As a child I often received  summer school packets from Japan. These were basically educational comic books for children to keep us learning over summer vacation. They were packed with all sorts of cool topics about bugs, exploring the local environment, craft projects, and much more. They were also a bit like Cracker Jacks® on steroids – packed full of all sorts of exotic prizes, kits, and tear outs.

 

Later, as a young adult in Japan during the early 1970s, I encountered a cultural resurgence in the mingei folk art movement. This renewed national interest in Japanese traditional crafts spawned an amazing array of textile craft books, many limited editions, which included an abundance of regional samples tipped into pages of handmade paper. I was in heaven, even if only barely hanging on to the tenuous edges of the outlying clouds – I had little money but even so, spent most of my paycheck and savings on what I could. The impression they burned in my soul, however, was priceless.

 

I have endeavored to recreate this experience for my supporters in the publications I prepare by including samples from my own collection of textiles. Nothing better conveys the exquisite beauty of a technique than an honest to goodness, real sample to tempt all our senses.  It is in this spirit, in this hope, that I offer the publications below. Many more are in the works and even more are still amorphous notions wafting about in the void of my mind.

 

When I die, I hope my tombstone will read, he hath done what he could.