Christmas Cards through the years... 2008

Belonging as I do, to the local calligraphy guild (in Calgary it is the Bow Valley Calligraphy Guild - one of the largest in North America), it is de rigueur to hand make a Christmas card. And since joining in 1994 I have done so every year.

They started as actual calligraphic card - with the lettering and wording more important - usually colour photocopied to make multiple copies, or perhaps gocco-ed. Over the years, as I moved into Book Arts, they became more about the structure as each one was handmade and more time consuming - hence the production numbers went way down. (Originally I would make 75 cards, I am now down to 12 at the most.)

Here are images of them for the past four years...
(one at a time)

Assemblage of materials:
(Picking colour coordinated papers = hand painted + various Japanese tissues + Thai stitched ones. Along with linen threads, beads and sequins, grommets, copper tags, date stamp.)

The final card:
(Design idea inspired by a Kathy Guthrie card she once gave me for my birthday. Hanging on a vertical string, layers of papers with name tag at the bottom.)

Packaging into an 'envelope':
(Plastic CD sleeve with the slit in front for the copper tag with recipients name stamped on.)

You can click on images for more details...
More to come.