Winds of Change.

A New Journal Collection & Paper-Making Adventures.

So here we are, January turns its final page and I find myself elbow deep in all that life throws at Artists running a creative business. Something I will never take for granted after spending two decades working 9-5 on someone else’s clock is the gift of working from home and having the freedom to work from anywhere I want to [within reason]. As wonderful as this is, working from home does come with its challenges, especially when the winds of change start blowing you to a different horizon.

Last year I began sending out my monthly bindery update and long ramble at the end of the month, at first I was annoyed with myself for not making the time to write to you at the beginning of the month, but then I realised it makes perfect sense to wait until the end of the month to tell you what went on in the bindery and beyond. But then again, it’s almost midnight here on the last day of January and it’s already February in the East of the world!

Like always there is a lot going on, but I’ll try to condense the month that was in the space provided before I get a prompt from Substack saying ‘‘reaching email limit!’’

‘‘If it makes you uncomfortable, it’s probably worth pursuing, but if it makes you miserable, let it go!’’

~ The Minimalists

January brought with it a whirlwind of serendipity set into motion by a chance encounter last December when words spoken in jest with new creative friends culminated in the universe presenting the next step to work on making an old dream I’d buried deep in my subconscious mind a reality; but it does not come without some overwhelm and shuffling out of my comfort zone.

Standing on the precipice of change where excitement mingles with trepidation is a natural response to the unknown, but since I have been feeling the need for some newness and growth in my creative practice and my career as a Bookbinder and Educator, I am following this new path that seems to have opened up for me from nowhere, and I am trusting that it’s happening because it’s meant to be.

More on this soon. Oh, there’s so much to tell you.

For now I’d like to share a glimpse of what I’ve been working on in the bindery for February’s restock coming up next week.

I usually share snippets of my day on my Instagram stories, but this year I’d like to document it here on Substack in these monthly rambles, and hopefully I will make the time to send out the Weekend Reveries publication again soon as I want to continue sharing the work of other creatives in that space.

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FROM THE BINDERY

The Heritage Collection — A Spring Story, Series 2.

Continuing on from last year I am choosing to dedicate 2024 to working through some of the vintage textiles and embellishments I have been collecting for over two decades and the patterned paper I have been hoarding for far too long, always holding out for the perfect book project and time to play.

Having spent the best part of three years reading about banishing perfectionism and how to find flow state, I realise all the books say the same thing really, and boils down to this…

Good work is only created when I stop overthinking and get my head out of the those daydreamy clouds and just…

Do The Work.

It’s really as simple as that.

Every collection doesn’t have to have a profound meaning or connection to something, I tell myself, it could have been crafted just out of pure play because in the moment I was drawn to certain colours and textures, and because I enjoyed the way the finished item feels in my hands.

That’s a good enough story, right?

February’s shop update will see the release of a second series of A Spring Story, that celebrates the return of colour and journals from The Heritage Collection.

If you’d like to see the first series I released last year, you can read all about it on my blog.

This year I’m going to try sharing more video content with you of my process off Instagram stories, this is one of the reasons I prefer to use Substack to send out this longer monthly update.

I forgot to flip my camera for this one, oh well, I hope you enjoy it all the same.

Other than a some one-of-a-kind vintage textile covered softback journals and paperbacks, the beloved bijou Bundled Curios will be back in stock!

If you’re thinking of starting a daily art practice, these bundles are made up of 100 credit card size sheets of cotton rag watercolour paper, perfect to fill up with your next 100 DAY PROJECT.

They will be available with or without the glass and copper receptacle, which I designed so you can display your 100 day project in a beautiful way, making it something you can display on a coffee table, your desk or bedside table.

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BEYOND THE BINDERY

A TRIP TO THE PAPER FOUNDATION PAPER MILL IN THE LAKE DISTRICT.

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Brian and I had the pleasure of visiting The Paper Foundation recently, a handmade paper mill founded by Mark Cropper, sixth generation paper-maker, custodian of Ellergreen Estate and James Cropper Paper Mill, which has been making paper since 1845 in the English Lake District.

I’ve been using their handmade paper for a couple of years now exclusively for binding one-of-a-kind collections, so it was such a special treat to see how the paper is made and to meet the makers, Sam, Jony and Tom.

After being given a tour of the paper mill, we walked over to Ellergreen mansion for their pop-up shop. I could have spent a whole day there taking in all the details. They recently renovated the ground floor rooms to use for hosting workshops, some of the rooms have been transformed into a museum dedicated to the art of papermaking, they were full of antique moulds with watermarks which Mark Cropper has been rescuing from other mills that have closed down, there were over 800 moulds on the site, some used for royalty.

The narrow library room with its green velvet armchair and floor to ceiling shelves of books on books was my favourite.

The Paper Foundation make the most exquisite handmade papers using traditional methods and natural fibers like linen, hemp and flax, they also have plans of growing their own flax on the estate. Their papers are used by renowned institutions such as the Guggenheim, the Vatican and The British Library.

It is truly an honour to work with such beautiful papers, it makes my bookbinding process that much more special to me knowing how the paper is made with so much reverence not only for keeping the craft alive, but also doing it an environmentally sustainable way

I obviously left with an armful of beautiful paper, in shades of dusky mauve and some unusual pale blue made from recycled denim, I’ll be using them for my next collection of journals with the embroidered covers made by in collaboration with an NGO and the wonderful women of Made in Alipur, a collection I was hoping to release in February, but which has had to be postponed until late spring because of those winds of change blowing for me and my family.

I’ll be in touch again very soon with a reminder about the shop update on 6th February and more details of the one-of-a-kind journals which will be available.

Until then, I hope you have a lovely rest of the week.

Fondly,