MAKING BOOKS...

Books have played such an important part in my life!

I worked in childrens' publishing for many years, and wrote and illustrated a book called ’Making Books’. We took the ideas into schools and libraries holding practical workshops for children, showing them how to make their own books.

Now I’m a feltmaker and in my sketchbook workshops I show how to design felt covers specifically for notebooks and journals. The felt can be decorated with

threads and beads, and then attached to the book cover with hand stitching…

 Spiral bound notebooks make perfect workbooks, especially for textile samples. 

The pages have room to expand and accommodate the extra thickness of inserts, 

surplus pages can be removed easily and pages of different materials can be added. 

I’ve always made books, journals and anthologies for myself and friends,

 often themed around a particular subject .. 

It's impossible to throw beautiful cards away - greetings cards with personal 
messages, hand-written envelopes and postcards with foreign stamps 
are all very special. 

Some of my cards are over 50 years old, sent by friends and family that are 

no longer with me, making them even more precious.

Recently I put this little collection of bird cards together,

the A6 format is the exact size for postcards and 
the felt bird cover makes it complete... 

Putting cards into books makes them more accessible and gives them a new life... 

The Bird Book is too valuable to be tucked away and sits on my desk, 

it’s cut-out pages fanning open like wings.

The large A3 book with the embroidered ‘Honesty’ felt cover is a workbook 

containing felt projects in different stages of development

.

It’s a practical way of presenting ideas, sketches and reference pictures 

altogether during a workshop. It’s easy to transport & easy for students to look at...

(So much simpler than trying to show photos on a phone or ipad...)  

On a much smaller scale this tiny sketchbook is barely 4” square 

covered with a scrap of felt...

and sometimes you’re fortunate to be given an interesting item or 
piece of jewellery which makes the perfect clasp....

My library of hand-made books includes many notebooks and 
collections of reference materials, photos + cards … 

Like the ‘Rust & Indigo’ book — full of additional notes and findings from my 
rust dyeing experiments, documented on this blog in 2017

Some years ago I made a ‘Beach Book for my illustrator friend Wendy Bramall

 - we met at Art School and have been friends ever since… 

She provided me with the front cover painting and all the beach treasures.

I constructed the book, binding together a selection of water colour papers

which she has filled over time…

It's been a wonderful collaboration….

As I wrote at the start, 

making, writing and illustrating books have played a major part in my life 

and remain such an integral part of my thinking.

I aim to pass on some of my knowledge and enthusiasm

 in my sketchbook workshops. 

The next is planned for the autumn so watch out for dates and details...

(And don't forget you can enlarge any of the photos by clicking them!)