One Sunday afternoon in July, I led a 3-hour workshop at Roberts Creek Cohousing on the Sunshine Coast. We set about making our own books using a pamphlet stitch and then filling them with images – some made collages, others drew or painted or both. There were eight participants in total, including a family in which three different generations were present. Their books definitely bore some resemblances …
I began with a demonstration of how to make the books, which we all did step-by-step together. Some had made books before, others hadn’t. People seemed pleased to be working with their hands and learning a new set of skills. This binding method is great for beginners because it introduces many of the basic bookbinding tools and supplies; it’s also very simple and requires only a sewing needle and waxed thread, awl, glue, scissors, pencil, bone folder and some paper.
I used to show samples, but I stopped doing this because I found that many books would then resemble them too closely. I explained this during the demonstration when someone asked for an example of what we were making, opting to show them a blank sample instead so they could see the architecture of the book without this influencing their stylistic approach. The workshop is designed to put people in touch with their imagination and I try to encourage participants to listen to their own intuitive pulls first before anything else. It’s fine to be inspired by something external – it happens to me all the time – but the aim here is to find this inwardly, just to feel what this is like.
Once the books were made, I put music on and let people work. I find that it’s best to give everyone a lot of room to explore. I tend to work alongside the group and try to teach by demonstrating. Sometimes I draw, or do collage; whatever occurs to me in the moment. When people look over they see an active example of what the workshop is trying to evoke: free play, creativity, curiousity and also, commitment to the art of storytelling without words.
As our time drew to an end, we took a pause from our bookmaking to gather and share what we had made. I’m always struck by how different each book is; where different imaginations go. There were books about grief, aging, friendship; some were made as gifts; some were nearly finished, others hardly started. I try to emphasize that there is no destination point here. We are not setting out to make a finished, fully-resolved artwork. We are just taking our imaginations for a walk.
