Book Making Project
for Summer Art Camp
( " Press Play " )
In August 2023 I co-hosted a Summer Art Camp in the newly opened 'Gentian Press' in Lisdoonvarna with a fellow local artist, Éanna Byrt. With our combined experience of story-writing and printmaking, we decided to complete a book over the course of 5 days. We thought of different techniques and mediums we could use that would gaurantee a fun week for both us and the kids! Sending children home with a finished product rather than reams of paper made sense to us both, as parents who understand how such things can be overlooked and shoved in a cupboard never to be seen again! My daughter Melody participated, I have used images of her own finished book here.
We advertised for kids aged 7 - 10 years of age. The Gentian Press is home to antique letterpress machines as well as artist studios, with plenty of space to host such a workshop.
The first technique we tried was paper marbling. Instant, amazing results were achieved!
The children then printed a ready made lino cut I had done which they coloured in. This set them up for the next stage which was to cut their own, using soft lino. We were careful to tend to each child and address the safety issue of always having your hand below the cutter. We used safety stoppers to prevent the lino from moving around. This image was used for the cover.
The next technique was paper making. The kids loved this. A few casualties, that had to get thrown back into the pot of pulp and water, but all part of the learning experience! If you fail, try again! The paper was ironed the next day and came out lovely -- smooth and textured.
The story I chose to adapt for this project was 'The Little House' by Virginia Lee Burton. It is one of my childhood favourites. The story lends itself well to be divided into four very different stages. We first meet the house happy in the countryside, and then the city gradually builds up around it so that it becomes broken and unhappy. It is then moved out of the city and back to the countryside. The story gave us the opportunity to discuss the feelings that arise as the house goes through these changes; happiness, confusion, fear, neglect, sadness, contentment.
identifying the changing imagery in the story
The last but not least technique we used for the end of the story was a pop up page. The children coloured the house and underneath so that you can see in though the windows, they cut out the template and stuck it in, all that was left then was to bind, using a simple method of gaffa tape and string. The whole finished product is simple, yet structurally sound. Just like the little house!
We had a casual "critique" at the end of the session, gathering the children around and taking turns saying at least one thing that we liked about each book. Eanna pointed out that this is how Artists support each other, and helped to show the children that each of their books was special and unique, and there was no need to criticise or compare.
The drying rack. Same central image, completely different backgrounds and embellishments.
the children glued in the text to correspond with the image
the textured handmade paper was perfect for the page in which the house becomes surrounded
by noise and clutter, pollution and busyness.
I asked the children to answer the question, in their own time, or at home if they liked,
what makes house a home?
We finished by reading the story together as a group, each child turning their own page. They all went away happy, feeling a sense of accomplishment. We congratulated them on their hard work, and their first publication!
