June Workshop - Elizabeth Shorrock - Mini Books

While I was busy enjoying Regional Day, other members of Halifax Branch were busy making millions of tiny foldy books. 
Anne Brooke has sent me some photos of their prodigious output so that the rest of us can all marvel and wish we had been there too! 

Firstly there is this tricky shot of the class hard at work

And these are some of the miniature works of art they produced

Late Addition : 
Because Margaret had to leave the workshop early as she was going to see War Horse at the Alhambra in Bradford, her friend made her this beautiful book and box out of War Horse flyers - see how cleverly she has positioned the horse's eye! 

Regional Day - More Success for Halifax Members!

While lots of our members were enjoying the Elizabeth Shorrock workshop at the Maurice Jagger Centre, I was representing the Branch at Regional Day and was happy to accept prizes on behalf of two of our talented members. 

Janice Townend won the Maggie Judges Memorial Award for "A Flower Beginning with 'D'" with her representation of a dandelion. Along with the kudos of winning, Janice gets to keep the tiny but expensive Moorcroft vase for a year! 

Margaret Walton repeated last year's success by winning third place in the Coats Anchor Award on the theme of "Anchors Aweigh", and received a box of threads donated by Coats Anchor.
(I've accidentally chopped the anchor off the bottom of the photo though!) 

Not to be outdone, I had my own success and won a prize in the very popular Bag Raffle!

There were also two excellent and amusing speakers, traders including Unravel -  Empress Mills - Colourcraft - Viking Loom, and the Embroiderers' Guild Bookshop; and a buffet lunch - all for £22. Why not come along next year and see what you're missing? 

NB That £22 doesn't include what you spend with the traders! 

June Meeting - Elizabeth Shorrock + Members' Challenge - WWI Postcards

June's meeting brought another inspirational speaker, Elizabeth Shorrock, who started off as an artist working in textiles before turning to bookmaking. A retired teacher, Elizabeth is now busy making a living from her art, exhibiting widely and working to commission. 
Here are samples of her brilliant work. 

Many of Elizabeth's books are made from maps which she sources at second-hand book fairs and market stalls. In this way she is able to match the maps to customers' requests for specific areas to be included. 

She tries to find double sided maps, however sometimes she dyes the back of one-sided maps, using greens and browns to complement the colours of the maps.

She also uses atlas pages which are more colourful (and double-sided) but is restricted by their size. Her map books have matching boxes. 

Tiny books can also be made from sheet music 

The "bookshelves" below are made from print trays, and the books made from books to match the commission, eg from a birdwatcher, or a gardener

An example of another type of keepsake book, displaying family photos - 

a great birthday, wedding or christening present

After finishing her talk, Elizabeth had the tough job of judging our annual Members' Challenge, which this year was to make a World War One postcard. 

Here are all of the entries - I suspect that there may be a few more to come, in time for our exhibition in September! 

In First place, and winning £30, this lovely traditional example by Sue Tebbutt

In Second Place, and winning £20, this more contemporary (double-sided) version by Janice Townened

In Third Place, winning £10, this machine-embroidered poppy field by Jane Beck

And the other lovely entries : 

Well done to all those who entered!