From this side of the press
Hello, welcome & happy New Year!
January is turning out to be quite beautiful — what with all of the snowfall in these parts! But, winter can be rough, and even though the days are getting longer, there’s an aura of darkness. After all the preparation and celebration surrounding the holiday season, hibernation is in order — time to reflect, rest and recalibrate in order to usher in a creative and remarkable new year!
Studio goings on
During this period of rest and rejuvenation, I have been reading and finding inspiration in two books that had been on my ‘yes, please’ list for awhile: How to Make Books and The Art of the Fold. I’ve learned about a few new book structures, but my interest lies in the details — personal anecdotes, variations in stitching, and discovering unique ways to use a book structure that I hadn’t thought of myself.
I am very inspired to work on new projects and test out ideas from these instructional books. I am also excited to share that I will be hosting a 5-week bookbinding course this spring. Once dates and times are confirmed I will share course details with you.
‘Take out the Recycles’: handouts reused to create signatures; covers made from a repurposed coffee bag
Finding inspiration in community
Over the holidays I stumbled upon a postcard exchange website, Postcrossing (we all hibernate in our own ways!) and was intrigued by this global community of postcard enthusiasts. I signed myself up immediately!
I thought it was a brilliant excuse to break out my art-making materials; I, of course, made my own cards! Participants write a bio with their interests, preferred writing topics, and types of postcards they would like to receive. Spoiler: some people don’t want handmade ones — who are these people?? Who doesn’t like hand-crafted, one-of-a-kind small artworks arriving in the post?!
My offerings for the exchange utilized repurposed animals from wrapping paper, and I tried to incorporate personalized details for each recipient (postage stamps, colours, etc.)
Reaching out to folks over the holidays –or anytime really– is a lovely tradition to put in place. However, the lack of a return address on postcards makes the act of writing somewhat one-sided as I most likely won’t be in contact with or hear back from the postcards’ recipients (there are 805,235 members in 208 countries!).
Will I be a dedicated, life-long Postcrossing member? I’m on the fence, but we shall see how I feel once postcards start arriving!
Again, happy New Year! Thank you for your continued support and thanks for allowing me to pop into your inbox now and again.
Until next time,
– Lucy xo
