Paying it forward

Just after Christmas I was the fortunate recipient of a wonderful small book in a give-away made by Anna Mavromatis, an artist with two beautiful blogs full of inspiring things. I was so busy at the time I failed to acknowledge my good fortune and I must rectify that as Anna's blog has long been one which I follow for the exquisite way in which she portrays her ideas. Have a look here at the original give away post so that you can see the book I am now lucky enough to own but then browse around. You will be hooked, I guarantee it!

Hoping this will be seen as the sincerest form of flattery I have subsequently made a couple of similar books to the one Anna sent me and I thought it was about time I paid something forward and did a give-away of my own. It's not a significant blog post event or a special happening, just something I thought was overdue. I have been so busy in the past few months that I have not really made something just for the fun of it so I remedied that this past couple of weeks and made quite a few small books, some of which I am now offering as my 'give-away'.

This first little book is similar to Anna's and is made from some rusted paper I found in my stash with a cover made from some old prints that I've cut up. The second book also has part of a print as a cover. It was an image that didn't work out but I had chine-collee'd some printed tissue paper onto the bottom of it and I quite liked the image of the type. The inside pages are small khadi papers and can be written on or drawn on if desired. It is a chunky little book with a ribbon and button closure.

In my last post I mentioned the paper from the banana boxes. It has a coating to it but I thought it would make interesting book pages and covers. It might be hard to draw on it but it will take ink and/or collage so I have used it in book number three. The cover is a piece of copyright free collage paper given away free in a magazine. I've just laminated it to the banana paper and given it a coat of acrylic wax for toughness - but it really is tough enough already, believe me. My fingers were sore from stitching it as it was a struggle to get the needle through it.

Whilst I was planning my 'give-away' I entered another offered by Jane. She was offering everyone who left a comment something and I won a small letter which I received yesterday along with some other little treats which are a joy. I might share one of them in a few days as it is hilarious. Thank you Jane!

Here it is with my last little book.... and it is little as you can see. The pen was the only thing I had to hand to give an idea of scale. The letter really is a wonderful thing. It is a card sent in 1907 after a wedding in America, yet it doesn't have a US stamp. I couldn't believe the serendipity of winning the letter given that Jane had a whole range of great things she was passing on. You see, I've also been working on some ideas to do with writing and penmanship triggered by my recent sculpture course.

Years ago I bought a large brass nib in a junk shop and it usually stands up in the corner of my office bookcase. During my recent course I did a lot of paper casting with some fine japanese calligraphy papers I was given last year and the nib has been a real source of inspiration for me. I can't stop making lightweight paper nibs and thinking about how I might use them in a piece. I've rusted a couple and intend to dye some more. I've been wondering how to print on them, maybe by flattening them and then re-forming them. Who knows? It's just great to be enthused by something isn't it?

So, now that I've shared my good fortune with my two give-aways let me ask if anyone out there will let me pay it forward? If you would like to go into a draw for any one of the four small books I have made and shown here, just leave me a comment or send me an e mail. I know some followers don't have a blog and I don't want to miss anyone out. I will get my assistant , aka my husband, to do the draw next Sunday evening and I will then post the results. I hope I get some response....