The Sunday Paper #394

December 26, 2021

I hope that your holiday gatherings have been special and filled with wonder. Ours has been snowy and cozy, with the doggies, Ted and my mother plus good food, and zoom gatherings with family in Chicago, Oregon, Texas and Japan.

I was over at my mom’s the other day and she showed me this card, drawn by me at age 10. It reminded me of the Episcopal church I grew up going to in TX. We had an actual barnyard with all kinds of animals (including peacocks) and some of them participated in the living nativity scene leading up to Christmas. The church was on a main road in town, so people would drive by or stop and walk up to view the manger scene.

What is most amazing to me is that my mother received this card in the mail this week. Her friend had kept the card for 46 years and decided to send it back – what a cool idea!

———————————————————————————————–––––––

These Carigami Puzzles by Nissan look fun to make.

–——————————————————————————————–––––––

Several of you forwarded me this article that includes a how-to video about letterlocking, and I finally found 5 minutes (5 minutes!!) to sit down and make this. The spiral lock requires more than 30 steps and involves cutting out a “lock,” often resembling a dagger or sword, out of the blank margin of the letter. The lock acts as a needle and is sewn through the letter after folding it. This is an historic one-sheet wonder and definitely warrants more investigation.

A rare spiral-locked letter written by an unidentified author in 1638. Musée de La Poste, Paris, Vivarez Collection

———————————————————————————————–––––––.

I’m so proud of my Paper Year members! Here’s a video showing a sampling of each of the twelve projects we created throughout the year. Registration is now open for 2022.

———————————————————————————————–––––––

I enjoyed this solstice blog post by John Cutrone, who writes The Book of Days, from Convivio Bookworks.

———————————————————————————————–––––––

Paper Tidbits:

• Have you listened to my interview with Radha Pandey on Paper Talk?
• Reserve an autographed first edition of The Art of Papercraft and get a free downloadable pop-up alphabet plus a reservation card in the mail.
• If you have pre-ordered The Art of Papercraft elsewhere, you can now get the free downloadable pop-up alphabet with proof of purchase through my publisher, Storey Books!
• Weave Through Winter is coming!

———————————————————————————————–––––––

In the Studio:

I drive 20 miles to visit my mother in her assisted living facility once or twice a week. She’s in Eagle, CO, which is a bit more rural than Edwards, where I live. I drove down highway 6 and saw a huge gathering of elk the other day (maybe 100 of them all packed together, waiting to do something). When I got into Eagle, close to my mother’s facility, I noticed this group of elk grazing in an open space right in town. Snow, mountains, elk… thus the title of this blog post.

———————————————————————————————––––––

Featured this week in my Studio shop: The Art of Papercraft, Papermaking with Garden Plants & Common Weeds, The Papermaker’s Companion, and The Papermaker’s Studio Guide, a film download.

———————————————————————————————––––––