.
The Sookwang rolls are mysteriously, even deliriously, modestly priced. They make a fabulous little gift, especially if you enclose them in a square backless envelope (SBE). (Scene here is the envelope in which my Postal Muse sent me my first two rolls. She wrote, “It’s so great, it’s scary. No, it’s score-y!”)
In other BZS noteworthy news: Paper Sheep enclosure cards are back in stock, as well as British Seaweed postcards in all four sets: Nos. 1, 2, 3, and The Isle of Scilly.
And last but never least, Cambridge Imprint has recently reconfigured the packaging for their Garlands kits of origami papers. They are now presented in a delightful square envelope made from sturdy cardstock, sealed with a large round matching sticker. We are pleased to mention that we have already figured out a way to open the envelope while keeping it in fine form. (See the shop listing for a photo or two!) If you wish you had bought a set with one of the original Cambridge keepsake boxes, you still can. We have four final boxes available here.
Blooming Bundle of Summery Stationery Joy
Sookwang
Cambridge Imprint origami papers
Stationery but nary stationary, Bari
PS:
Last week we introduced Club Artful, my new co-teaching collaboration with my dear friend Cat Bennett. Club Artful will meet the first Sunday of the month from 2–4pm (Chicago time). In each session, students will make a papery structure with me in the first hour, and in the second hour Cat will lead students in exploring several different drawing & painting techniques with our theme of the month. Our first session meets Sunday, August 3: Origami Box + Tiny Portraits is our inaugural theme. You can read more about Club Artful here!