Slow and Steady in 2015

​Overall, it's been a good year. We taught, we learned, we spoke, and we listened and most importantly, we're still here! There were more ups than downs. The biggest hurdle continues to be getting the word out about our classes and our offerings. Reaching new students and customers is essential to our continued growth and existence. Thanks to everyone who has spread the word and told your friends and fellow creatives that we're here. We couldn't do it without you! We ask that you continue to share the love of paper and tell people about our social media pages on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and of course our website, Patreon and etsy pages could always use more eyeballs too.

The new year will start off on a fantastic foot as we welcome our 2016 papermaking residency artists to work in the studio from January - April. Stay tuned later this week for the press release announcing the awards! The four selected artists will each get 60 hours over 1 month to develop new paper based art work. Any time we get artists working in the studio, whether it's through the residency, in a class, or via a membership, the studio hums with purpose and life. While we enjoy doing our own thing and having the space to do it, it's such a gift to be able to share our love of papermaking and our space, with others. Many thanks to our incubator sponsor, c3:initiative for their continued support of the residency program, and of our studio all around.

This year we're also looking forward to teaching workshops at the NW Library, the ADX maker space, Portland Community College, WildCraft Studio School, and Sitka Center for Art & Ecology. As our business continues to evolve we hope to partner with more art centers, businesses, schools, museums, and community groups to offer additional classes outside of the studio. Getting out into the world furthers our goals of connecting more people to the art, science, craft, and history of handmade paper. We believe papermaking is an empowering skill that opens up a world of possibility. When you learn how to make something from scratch you become connected to the material and final product in a whole new way. 

We had hoped to get a Metro grant that would give us the bandwidth to expand our free outdoor classes and allow us to purchase the Lee McDonald beater we've had our eye on for the past few years, but alas, it wasn't meant to be and we did not get the grant. If you have any ideas or contacts for helping us expand our community presence we'd love to hear from you! Drop us a line at studio@pulpanddeckle.com. 

To wrap up, here's a slideshow featuring some of the orders, workshops, events, travels, talks, and behind the scenes highlights from 2015.

Our New Year's Eve wish for you is that you have a super duper 2016 with much love, laughs and more ups than downs! See you next year!!!