**NEw bLOg**

Hello old friends and new!

I've got an exciting new website and blog..

Come on over and sign up for a newsletter and weekly blog update.

I've got giveaways and discounts and free inspiration and tutorials for YOU.

http://www.outofbounds.org.uk/

Can't wait to see you over there.

X

➛ open studios ➛

The day of the Royal wedding dawned and we forgot! Well, we had no tv, not much internet and the Kathmandu Post didn't have much to say about it. I'm guessing it was different for you whether you were Stateside or Blighty Bound. We were completely oblivious to that dress or that kiss or the ridiculousness of those hats; my girls in the studio have no idea who William and Kate are. They still don't. 

We'd planned a little open studio day. The girls picked flowers on their way through to work...a small mountain posy for our table. We had been making new stuff for weeks and wanted to show it off...the jewellery workshop next door was doing the same. I was nearing the end of my two month voluntary placement and it seemed like a good time to have a show. A kind of semi colon to my time here.

Here's how our studio looked and a sneak peek at some new products that will be making their way across the seas to be sold via an ethical fair trade company in the UK. 

We had piles of albums and notebooks that have all been handmade by the girls, all of the paper and materials are locally sourced in Kathmandu, Nepal (not an easy feat at all) and I think they did a grand job and I felt like a proud mama. Sometimes, it's really hard to not dive in and say I'll do that when I see struggling fingers and hesitant hands but I resisted the urge as they'll have to continue producing this stuff without me watching over them. I'll just let the images do the work in this post. I am quite happy not to blather on for once.

I'll let you know in due course where the products can be bought to support the charity...

◦◦◦ a break from August break ◦◦◦

Earlier in the summer I found myself in a meeting about funding for the arts, I always find it quite hard to absorb so much information and then have the wonder of what to do with it all. Meetings like this can be really great for meeting other creatives and I met Martin who was interested in my book making and he kindly commissioned me to make a limited edition of ten books. He had a friend who had sadly passed away and had left a little sheaf of pages of writing all about the building of a bicycle. Martin wanted to turn the flimsy pages into something more substantial but all on a budget. So we had a meeting and came to some decisions and the following images are what we came up with. The original pages were printed on what appeared to be a dot matrix printer in 1995. I didn't want to change the look of this at all as it had so obviously been designed by the author as he chose and to replicate these kinds of texts can be time consuming and costly. So, I scanned all the pages, with their creases and dust and reproduced them exactly.

Then I joined and collated all the spreads and sewed them up into the book blocks. This was then bound into plain white paper covered boards. I then took a selection of bike parts; a spanner, a few cogs, some bolts, a spoke etc... These were begged and borrowed from a bike shop and were rather greasy and black. For my plan they had to be absolutely clean, so I covered them in tomato ketchup over night and washed them in the morning which made them silver and shiny like new. A brilliant tip that worked beautifully. Mentally file it, it will serve you well.

Then I used my nipping press to deboss the bike parts into the cover.

It's not exactly easy trying to show you these white on white images. Imagine white velvety covers with very tactile shapes with every tiny detail pressed into the covers. They felt so crisp. I was very pleased with the result and so was my client Martin. I did an edition of 10 with 2 artist's proofs. Each book had a unique debossed cover and was numbered as an edition.

It was really nice to be able to help Martin achieve his dream of getting something nice done with his friend's work. And I should think somewhere his friend would be very touched too.

┉ one page wonders ┉

Last week I had the pleasure of running artist's books workshops at The Southbank Centre for half-term. I was holding court outside The Saison Poetry Library which was word heaven for me.  All those books and publications to drool over.

The Poetry Library is a wonderful free resource in London and it is an oasis of calm on the fifth floor of The Southbank Centre. The workshops were great fun and I met some really lovely families joining in the creative jollities.

We were making books from one sheet of paper which is really simple and very effective with a smattering of applied creativity. And best of all, it was free to drop in and make.

I had a splendid time.

Pictured is one of our creations. "Motheaten"

I'm still collecting your Christmassy lists and hope to make some decisions by the end of the week. It's not far away is it? 

Gulp. I'm planning a proper family time and I am decorating my lounge in anticipation of my new couch which is scarily gorgeous and filling me with fizz. Please note that I get about an hour a day to proceed with said renovations which means I am living in a total chaotic slump. But it's nice to let it all go.  Shrug. 

Mess schmess...

(((overflow)))

To see my new books in detail..pop on over to my Etsy shop

I am attempting to get all my new things on there

this week. It's all been building up for quite some time.

It takes ages as you all know, the right images, the right photographic conditions,

writing copy, working out shipping.

Then, there's also the cooking, washing, getting drunk,

snoozing, shopping, painting, drawing, talking that I have to fit in anyway.

And that's just the weekends.

This is not a complaint,

just a statement of facts.

I wouldn't swop places with anyone.

Except maybe someone with alabaster smooth hands?

Me and Madonna? our hands give it away.

***50th Post Celebration Giveaway Bonanza ***

One gratuitous picture of my desk at 7am this fine scorching Thursday morning.

And to celebrate my 50th blog post 

{i was never that sure I could keep it up so it is a milestone for me}

I am giving away a book.

It's a belting little tome, full of love and surprise.

Packed with the postal marks between India and the UK, if you would like to read more about it then hop on over to my Etsy shop

This one is numbered 11/50.

All you have to do is leave a comment on this post and next Thursday I'll put all the names in a hat and pluck one to be the recipient. Don't worry about contact details, I'll be in touch if you are the **WINNER**

Good Luck fellow bloggers. You are all stars.

***

Loulouloves...casing in and singing

Casing in books has a bittersweet tone about it. It means the book is getting made and almost done but it's also a critical ballet between keeping it clean, straight and openable. I take a deep breath before every one. Constantly rubbing my gluey fingers on my apron and using plenty of waste paper for masking off the fresh pages. Muttering a running commentary or singing the same line from the same song over and over like a bookbinder's mantra. (today it's The Boxer from Simon and Garfunkel "O I am just a poor boy, my story's seldom told")

My desk is not organised at all, I start off with great intentions, clean mind, clean desk, clean hands and I find myself working in greater and greater chaos with my working space becoming smaller and smaller until I find I am working in a single square foot with piles of tools, scraps of paper and I can't find one of my six scalpels.

Then when it's all done I have a big clear up and cannot allow myself even one moment of satisfaction until this is done and then when I am back to some kind of space I sit and sign all the ones that are finished. 

Then I go into the garden and listen to the birds also singing their one line over and over and I think, none of this really matters at all. I'm just glad I am here today. And tomorrow there will be another song. 

Please God, don't make it an annoying one.

Box Number Three

Box number 3 is created from a discarded cutlery box I found on the ground when the flea market was packing up in Paris. As if I didn't have enough boxes already...I had bought a book about insects (all in French) that afternoon which was destined for the project as the binding was very loose and it was only 2 Euros. Everything else on the market was so shockingly overpriced I thought about driving over there with my next boot load of junk and making my fortune. 

So, here it is....Box Number Three incorporating "Encyclopedie illustree des insects". Celebrating my escape to Paris. 

<{Click on the images for bigger views}>

 

¬Alphabet Offerings to the God of Ideas¬

My studio is a crazy mess, there are papers everywhere and a general dismal disarray. I should shame myself and post a picture but I can't air that dirty laundry. My mum might see it. But I made these letter templates yesterday and swept a pile of trimmings on the floor so I could take a nice clean image. I'm not entirely sure what they are for but I keep cutting words out of random papers and thought I should make life easier by making an alphabet template. These are the capitals and I need a lower case set now. It's finicky and awkward but therapeutic. A meditation. A displacement activity. An avoidance of something. But it's making me feel excited about some new work. When you are stuck and not getting anywhere, just do something. This is my something.

Hi Ho Hi Ho

It's off to work I go

Procrastination must end...

At last. It's ready.

My website. It's cooked and ready to be served.

http:www.louloulovesbooks.com