Tuesday 7 January 2014

Handmade Books

May I belatedly wish you all a very Happy and Creative 2014! How is it going so far? I hope the weather is being kind where you are.

One of my special Christmas presents was a 2 day workshop at Hot Bed Press in Salford with the beautiful Elizabeth Willow, a Liverpool based artist. The workshop was called "The Folded Book" and Elizabeth took us through lots of methods of folding books, stitching and making covers. I had a wonderful, intense and inspiring weekend and came home full of ideas.

This morning I sprang into action to create this little story....


...a true event which came about because my youngest son likes to look with his fingers....






The book is folded into concertina folds and backed with card, then secured with a belly band- all techniques learnt from Elizabeth. I made a few mistake during the process, but I learnt quite a lot. For example, when you are  stitching round letters into paper the resulting perforations cause the centre of the letter to fall out! I am very grateful for Elizabeth's careful instructions on how to avoid getting really gluey!


I'm sure that books will become a part of my art in the future. I am hoping to try out something in fabric as part of my Ten Plus Textiles work. (Check out our new website btw!)

Hope you have a good week and remember to look after those fingers!