CraftSanity with Jennifer Ackerman-Haywood

Grand Rapids, Mich. - It was a pleasure to get a group of West Michigan creative types together Saturday at the YMCA for a fun bookmaking workshop with local book artist, Judy Jankowski.

Judy was the subject of my art & craft column recently and volunteered to teach a free workshop for the community. When I took her up on the deal, I knew I was going to be overwhelmed with interest and boy was I. The workshop filled up in two days. We had space for 25, and sadly had to turn way about 25 more people.


Judy prepared kits with her husband and brought along an assortment of lovely donated paper for workshop participants to use to embellish their books. It was fun to watch those in attendance move through the steps of book construction with increasing confidence and see the delighted looks on their faces when they had a completed book in hand.

Here are some more shots of the books made by this talented group. (Excellent work, everyone!) If I didn't have a podcast to work on today, I would totally make a book.







Speaking of making books. I'm in the market for an nice awl for bookmaking. Any suggestions on where I can buy one? The one I have from the hardware store is too big for piercing small holes. I'm also looking for a good source for a big roll of waxed linen. So, experienced bookmakers, I'd love it if you would post share your favorite supply suggestions. Thanks!

* I'm editing my next podcast, but wanted to take a break to post a few photos. Isn't this stack of scrap paper great? A couple weeks ago I got the opportunity to turn some of this lovely paper into a delightful mini-book with the kind assistance of a Grand Rapids book artist. Tomorrow I'll post links to my newspaper blog where you can read about the artist and sign up for a free workshop if you happen to live in West Michigan.

Here's a look at the three signatures that I made for my book. (My photo skills are seriously lacking, but I really dig taking pictures.)



It didn't take much paper to make this little book, so I'm thinking about whipping up some more of these before Valentine's Day. Now, I just have to get my hands on some waxed linen thread and I'll be good to go. Well, except for the complicated part of finding time to be able to sit and make books. Jeff and I have been working all weekend and I'm certain the coming week is going to be off-the-charts busy. So maybe some of you will be inspired to make some books. If you do, please let me know about it so I can craft vicariously through you. : )



*Note: This entry was posted several hours after I wrote it due to technical difficulty. I think it's about time to upgrade the blog tool. I'm thinking about switching to Wordpress or Type Pad. Any thoughts?

This weekend my craft column will be about a local book artist. She showed me a really fun way to create a patchwork graffiti effect on a plain old notebook. I'm applying this technique to enhance the cover of a free calendar I found at work. Stop back here on Sunday for an easy tutorial and the big reveal.

In the meantime, check out these great book resources, courtesy of Sharon B's In a Minute Ago.

When I saw the scraggily sheep on the cover holding knitting needles, I knew chances were very good that I was going to dig this children's book from the get go.

It's called "Woolbur" and a review copy showed up today and stole the show at story time at my house this evening. The delightful book tells the story of a "free spirit" sheep who doesn't like to follow the flock. He does his own thing and worries his parents who "pull their wool all night long." Somehow I could really relate to that scraggily little sheep.

Since I was basically sold on this book after one look at the cover art, I decided my personal bias in favor of crafts would likely cloud my judgement and make it impossible for me to evaluate this book fairly. So I enlisted the help of CraftSanity's 3-year-old V.P. of fun, Abby Rose. (The 2-year-old associate V.P. of fun, Amelia Claire, was busy opening junk mail at the time, so she didn't weigh in on this review.)

So, after our vegetarian lasagna dinner, Abby and I settled in for our first, second and third readings of this book.

The story by Leslie Helakoski contains delightful references to carding, spinning, dying and weaving. And the text is brought to humorous life by illustrator Lee Harper who reportedly got a subscription to "Fiber Arts Magazine" to soak up some fiber knowledge to create a convincing Woolbur. The end result is beautiful.

At the end of our first reading I asked Abby what she thought and she said simply: "Read it again! Read it again!" So I happily obliged.

The book held her attention for two more back-to-back readings, and she seemed to enjoy the wacky stuff Woolbur does. To test whether or not she was grasping the story line, I asked her what the book was about.

"A sheep who does a bunch of crazy stuff to his wool," she said.

That's essentially true.

I tried to explain the part about Woolbur being a free spirit and told her that I'm a free spirit, too. She took a good look at me (focusing mainly on my hair), then looked at the book, then back at me and said: "No, mom, you don't look like him at all."

Nevertheless, we read the book four times this evening and we both still like the story.

This one gets two thumbs up from this mother-daughter review team.

If you're looking for other quality, craft-related children's books to read with your kids or give as gifts to the adult crafters in your life here are my favorite titles that meet this crafty criteria:

"Knitting Nell" - This is a great book by Julie Jersild Roth (I interviewed her for CraftSanity episode 54.) that tells the story of Nell, a shy little knitter who listens to her friends while she knits for charity. She never says much, especially not after she's told her voice sounds like a cricket. The story has a sweet ending that gives Nell a chance to shine and be recognized for her unique talent among her peers.


"Shall I Knit You a Hat?" I LOVE this book written by Kate Klise and illustrated by her her sister M. Sarah Klise. It's about a rabbit who designs cozy winter hats that his mother knits or all his friends before a blizzard. The book celebrates the joy of giving. I believe current editions come with a super cute rabbit hat pattern. (I've had my copy for a few years and it does not include the hat pattern. Darn! It might be time to get a new copy with the pattern and gift this one to the local library.)


"The Quiltmaker's Gift" - This story, by Jeff Brumbeau and beautifully illustrated by Gail de Marcken, tells the story of a woman who only sews amazing quilts for the poor and refuses to sell one to the rich king who has everything. She tells the king, she will make him a quilt only if he gives away all of his possessions. The story highlights the joy of sharing what you have and emphasizes what's really important in life.