If you haven’t sewn on paper (not just through it) before, I highly recommend it. This year, I spent some time working with a few gorgeous pieces of handmade “monsoon” paper from Cave Paper out of Tucson, and because it is so heavy and luscious, I could not help but sew and print all over it.

“Moonrise” came about as I was testing the limits of my block printing skills. The deep dark monsoon paper allowed me to imagine a still night with silhouetted trees and the moon peeking through. I used a matchbook-style binding so I could flip through the book and see the moon quietly move across the page. I found the carving and printing to be very calming and satisfying…and then, imagining the cover, I went wild sewing intricate black branches to echo the scene inside.

I used some end pieces of the monsoon sheet to build a sweet little dos-a-dos with homemade tension tie closures. This book is blank, but I am enjoying what kind of story might fit within!