Book Making - balm for the soul

A personal journey of noticing

Welcome to my wee corner of Substack. I am a seasonal artist living on the Isle of Arran, off the west coast of Scotland. I am the custodian of approximately two acres of land that includes a woodland, a meadow and my wee garden. I offer a seasonal book arts project for paid subscribers if you are interested and you can read more about that HERE. Grab a cuppa and lets delve into our relationship with the shifting seasons…

have made books since I was quite small. Back then I used to bind them with sellotape and store them in an old shoebox under my bead. I would use them to record nature observations and small drawings. Sometimes I would write through challenges as I emerged into the teenage years. They became my confidant when others deserted me. Fast forward lots of years and I now make books for a living and have done so for many years. The making of a book captivated me back then and it still captivates me now. I must have made thousands of books over the years and often find myself wondering when I will make my last ever book?

All my books are either complete originals or part of a small series. In recent times I have added commissions to my list of book making opportunities making books for special occasions and special people. I want to ponder on just why book making is so important to me. Substack is an excellent space to ponder within.

The journey begins with an idea. An idea for a new book that speaks its own language and that will, ultimately find its natural home. A book with a cover handmade with love and pages crafted with care. A creative process that seems to know no boundaries as it meanders through a range of creative media. Some years ago I began making books inspired by the seasons and each and every one of those has connected me even more deeply with tiny seasonal moments. The print for the cover from a honeysuckle flower discovered in the hedgerow beyond my garden gate. The sprig of dried lavender tied on with a ribbon to finish the book or the pressed flowers that pop up at almost any stage of the book making process. All of these and so much more creative moments remind me how blessed I am to live in such a beautiful world.

Binding the book is always a special moment when my heart slows and I let myself feel the pages becoming connected and the book becoming whole. Once the book is bound I let it rest on my studio table for a while content that it is just visiting me for a short while. Soon it will be gently wrapped in tissue paper and enclosed in a sturdy box and on its way off the island to a new home. Very occasionally, this doesn’t seem possible and by some strange miracle one of my books will end up in my studio bookcase. I can’t imagine how it gets there…..

Making books can be as simple or as complicated as we choose it to be. One of the easiest books to make comes from folded pages bound together with a pretty ribbon along the spine and tied with a bow. My field notebooks are always made like that so I can take pages out and pop more in. At the other end of the spectrum I can spend a few hours binding a book one stitch at a time. All bindings are equally valid to me and all books equally treasured.

When I had my wee idea for a seasonal book arts project for paid subscribers I thought I might get half a dozen or so wandering along with me making seasonal book art. At the time of writing there are 43 of us wandering along together in a creative space devoid of comparison and chatter. A creative space that allows each of us to establish and feed our own personal relationships with making books. Over the years I have turned book making into an art form and have exhibited many a book that speaks to the natural world. I have used the books to share environmental messages and connect us more deeply within the natural world we all call home. I am proud of that work. I hope that the folk wandering along with me are finding their own inner book artistic voice and enjoying their journey.

After almost a year into this project we are making our first artist books using our hedgerows as inspiration and print as our story making device. We each have a field notebook and some of us also have a sketchbook. Personally, I have a wee camping stool and can be found sitting on it, cuppa nudged against a grassy mound and watching. I am watching my hedgerow. I want to see what is new since I last sat here. I want to watch the wildlife glance through it and I want to understand just why this is such an important natural habitat. I want to understand the story it is telling before translating that into a meandering artist book. I am excited for the outcome.

Meantime, back in the studio I am finishing another small run of journals for my store. The floor is scattered with bits of paper offcuts, there is paint on the table yet again and I have lost my needle for the second time in as many minutes. Fear not, all will be solved and the books will make it to their new homes before I wander off to the kitchen to make yet another cup of tea as the last one went cold.

If you have never made a handmade book I would truly recommend that you give it a try. What is your book for? What inspires you to create a cover? How will you bind it? In many ways the tiny books bound in sellotape under my childhood bed remain the most precious of all the books I have made. They brilliantly captured time and place and I stored them all in my memory so I can take them out often and smile. If you made a book for yourself what would it say about you? Now my books tell lots of different stories but back at the age of 9 my shoebox was full of tiny books that recorded all my noticing. I notice a lot. It is a life long pursuit that has been shared in almost every book I have ever made. It is a good place to start. Make a book that records what you notice.

Until next time, Fiona x