Years ago, my friend Cathy gave me a lovely letterpress printed book by Carol Blinn of Warwick Press (I wrote a blog post about it here.) I was excited to see that Carol would be at the Oak Knoll Fest and we had a nice chat. She talked to me about her newest work, which is a mixture of paper and fabric pages with sewing and no text, a completely different turn for her. The fabric was gorgeous—vintage Japanese cloth—and the paper she dyed herself. The book cried out to be touched. The word for my prompt challenge group this month is “embroider.” I thought I knew what I was going to do for my book, but Carol’s work has sent me in a completely different direction.
Here’s the book I saw. She doesn’t have it on her website, but check out her book about her paper dyeing here.
this is an exquisite book, i agree. i happen to have my very own copy…
Velma, You’re awfully lucky! I wondered if Carol got the fabric from you — did she?
Susan, You are very kind to highlight my Walnut + Indigo book. Thanks so much. I’m glad seeing it has given you ideas for other ways of making books. And yes, Velma was my friend who gave me these wonderful pieces of beautiful Japanese cloth. It took me the longest time to decide and figure out how to display them or use them somehow in a book. And I’m afraid that the French knot will become synonymous with more of my work – as it’s the easiest embroidery stitch to make.