There’s more to Hotlanta than the club scene and sports teams. For instance, did you know it is also home to the internationally renowned Robert C. Williams Paper Museum at Georgia Tech? The Paper Museum offers an informative permanent exhibition From Hand to Machine: The Evolution of Papermaking and a rotating display from it’s collection of books, watermarks, papers, tools, machines, and manuscripts. There’s also a special exhibition space where you can soon check out Jiha Moon/ Nate Moore: Recent Works (April 2nd thru May 22nd), a workshop space for classes, and a nice little shop to buy book and papermaking supplies. After a visit to the museum you’re sure to be brimming with inspiration and ideas- lucky for you Atlanta also has a wealth of shops to get you stocked up on supplies.

From The Paper Museum head north about 1 mile to Sam Flax. This warehouse of a store offers a good selection of decorative papers and ribbons, and has recently expanded their bookbinding supplies to include waxed German linen thread in a variety of colors. It’s also a fully stocked art supply store and (in my opinion) really shines in the wide selection of boards it carries. You can get Davey board (full sheet, or custom cut), acid free mat boards, gatorboard, and a number of other interesting kinds of acetates, plastics and fiber boards to experiment with. If you leave Sam Flax wanting more, head another 5 miles or so north to Buckhead and check out Binders Art Supplies for more great paper, boards and art supplies. And if you’re a Paper Source devotee, good news! Atlanta now has a Paper Source location in the adorable (and very shoppable) neighborhood of Virginia Highlands.

Even if you can’t make it to the ATL don’t fret! You can still throw some love to the local paper scene by shopping the superb Washi Accents online store. Run by Elaine and Hiromi Jo out of their home since the closing of their wonderful (and much missed) shop in Buckhead, Washi Accents offers a beautiful selection of washi papers, unusual book cloths, kohaze clasps and other Japanese bookbinding goodies. Washi Accents also specializes in Ikebana, sumi-eshodo supplies, and (I can vouch from personal experience) excellent customer service!

I’m sure I’m missing something here (I haven’t even started talking about the wonderful local printmaking and Indie craft scene), if you have an Atlanta favorite leave a comment and let me know!

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Open up almost any bookbinding book and flip back to the suggested suppliers page, and you’re sure to find Chicago’s Aiko’s Art Materials. Specializing in hard-to-find Japanese papers and art supplies, Aiko’s was a treasure trove for any artist. For years I lived with this jewel of a store just up the road from my apartment, and years later still I relished trips back to the city to visit it again. Vacationing in Chicago this past month I was sad to find we’ve all lost this amazing resource, Aiko’s Art Materials closed its doors in April after more than 50 years in business. So without Aiko’s, I wondered, where can you go in Chicago to get your paper fix? The good news is that there’s lots of spots, all easy to reach from the el train.

Just down the street from Aikos’ former site, east on Belmont near the Clark and Belmont el stop you’ll find J. Toguri Mercantile. While it does have a small selection Japanese papers the real reason to hit J. Toguri is for the Japanese art supplies, books and home décor. After a visit if you’re still in a Japanese frame of mind, head a block west on Belmont to Ragstock (upstairs from Hollywood Mirror) and check out their huge (and inexpensive) collection of kimonos.

Closer to downtown you have two Paper Source stores to choose from, each one just a block off the el (one at Armitage and one at Chicago). Paper Source is a chain with a strong presence on the web, but a visit to the store is worth it for the helpful staff and a look at a few non-web offerings (I found some great hemp thread for binding). They also have the largest selection of papers I found in Chicago, including some lovely washi and very reasonably priced book-cloth. It’s well worth a visit.

One last stop, make sure to visit Columbia College’s Center for Book Arts (again an easy walk from the el). The second floor space houses classrooms, galleries and the “Un” Store, a window case of goodies that can be purchased from the front office. Goods on offer include papers, papermaking fibers, and even bookbinding t-shirts. Go Chicago!

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