Art as an Offering

Show and Tell

I’m doing my second craft show this weekend.

It feels like the piano recitals I did as a kid, the same anxious feeling in my stomach, the overthinking. I’ve had several moments where I’ve thought about cancelling, the feelings of inadequacy mounting. I thought I’ve grown out of as a quickly approaching middle-age man, but some things never go away, I suppose.

Against my better judgment, I’m pressing forward offsetting the feelings of pending doom and inadequacy by making the process as fun as it can be. I had craft nights with friends with mulled wine and long talks while we worked on our projects by light of the Christmas tree. I listened to books—including a great one with the boys book club—listened to so much Christmas music, and had quite a few baking sessions to de-stress.

There’s something healing about focusing on the process and how much fun it is to be absorbed so thoroughly in one’s craft. It makes me see a craft show as a natural extension of what comes next. You don’t rehearse a play to not put it on for the world to see. And I’m not making 100+ books to store in my closet.

A fellow artist and student in a workshop I attended last year at the Center for Book Arts in NYC said it perfectly and it’s haunted me since, she said, “Art is an offering, it’s humbling, you make it to the best of your ability and offer it to the world. What the world does with it is none of our business.” So, come this Saturday, my local art center becomes a temple and us crafts-people the devotees offering all we have to give.

This note by the incredible designer, Beth Mathews, was the last bit of motivation needed to get across this finish line.

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The Books

“What are you making?”

Great question, dear reader, I’m really excited about the stuff I’ve cooked up for this event. Handbound notebooks are a necessity, I have a great one that is bradel bound and the spine is bound in recycled kimono fabric that I picked up in Tokyo. It’s so gorgeous and pairs well with the dark green bookcloth.

Notebooks are great, but I also wanted to try some art books. I don’t see it a whole lot at craft fairs in my area, and may be a fun way to show all the different forms books can take. They’re also so much fun to make.

The first book I’ll have at my table is a Christmas village book. My mom always put out a little ceramic village, and I thought this would be a fun take on the Christmas village tradition. The paper is gold and has washi paper as the back panel—the pictured one uses different materials—and the cover will be made with recycled wrapping paper. It has a lamp effect so it’s recommended to pair with fairy lights for a magical glowing effect.

I’ll also have mini-book ornaments, they fully open and can be used to record holiday memories. I’ve made these as gifts in the past and had to include them!

The most ambitious project is this Nutcracker Advent book. The craft show is 13 days before Christmas, so I figure that is the perfect number to do an interactive Advent storybook. It’s an Australian reverse piano hinge book, meaning there are hinges or tabs and slits in each signature. The signature slides into the hinge and you slide a piece of paper to keep it in.

There are 13 signatures, each one individually wrapped with the day marked on the paper slider. Every evening, you unwrap and place it in the book and read it. By the time Christmas rolls around you have a fully bound book of the Nutcracker!

I have so much work to do before the event on Saturday, but the closer it gets the more excited I am. No matter what happens, it’s going to be so much fun. If you’re in the Greenville area, look up the Greenville Center for Creative Arts holiday market!