

Last week, Mythical Creasts, a creation that connected eight local families, returned from it's journey around the neighourhood. It was lovely to have it back ... but best of all was the sharing of photos, videos and messages that flowed alongside it's tour through family homes.

I have long held a dream of creating a collaborative mix 'n' match book, but I wasn't sure that it was the right project - whether it would demand too much of my stamina and too little from the children, relative to the time we respectively had available, and whether it would be too constrained for children to do at this point in time.



Meanwhile, the children built a magical box which we left outside the downstairs front door to await deliveries of mysterious and magical creatures. Checking the box and recovering the goods was a daily delight (okay, partly a trauma as they fought to get there first ...)

Next step, to make a mock-up, trying to understand how to bind a book with three separate spines and ideally, a single front and back cover. This is the kind of puzzle that absorbs me - and the second attempt proved the better one. Thankfully I tried out the first on Feets, else I would never have realised its fragility.
Finally to bind it, and to work on the cover. I realised I needed reproductions for the cover so put in my order with a neighbour.

When I build a handmade book, the vision that sustains me is the excitement and connection that a child will feel when they handle it, and see themselves, their story or their work emerging from beautiful pages. This is the first time one of my books has centred primarily on artwork created by children - indeed, of many children - and I hope they each felt the same thrill of ownership that I saw in Feets as she read the book.
When I thought the job was done, I found myself returning to it, to find a simple way to create a small run of copies that could be shared permanently with the families. I realised that a spiral bound book would allow me to cut the pages without the spine falling apart, so I built it on myphotobook - surely not the cheapest way, but almost certainly the simplest!