November Song

I had been thinking this is a well-overdue post, but perhaps it is just the right time now to show you my very special birthday present to myself. A few months ago I tipped into another age bracket and needed a few treats and ameliorations to soothe my way into a new decade. And when I saw this beautiful object on the blog of my friend and mentor, Velma Bolyard, I knew it was the rightest of self-presents.

Velma's book, November Song, and its specially-made sui generis box by bookbinder Mark Tomlinson, is the most lovely work of art, skill and spirit.

 Hand-made paper coloured with the alchemy of plant dyeing, the plants gathered by Velma on her daily walks through her country: so many resonances of walking the landscape, singing the landscape, gently gathering the colours and textures and making something quite other. The book like Velma's blog, is an ever-unfolding series of epiphanies, looping back and revealing, then concealing mysteries and stories.