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.

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.

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.

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.