glimmer in darkness - long stitch photo album

handmade long stitch photo album with distressed gold spine and natural linen covers by Kaija Rantakari / www.paperiaarre.com Today is one of the darkest days of the entire year here in the North. In Jyväskylä the day length is 5 hours 3 minutes - it's also cloudy, rainy, and generally just not great by any measure. To me that sounds like a good day for a small hibernation to start. I finished the last bookbinding project of the year late last night, took some detail photos of it at awkward angles by the window (there really isn't any room for non-awkward photography there), packed it all away to be properly photographed and added to the shop come January and brighter days.

handmade long stitch photo album with distressed gold spine and natural linen covers by Kaija Rantakari / www.paperiaarre.com

This bleak week of rain and darkness needed something a bit more cheerful, so I made a natural linen long stitch photo album with a distressed gold spine. Now my studio is decorated for the holidays with specks of leaf metal glimmering pretty much everywhere I look. Tidying up can wait until 2017.

handmade long stitch photo album with distressed gold spine and natural linen covers by Kaija Rantakari / www.paperiaarre.com

The inner covers are lined with Nepalese gold print paper, and the edges of the album pages are hand torn for a rough edge finish.

handmade long stitch photo album with distressed gold spine and natural linen covers by Kaija Rantakari / www.paperiaarre.com

Such a pleasant sight, an open book at rest. Now it's time for me to rest, too. I will stop by for a quick Christmas Accumulator Seriali greeting later this week, but the studio door is closed for the rest of 2016. Time for sleep, yoga, good food, and writing poetry.