Ma Nao Books delivers a bedroom set

My latest commission was his & hers waste baskets and tissue boxes for the bedside. I've decided to try using Rohhalbleinen on everything these days, including the rims of waste paper bins.


A friend came over recently to cram a small but ambitious bookbinding project and I coaxed her into using the Rohhalbleinen, mostly because I wondered at our ability to convert her hemp fabric into bookcloth. We had many problems to solve before midnight, but the Rohhalbleinen definitely wasn't one of them.

Another week, another clamshell

In between boxes I'm trying to grok my presentation for the upcoming show at Blackbird Wineshop.

I'd love to bank on it

Thanks to statcounter.com, where I can check who visits my Web site and for how long, I know that the folks at Umpqua Bank just checked me out. I hope they check the Etsy site, too, as that's where the most stuff is. Our local branch showcases the work of a neighborhood business every quarter, and gee — wouldn't it be great if they picked me?!

Meanwhile, I'm wrapping up the clamshell commission. I never tire of making these boxes. I remember my first one. Coming home from Artists Book Works, all I did was sit and open and shut it, amazed. My roommate caught me doing it again hours later and wondered if I'd gone nuts.

I must have made hundreds by now, and I was so excited recently to hear an awesome testimonial on my answering machine from a customer who'd been given a clamshell from the Japanese Garden show ages ago. He raved about how well it had held up over the years and thanked me for my "craftswomanship." It made my day.

Here's the latest, for a wedding photo album.



I love how the chiyogami paper pops in the light.