On holiday in Skye a few years ago I took lots of photos of the Fairy Glen thinking I might one day use the photos to make a book for my first grandchild that my daughter was expecting. Seven years later I've done it!
When I started the book I found a lovely piece of green lutradur in my stash and put it somewhere safe. It's still there, so safe I can't find it. Instead I used some fabric I had painted and covered it with painted lace and shapes cut from sheers and net with a soldering iron which were then sewn randomly in place. But this was the last thing I did so first things first.
Finding an old book I could bear to destroy was the first hurdle and I finally found an old novel with a very bad story. First I worked out how many pages I needed and stuck them together with PVA. That took a week to dry in the airing cupboard before the task of gessoing the pages. That took several weeks, each page took 3 coats which took ages to dry and I was also making quilts. I didn't really like the gesso at all as all the pages stuck together but they did get better once the paint was used.
The title page was done with water colours.
Poppy and I had a great morning making the dolls, she made one of her own and gave me instructions on the fairies outfits. The frame was all the spare pages of the book stuck together with a hole cut out of most of them. The background was water colour, clingfilmed, then ink printed on top with a home made leaf stamp and sponge. This was how I did all the backgrounds - something covered with ink prints. The foxglove was a homemade stencil and acrylic.
The base for the next 2 pages was acrylic paint. Although unplanned, I like the way the foxglove leaves blend into the background. The fairies were original drawings simplified then the size changed on the computer for the twins. I printed and painted several copies so they were ready as I needed them.
I used scrunched up tissue for the next 2 pages, then wove the reeds and sewed paper string for ripples.
For the next pages the background and foxgloves were painted with dye paints. (The waterfall poem is by an old sheep pen in the Derbyshire Dales)
More watercolour with a magazine collaged log with woolly threads and sheep's wool added.
I think the rest of the book is fairly self explanatory. The big foxglove was covered in felt.
I was originally going to add raffia to the back pages but having painted them I decided more would spoil it, I love the simplicity and find it very restful, it may even be my favourite page!
Poppy is delighted with the book, but now I feel obliged to make another and dedicate it to my grandsons. Don't think I will ever feel inclined to use gesso again though.
