I went up to San Rafael and San Francisco on Thursday, mainly to visit a few paper stores in the area. I’m not exactly lacking in paper supplies, but I wanted to check out a few stores I hadn’t been to before. I didn’t buy a huge amount of stuff, but I was inspired by various things I saw.
First, I went to the Paper Zone store in Corte Madera, to see one of the stores I’ve heard so much about. I have to admit I was a bit disappointed though, mainly because they didn’t have many of the metallic papers shown on the site. Those “Aspire Petallics” ones on their home page are just gorgeous, but I guess I’ll have to order them online if I want them.
After a few other stops, I headed back south towards San Francisco, stopping to have lunch in Japantown. I stopped in the Kinokuniya stationery store there, of course, and looked around for a bit. I didn’t buy anything, but I did get some ideas for cards from the ones they had for sale. They had some really lovely cards that incorporated fabric and paper, and now I want to try something similar by wrapping chipboard or cardboard shapes in some sort of patterned material.
My final paper stop of the day was the Paper Source store in the Marina. I’d only been to their Fillmore store before this, but that one is tiny in comparison! They had a lot of really nice flat wrap papers, some metallic papers, and lots of amazing letterpress stationery. I picked out a few paper sheets and packs, and toyed with the idea of letterpress business cards after I saw a lovely card with blossoms on it.
I can’t really justify having any proper stationery like that made right now, but the visual effect of letterpress is quite nice. The color palette seems limited, at least among what Paper Source offers, but the debossed printing is great, especially done on certain textured papers. I bought one mini greeting card done in this style, but now I’m thinking about taking letterpress classes at The San Francisco Center for the Book.
I’ve actually been drawn to the idea of learning print design lately, mostly as a result of making my own stationery and browsing through paper stores. I’ve long had an interest in graphic design, but I chose not to pursue it while I was in school. It keeps coming up though, especially lately, so I’m thinking about it again, even if I just take a class or two. For now though, I guess I’ll just keep up with my envelope silliness.
Oh, that reminds me! I’ll actually be giving a little demonstration at next month’s South Bay Craft Group meeting, to show how to make envelopes. I’m trying not to make too much of it, but I can’t help but think of more and more details that I want to include. I figure I’ll cover the basics at the very least, but there are a few neat alternatives that would be nice to mention too. I just don’t want to bore people with nerdy little envelope things. 
Speaking of envelopes, I listed a few assortments of origami paper ones on my Etsy store. I’ve only sold one item on that site before, but I figure it’s worth a try with a few more.
