Big achievement

 

I say big achievement - but what I really mean is that it is a big achievement for me. As you can see from the 'poetry in your pocket' booklets (What Remains, Farewelling the Light, and Flow Country ). 

Each of these A7 booklets contains 6 original photos and 4 original fragmentary poems by me. Each of the poems is a response to 4 of my photos. 

The booklets are printed on double sided matte finish 220gsm photographic paper. I have used the photographic paper to ensure the printed images are really crisp.  The paper had to be printed back to back - feeding from the back tray one sheet at a time!!! This however created a challenge. Because the paper is heavy and has a photographic finish it was almost impossible for Fiona to sew through the 4 layers of paper - and as you can see from the following image the end result was not attractive. 

The solution was to get Fiona to teach me again how to hand stitch the books. Process photos follow.

At the beginning I said I had'bound' the books - what I really meant is that each of the booklets are held closed with a band of photographic paper with a small image that repeats a key photo from the booklet. 

All in all I'm pleased with the achievement - from original photos, to original wee poems right through to the printing, cutting, sewing and binding. These will be heading to Scotland for the Pop Up Art Show.