Perhaps the key to sustaining our business is that we are flexible. We can both do everything therefore we feel comfortable knowing the other person can steer the ship. Keeping unity and balance have allowed us to stick with the timeconsuming and physically taxing aspects of making paper by hand. When the phone rings, my hands are often wet, so usually Bridget is the one to answer it. When she leaves the Cave to teach a workshop for a few weeks I gain new appreciation for how much time she takes with the customers. Appreciation is probably the most important component of working together but support and admiration are close seconds. We recently had our first major art exhibition together called "Circle Works" at St. John's University in Collegeville, Minnesota. Our artwork is very different, yet complementary. While we were under the show deadline we kept the business going, supported one another, and somehow managed to get everything framed and hung. We work well together and our gallery talk was a mutual giveand- take, much like everything at Cave Paper. We have just begun collaborating on artist books. Since we have worked together for over fifteen years, it is no surprise how easily these are emerging. Amanda Degener and Bridget O'Malley, Union, 2011, 30-inch diameter x 5 inches, unique artist book made of Belgian flax paper, colored with persimmon and indigo dye, and text compiled from various places and computer-printed on abaca paper. Photo: Peter Lee. Courtesy of the artists.

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