Book of Days Project - Day Two

Carole was the lead artist and showed both groups some simple printmaking techniques using her portable printing press.  There was plenty of materials to choose from, feathers, lace and various shapes. And I think both groups enjoyed the process.

This week we had some new faces and some people from the previous week couldn't make it at both libraries.  It's a good job that Carole and I had factored this into the project and made up some spare books.

It is always interesting how at the beginning of the session you see puzzled faces but by the end more confident faces appear and the pages are carefully planned accordingly.  I can't wait to see what the group will come up with next week as they start to fill their pages.

As usual the sessions rounded up with a lovely cup of tea or coffee all served in Carole's lovely vintage china.  We both agreed that this was our favourite print from the day.

Book of Days Project - Week One

This week saw the start of the Book of Days project funded by the David Laing Family Fund via the Northamptonshire Community Fund.

Artist Carole Miles and I under the umbrella of The Eloquent Fold had enjoyed our experience of working for Transported in a few libraries around Boston and South Holland a couple of years ago and wanted to continue sharing our skills and working with local communities who quite often find themselves isolated through a variety of reasons.


Our project is based in two libraries in Northamptonshire,
Roade and Deanshanger and will run for four consecutive  weeks on Thursday and Friday.

Roade Library is the Thursday session, Deanshanger the Friday session. The first group we worked with were mainly seventy plus and were part of a writing group. Some had explored art and craft activities before, others were complete novices. Either way this is just fine, we love to bring people together in a safe and comfortable environment which allows for a shared creative experience.

Deans hanger Library were a mixed age group and were eager to find out all about the project and what it involved.

Week one is where the group worked with me to learn how to make their book. I offered a good selection of wallpaper for the group to choose from then they learnt how to fold their paper evenly until they successfully created a Blizzard Book.

It was delightful to see people's faces when they saw what they were about to make. At the beginning  the apprehension, when confronted by such a long strip of paper to the end when they have a completed book in their hands.

All this was rounded up with a lovely cuppa, which Carole rustled up in her beautiful collection of vintage cups and saucers, then a plate of biscuits was shared along with lively conversation.

Next week the group will be learning some basic printmaking with Carole.  If you would like to view more photographs from the day please visit our Flickr page here.