I lettered this quote for a friend's funeral but feel it speaks to the moment we are in. The lettering was done in black on white with a Speedball C-5 nib and inverted to white on black in Photoshop.
Monday, January 25, 2021
Thursday, January 21, 2021
A New Day
The timing was perfect yesterday. I was able to go to Plum Island to write in the sand at low tide and then watch the inauguration. Today I wrote out the concluding lines of Amanda Gorman's amazing poem "The Hill We Climb."
The New York Times has a lesson plan for studying the poem as well as the complete text.
Monday, January 11, 2021
Bookmaking with Children: Why Use Recycled Materials?
From makingbooks.com:
I like to use recycled, or more accurately repurposed, materials in my workshops and at home. I use brown paper grocery bags, cereal boxes, and used paper that has writing on only one side. I made the change to be more respectful of the environment and reduce consumption but the benefits go way beyond that.
We live in an instant culture filled with manufactured objects. It is not the children's fault that they expect their paper perfect and think nothing of asking for a new piece when theirs has a wrinkle. Using grocery bags, cereal boxes, or paper that they have used before makes them aware of the paper they consume.
And there are other positive effects as well. When they start by cutting a paper bag, the paper is already uneven so it takes all the burden of precision away. I find it lightens the spirit of the whole process. In addition to consuming less paper, they learn to look creatively at the things they discard.
Making books with repurposed materials has a different aesthetic. Because we don't start with plain paper, there are often traces of its former life showing. I feel this brings life and vitality to the finished book.
Saturday, January 09, 2021
Making Books With Children
As I try to anchor myself in the chaos that we are living in, I want to be able to be useful in some way. I started to think back to my days of teaching bookmaking to children and have decided to share some of the material I developed.
I became involved with making books with children after my first child was born. My involvement in the schools began when he was in pre-school and became a full-time career as I traveled from school to school sharing simple bookmaking with children, teachers, and families for over twenty years. The focus was on integrating bookmaking into the curriculum and making learning fun. Since 1999 I have freely shared information and inspiration on my makingbooks.com website.
I'll be sharing projects and ideas in the coming days. The book above is a slat book based on forms from ancient China. I used recycled materials: cereal box pages covered with a variety of paper pieces from my collage box. I braided yarn and tape from old cassette for the ties.
Tuesday, January 05, 2021
Looking Back at 2020
I started last year with this image, created with no idea of how precious our breaths would become and how strong we would need to stand. As I embark on new projects in 2021, I wanted to take a moment to remember the ones I did last year.
Friday, January 01, 2021
New Year 2021
at Plum Island National Wildlife Refuge on New Year's Morning
Tuesday, December 29, 2020
How To Make a Simple Slat Book