japanese paper love

Before I began Satsuma Press, I owned a small shop in Northeast Portland called Sakura – and I sold Japanese textiles and pottery and tea ware ... and I liked it, but not well enough to keep on with it. What I discovered in that venture was that I really, really liked the design aspects of it all, but not the sitting around waiting for people. I wanted something to do.



When I first started printing about seven years ago, I had planned to also offer Japanese paper along with letterpress invitations and stationery. I suppose this meant I also imagined some sort of brick and mortar store, but I instead I transitioned from one basement studio to a single car garage studio to a double car garage studio, where I am now with no plans to leave or move. Still, I love Japanese paper and have a hoard of it in my flat files. The very first thing I ever printed were my own wedding invitations (dark red ink, fabriano medioevalis paper, simple cherry blossom motif – we got married in the Columbia River Gorge at a lovely place called Cherry Hill, which may or may not have been partly chosen for the name. I know this all sounds a little matchy-match, but I don't think it was.) which were wrapped in the cherry blossom chiyogami shown above and tied with a pale green silk ribbon.




And I guess it must be really true that I want something to DO, apparently at ALL TIMES, because I've been mulling this over and I've decided that if I can pull it off timewise, I'm going to also offer the perpetual calendar with small samples of these beautiful patterns above the text. Click above to see the idea larger. I'm still going to print the perpetual calendar with my designs. It'll be oh-so-perfect if I can do all this in time for the Sunday Best Holiday Sale, but there may just not be enough hours in the day. Did I mention we are also hosting Thanksgiving here? Did I mention that I have a really big job due the day before Thanksgiving? It seems that for every thing I cross of my to-do list, I add another and another. But I'm so excited about these – what a wonderful way to share these stunning handmade papers with you. Letterpress + Japanese Paper = Paper Love.