EMBROIDERY MONTH

February is National Embroidery Month and some of our members are celebrating this in various ways. If you haven't tried embroidering on paper you should give it a try. One of our NORBAG members, Celeste Chalasani, will be teaching a two-day class of embroidery on paper at FOBA this June. For more information go to: https://focusonbookarts.org/2026-foba-conference/ Registration begins March 28. 

Our member from the UK, Margaret Beech, has recently joined a local (to her) organization, York Embroiderers and Stitchers. She was asked to speak at their monthly meeting about her work as a book and calligraphy artist. Here is their description of her visit.

Margaret Beech presents "Paper Magic"

"Our afternoon speaker was a local artist who specializes in calligraphy and bookmaking (mostly out of paper, but some out of fabric). In 2025 she was invited to exhibit as part of York Open Studios. Margaret had brought along a large collection of different books made over a number of years. Margaret's work is very varied and quite difficult to categorize as the books have a sculptural quality. She is part of an International community of artists that swap ideas and books that they have made. Because of her interest in calligraphy and words she incorporates poetry and phrases into her art/books, many of which contain manipulated and three-dimensional elements. Over the course of the afternoon we saw flag books, fan books, flickbooks, concertina books, scroll books, Jacob's ladder books, explosion pages and surprise elements. We very much enjoyed her spirited 'show and tell' and admired her creativity."
Here are some photos of the books Margaret shared with the group.

NORBAG's February workshop was taught by Jeanne Levy. She shared a versatile hanging accordion book that could be designed as a great Valentine gift. Thank you Jeanne for sharing this structure with us. Margaret Beech sent in a couple of photos of the book she made using her sister's marbled paper. 

MARGARET'S WORKSHOP

NORBAG's first workshop of 2026 was taught by Margaret Beech. With a title of "Throw-Out Pages", we were all curious to see what this structure would be like and as usual, Margaret did not disappoint. While it looked like it could be tricky to put together, it turned out to be an easy structure with fun opportunities for decoration. Many thanks go to Margaret for sharing this structure with us and getting the year off to a great start. The following photos show some of the books that were made.

Mary Conley

Barbara Clark

Barbara Clark

Sherril Story

Sherril Story

Michele Kamprath

Michele Kamprath

Bonnie Julien

Bonnie Julien

"THROW OUT PAGES" WITH MARGARET

 Our January workshop will be taught by our member from the UK, Margaret Beech. The book has "throw out pages" with a hard cover. Margaret says this is a simple structure, and because the pages are not sewn to the spine it allows you to decorate the inside of the spine and inner back and front covers for interest and impact.

There is no measuring for the pages, just accurate folding and cutting because we will be using regular 11" x 8 1/2" light cardstock.

Once you sign up for this workshop you will receive a materials and instruction sheet. Some items need to be prepared before the workshop. Margaret says this is a great structure with huge potential. The style suits visual content probably better than written because of the narrow width of the pages. Another bonus is that there is no measuring to make the pages for your book, simply accurate folding.

Materials and Tools:

• 2 sheets light cardstock 8 ½” x 11” for the pages
• Decorative papers for your pages cut to 4” x 1 ¼” – you will need 20
  
• 2 pieces 4 ¼” x 3 ½” thicker cardstock for covers
• 1 piece 4 ¼” x 1” thicker cardstock for spine
• 2 pieces 4 ¼” x 3 ½” decorative paper for inside covers
• 1 piece 4 ¼” x 1” decorative paper for inside spine
• Lining paper for inside cover/spine cut to 8" x 4"
• Glue stick
• Bone folder
• Craft knife
• Pencil
• Ruler
• Masking tape, optional

Please have all the cover, spine and lining pieces cut in advance.

When:    Saturday, January 10 at 10 a.m. PST

Where:   On your computer, tablet or smartphone via Zoom 

RSVP:    Dolores Guffey by January 5 to receive the handouts

Workshop Questions:  Margaret Beech - beeches1313@gmail.com

Zoom Questions:  Bobbie Hayes

Contact information is in the newsletter

CIRCULAR FLAG BOOKS & OPEN STUDIO

Many thanks to Mary Conley for sharing her original circular flag book design at our April workshop. It looked much more complicated to make than it turned out to be. As usual, participants found new and creative ways to personalize the structure. I think we'll be seeing more variations of this structure in the months to come. Here are a few examples of the books that were made during the workshop.

Emmy Nelson

Annette Hansen

Stephanie Weigel

Sherrill Story

Donna LaVallee

Here is a photo of a beautiful birthday card made by Michele Kamprath. The design was from the March Project Page.

Check out Michele's beautiful eco-dyed paper in the background.

Open Studios

The past two weekends an Open Studio event was held that many of us wish we could have attended. Sadly for us it was in York, England and our local (to York) member, Margaret Beech, was a first-time participant. Apparently it was a huge success and Margaret had many very happy visitors who were new to the world of Artist Books and loved her work. Here are a few photos from her displays.

Thank you Mary, Margaret, and everyone else who sent

 photos to share their work with us.

CHRISTMAS TREES

Many thanks to our two international M's...Mary Conley from Victoria, British Columbia, Canada and Margaret Beech from York, England. They came up with a terrific workshop to start off the holiday season. Mary showed us how to make a simple origami inspired Christmas Tree that was all about folding...no glue and no sewing. It could be made in any size using a square sheet of paper. Here are some examples:

Dolores Guffey used her beautiful
marbled paper.

Ellen Hoffman made this little tree
 (paper 5 1/4" square) to be hung
from her Christmas tree.

Michele Kamprath made her tree
from map paper.

Margaret's tree was made from four different sized squares of paper and could be expanded to have even more layers. This tree did require a bit of gluing, but it could also be dismantled and flattened to send or pack away for another year. Here are some examples: 

Margaret's four cone shapes ready to be stacked.

Margaret's finished tree

Michele Kamprath's tree made from 
map and music papers.

Dolores Guffey's tree

Bonnie Julien's trees

Sherrill Story's two trees

Sherrill modified her tree structure
 to turn it into flat cards.

This same "tree" structure can also be used to make a Santa Claus or maybe something else. Here is a photo of one Margaret made from recycled holiday cards. 

Thank you to everyone who participated in the workshop... especially Mary and Margaret for teaching us how to make these structures.

3-D TREES

NORBAG is very lucky to have many talented members to teach us new structures. Our November workshop will be a collaboration between Mary Conley and Margaret Beech. Mary will demonstrate an origami sculpture of a tree using a single square piece of paper.

Mary's tree

With just squares of light card or heavyweight paper Margaret will show us how to make a Christmas tree that "grows" and can be collapsed to store to be part of your holiday decorations year after year. 

Margaret's tree

Materials List

Mary's Tree:

• One large (12 inches or more) square of thin paper. Mary uses Taro's Origami paper from Amazon, which is 13.8 inches square. Thin wrapping paper would do as long as it folds easily.
• Bone folder
• pencil
• ruler
• Xacto knife or box cutter
• A separate piece of white paper on which to draw a template

Margaret's Tree:

• The following sizes of squares should all be cut from medium weight cardstock or heavy weight paper. Margaret suggests using differing shades of green for a festive theme.
• Three 6 inch squares
• Three 5 inch squares
• Three 4 inch squares
• Three 3 inch squares
• The same tools as for Mary's tree with the addition of paper clips and a glue stick

When:   Saturday November 9 at 10 a.m. PST

Where:  On your computer, tablet or smartphone via Zoom

RSVP:    Dolores Guffey by Nov. 4 to receive the password

Workshop Questions:  Mary Conley - sculptsster@gmail.com

Margaret Beech - beeches1313@gmail.com

Zoom Questions: Bobbie Hayes

Contact information is in the newsletter

SPIRAL BOOKS

 The August NORBAG workshop will be taught by Margaret Beech, our member from York, UK. The structure will be spiral books. Margaret says there is a certain magic in these surprising spiral books. If time allows, we will make two books that are cut from circles and one book from squares, along with a neat gusseted envelope.

Materials:

• Four (4) sheets 11 x 8 1/2" copy weight paper. Margaret suggests we use four different colors for the books. Please do not use patterned paper.
• One (1) sheet 8 1/2" square copy weight paper for the envelope.
• Circle shapes to trace around, approximately 5 1/4" diameter and 2 3/4" diameter. You can also use a compass.
• ruler
• pencil
• stapler 
• scissors
• craft knife
• bone folder
• glue stick

Before the workshop, Margaret asks that you trace one set of the two circles and one 5 1/2" square shape on one sheet of colored paper. DO NOT CUT!

When:    Saturday, August 10 at 10 a.m. PDT

Where:   On your computer, tablet or smartphone via ZOOM

RSVP:     Dolores Guffey by August 5 to receive the password

Workshop Questions: Margaret Beech - Beeches1313@gmail.com

Zoom Questions: Bobbie Hayes

Contact information is in the newsletter

WORKSHOP FOLLOW-UP AND LIBRARY KIOSK

The October workshop taught by Margaret Beech was a very versatile structure that can be modified in many ways. It is simply decreasing sizes of single fold cards that can be arranged in different ways to showcase photographs, art, or text. Thank you Margaret for sharing this structure with us. Below are some examples of the cards that were finished after the workshop.

Sue Reynolds

Emmy Nelson, card cover 

Emmy Nelson

Emmy's card opened up

Sherrill Story's cover

Sherrill Story

Sherrill's card opened up

The following photograph is a beautiful example of the circle book structure that was taught by Kit Davey in September.

Barbara Ristaino used flower decals for her book.

Library Display

The Kiosk display at the Humboldt County Library in Eureka, California is featuring books made by Michele Kamprath this month. Thank you Kenzie Mullen for arranging the display.