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It’s best to start with the Coptic Binding, it will help you to understand the Secret Belgian Binding better.
Coptic is essentially a chain stitch which attaches all of the pages together. Once the technique is mastered, it looks visually beautiful, which is why you see a lot of exposed stitches in bookbinding. This is where the book has no spine and can reveal the stitching.
With this technique, your book will always lay flat which is great for writing and drawing in your book.
However, the downside of this means that there is more chance for fraying or getting caught on something that might release a thread.
However in all my years of bookbinding that hasn’t really ever happened. Ultimately don’t worry, make the book, you just won’t regret it. I promise.
Secret Belgian Binding is a lovely variation on Coptic. You make the covers in three sections - front, spine and back cover. Then you do a lovely weave through the three sections, before attaching your pages using the Coptic method. It’s so satisfying and you get such lovely finishes with both books.
My tutorial is made for the beginner bookbinder, is delivered through video tutorials and you can watch it forever. The course is lifetime access so don’t worry about not finishing it, there’s lots of opportunity to go back. You also have access to a free Facebook group where you can post pictures and ask questions.
There are a few kits left if you want everything shipped to your door. Or see the materials list to see if you already have them in your home studio.
Join this course here. Let me know how you get on!
Box making is a big part of bookbinding and I love to use it as a way to keep prints, or protect a really special book. It’s also great to create boxes with compartments. I use this one for my bookbinding tools.
For this box, I wanted to have space for a book in the lower level, so I could write or draw if I was going on a train journey.
I used paper from Cambridge Imprint and book cloth from Ratchfords. Then the closure is a clamshell mechanism which meant I didn’t need a buckle to hold it together.
The course shows you how to make this tool box to these dimensions, so you can make your own. However you can adapt the method to make boxes of any size. Here’s some of my favourites from my students.
Hope you enjoyed seeing these beautiful boxes and are inspired to create your own! If you have any questions leave them in the comments below.
Yvette
]]>I’m sharing books and paper arts projects made by students on my courses. We have been sharing our makes on my free Facebook group. I thought it would be fun to start sharing some projects on my blog too so we can get inspired and keep making.
If you want to join my lovely book community please join here. It’s a closed group to keep the spam out.
BOOKBINDING
&The books above were made by artist and art historian Janet Davis. She joined the Introduction to Bookbinding Course last year before quickly progressing onto the Coptic Book course. I love how she’s used her own prints for the covers.
Janet has written loads about her bookbinding journey on instagram so if you’d like to take a look and see her progress go and follow her.
Watch out for an interview with Janet on the blog very soon!
ADVENT CALENDAR
PAPER RABBIT + MOON
Lastly is this Rabbit + Moon mini make by Jan Broderick who has taken 6 of my courses. Wow thank you Jan! I’m very much into the amazing shadow this has created!
Which one is your favourite? Leave me a comment to let me know.
]]>🌵 Make Time: 2.5 hrs
🌵 Level: Beginner
🌵 4 X 10 Minute video tutorials
🌵 Materials: Coloured Paper, A4 Card, glue stick + scissors
I’ve released a new make this month. This cute Pop up Plant Card just in time for Spring!
This project is a more in depth version of a project on the Introduction to Pop ups Course which features six paper engineering methods to make your own pop up books.
If that’s too much and you just want to try one project first, then this one is a good one to go with. It looks complicated, but just between you and me, it really isn’t. It’s very basic Kirigami (paper folding and cutting) and once you get that down, you’re flying.
The part of the project that takes the longest is making your own collages. I made this one with plants, like they are on a walled garden. But you can make anything in your shelf. Teapots, cats, watering cans? What do you collect? You can also gather wrapping paper and cut out the pattern elements on it or use stickers.
The tutorial shows you some simple ways to make collages out of coloured paper. A fun tip that I’ve seen paper illustrators use is to make their own patterned paper by painting and stamping paper in different colours and then cutting it up. I’m defo trying that next time.
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It was held at Queens Hall, Hexham and was set up initially by Culture Northumberland who have also set one up in Alnwick and soon there will also be one in Berwick too! More details about those are here.
Northumberland is a huge county and largely rural, so if you are an artist and want to live and work here, you’re often working alone. With very little established studio support, the idea of a monthly Co-working day is much needed, and definitely one I wanted to be part of.
After an initial worry that no one would turn up after I got a couple of cancellations, I was very relieved to see 11 other creatives come and bring their work. We had 4 writers, 3 bookbinders, a singer, an inventor and 3 visual artists.
I’ve been to Co-working days before, where everyone had a laptop and needed a socket and really good wifi. What I loved about this one was that people brought drawing materials, made books, worked on automata, wrote poems and shared with everyone. it was fantastically eclectic and the vibe was so full of life and ideas… and hopefully connection and collaboration too.
The next one is on Friday 10th March, meeting at 10am. Sign up here so I know how many chairs and tables to set out.
Enjoy these images of our lovely group!
]]>It’s the last day of the year and I usually love doing a round up of my year. This year was definitely a mixed bag and I feel as if I’ve lived an entire lifetime in 1 year. From the worst place to the best place. What a roller coaster it has been.
2022 has been a really challenging year for me.
I lost my partner suddenly last March, navigating grief as a single mum was really the most difficult thing I’ve had to endure. Having such an understanding, warm and beautiful community on here kept me in the light.
I moved house in the summer and went back to teaching in the real world and that was one of the most healing things I could have done. Being amongst people making things really lifted me up! I got my mojo back and collaborated with fellow Northumberland Artist Jon Bradley and we launched a Cyanotype course. I really hope there will be more collaborative workshops in 2023 and have big plans to work with more artists (if you’d like to work together please do get in touch).
I let go of some toxic friendships! Totally recommend it! Life is short after all - fill it with only your people!
I also made the largest book I’ve ever made for fellow paper artist Bethan Maddocks. The deadline was just a couple of weeks after John died but it felt like the most vital thing in the world to finish the book, which I did with the help of friends and a student who just hopped on a train, no questions asked, to stay with me and support me. Good grief people are amazing!
I worked with some new and old friends teaching bookbinding and box making and lucky me! I get to do even more of this next year! In fact the first quarter of 2023 is fully booked with projects.
Despite grieving, I managed to launch several new courses. The most popular new course was the Drop spine toolbox project. But the best selling course for the second year in a row was the Chinese Thread Book. Wow you guys love that one! I also adapted this into a mega version for an Advent Calendar which was a big hit!
It’s quite incredible to think that when I look back on this I achieved so much. A lot of people would take more time out of work and there were definitely times I wanted to do that. But keeping working and especially staying creative was a great healer. I’m in such a great place now with my daughter and relationships with people I surround myself with today. Life is wonderful.
I’ll leave you with these lovely student books and there’s still 20% off if you would like to join any of our workshops.
Stay warm and safe in 2023
Yvette Ja
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It went so well, I actually ran out of wrapping paper so had to nip out at lunch time so the wrap love could continue. Whoops!
Afterwards we made some Magic Origami Boxes (which were a big hit, despite remembering all the folds) and moved onto some origami crackers.
We then used ribbons and foliage to decorate our gifts and definitely felt Christmas ready by the end of the session.
All of these techniques you can learn on my Japanese Wrapping Online course! So join us and make your wrapping stand out this winter!
]]>Here’s some of the fantastic results!
Keep an eye out for more bookbinding workshops i’m running this year in the North of England. If you want me to visit you and run a session just get in touch. Or if you’re too far away just hop on one of my online courses.
]]>I’m really looking forward to being part of The BIG Culture Northumberland Co-working day on Wed 22 June.
If you are a creative freelancer or have a small business and you’re based North of the Tyne, you are welcome to attend our in person event at Alnwick Playhouse.
What was I doing before the Pandemic?
I've been a freelance artist since 2008 and went full time self employed in 2011. That story started when I started selling book sculptures on Etsy and was commissioned to produce 4700 pieces for a casino hotel in Atlantic City. It set me up financially for a year, without having to have a 'day job' and lead me to develop my practice so I didn't have to go and find another 'day job'. It worked!
One thing lead to another and I grew my business to becoming established in my field. It was great! I took time off to have a baby and still had a job to go to afterwards. My work was made up of a mixture of commissions, research projects, exhibitions and teaching in the community.
Oh, Hi Covid!
Then 2019 happened. Everything stopped due to Covid and I lost all my income overnight. It was tough. Especially as I was now a single mother, home schooling and thinking (alongside everyone else) how on earth will I survive this?
Meanwhile I had booked The Hearth Arts in Northumberland to run some bookbinding courses and had a fully booked session. Everyone had paid, but I couldn't physically run the course, and with no income I couldn't afford to pay back the money. So I asked the group of they would like to do the course online with a kit posted to them. Luckily nearly everyone said yes! And the people who wanted to do it in person, were happy to wait. I filmed (very badly now I think about it ) a coptic book course in my living room on my phone and uploaded the video to You Tube so they could watch it, posted out the kits and thought that was that. Later I posted photos to my Instagram and a few people got in touch asking if I'd do more.
My First Course
I decided to do a zoom course making a simple origami book I've coined The Ori-Folder Book. 36 people signed up within a week (which was amazing as I only promoted it on Instagram to 1200 followers).
Then in 2020 I decided to launch my first longer course: Introduction to Bookbinding and another 40 people signed up in the first month. I couldn't believe it.
At around this time, I realised that if I was going to make this a sustainable way of making a living, I needed to look at my marketing strategy as my network was still quite small. I had done a few ads on Facebook but really didn't know what I was doing, so I signed up to a course to learn how to do it properly. The course was fantastic and it really opened my eyes to advertising my courses commercially.
As artists, we don't think of ourselves as a business and so therefore don't promote ourselves that way. The first turning point for me was to completely change the way I thought of myself as an artist and myself as a business. Both being one and the same. It really helped that I had a product to sell that wasn't something I'd made, but something that I could offer to other people. I felt like I wasn't promoting myself as much, as I was helping people to try out a new skill.
The second thing I realised quite quickly, was that it was one think having a product and promoting it, and quite another thing having people to buy into it. This involved thinking about who my ideal customer was, where did they shop? And bringing them on the journey with you. This is called a Funnel in advertising speak and looks a bit like this:
Top of Funnel: These are your cold customers, people who haven't heard of you before. You need to find a way to hook them in, perhaps to just follow you on social media so that can get to know you
Middle of Funnel: These customers are your warm audience, they follow you on social media and are more likely to buy one of your products. Here's where you can start to sell your product.
Bottom of Funnel: These are your hot audience, which means they have bought from you before, so you can re-target them to buy something else.
For Facebook ads, you can create different adverts based on where they are in the funnel. So it's not a case of just promoting it, you need to take your customers on a journey.
In 2020 all the shops closed and shopping was solely done online, so everyone who was running facebook ads saw a meteoric rise in sales. By the end of this year I was making 10k plus a month in course sales and I only had 4 courses on my website at the time. It was hot! I was exclusively using Facebook Ads to get to this point and growing my mailing list and social media profiles.
Klaviyo
A game changer for me, was switching my email marketing from Mailchimp to Klaviyo. It integrates your Facebook pixel as well as your Website pixel. I use Shopify, so it works from a plug in, to pull all your data together. This is where you can re-target people to what you're talking about each week. Sounds good doesn't it? Keep reading.
IOS14
Everything changed in April 2021 when Apple released IOS14 and it blocked all the data that Facebook Ads giving you. This meant that the ads weren't working, yet you were still spending hundreds of pounds, but it wasn't reaching your audience. Changes were made on the Facebook Business app and I followed the guidance, but it ended up with me losing hundreds of pounds every month on anything I put into the ads. I easily lost 4/5k in sales. I changed my copy, took new images, launched sales. Nothing was working.
Kill it
So in November 2021 I killed all of my ads. Which left me with no revenue because I'd poured everything into Facebook and hadn't considered other forms of marketing. It had done so well for me in 2020, I was blinded, alongside so many other small businesses. I had to go back onto Universal Credit.
WTF should I do now?
Killing the ads was the best thing I could have done. Instead, I focussed my energy elsewhere. Specifically using Klaviyo more and growing my Instagram profile. I hit 5000 followers on Instagram before Christmas and since then it keeps growing at a rate of 300 per week. I started being more regular with my mail shots, which work really well for sales and got approved for Instagram Shopping. Since then, sales have grown again. The last 3 months I'm averaging 4-5k in sales and have secured work beyond the internet to cover the slower months. The Facebook Ads course I joined has also decided to shut down and the advice we've been given is that we now need to diversify our marketing into other areas. The best way to do this is to socially scale, the method I spoke about above.
Let's wrap this up
Okay, so we learned a lot of things here. There was a time to survive and that involved going online. By doing this, I grew my socials using Facebook Ads. I used the revenue to buy supplies wholesale, I'd never have been able to do that without having the e-commerce boom. I also grew my audience by 66% and my sales by 70%. I'm not saying don't try Facebook Ads, and if you do I would recommend speaking to an industry expert before you do. The sales for me were great, but the real jewel was growing my audience. They are the thing I can take away from this.
As the world opens up again, I will be working more outside of the online space, but I'll never give it up because there are so many things about it that still work for me. They include:
The lesson I would share with the world through this process, is:
Diversify, diversify, diversify.
I'm sharing this journey in a Zoom meet for Culture Northumberland on 10th February. Sign up here.
]]>We make 3 pamphlet style books on the course but the beauty is all in the stitching. The template we use is in the download section and you can interpret it however you like.
You can send your pictures to me, tag them on Instagram or post them in our Facebook group (access is sent to you upon enrolment).
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I’ve spent much of this year burrowing away on a book art commission for 17nineteen a new cultural space in Sunderland.
I have been commissioned to make some scenes of old Sunderland which tell some of the stories of how this church was used.
The first public library in Sunderland was in the church but it was also the first town hall and where meetings would be held.
Here’s some images of the work I’ve been making and the piece will be installed in September 2021.
I'm creating a street scene: depicting shops and landmark buildings that used to be in the East End. I'm also creating an old rope mill, a boys school which were associated with the church and a reimagining of the Town Moor.
Leave me a comment and let me know what you think?
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I did however, want to share all the fantastic things that are happening within the walls of my courses. I launched a bookbinding course a couple of weeks ago which goes heavily into stitched structures. As a textile person this is what I love most about making books. The sewing! Oh the sewing!!!
Before you ask we do, do some sewing in the intro course but the juicy stuff is in the Sewn Structures course. On the intro we mostly dip our toes into the pamphlet stitch before progressing to a buttonhole binding which I like to call ‘more pamphlet but together’.
The new course we get more technical and that’s just heaven for me. Here’s a few images of what to expect:
if you’d like to join over 40 of us check out the course in full here.
]]>The first week goes through the basics including tools and what they do? Bookbinding jargon? What’s the best type of paper to use and the all important grain direction.
Then we delve into the magic of paper folding and learn no less than SIX book structures just with folded paper. There are loads more and I’ll maybe weave a few more in future weeks.
Of course I HAD to include the Ori folder. Over 60 people have done this as a short course and it’s just perfect to start with as it’s a great no sew technique.
Then we explore the basics of origami and how you can turn 2 folds into FOUR books. I told you it was magic.
We finish with the Blizzard book, absolutely perfect for single prints or watercolours that slot in and out of the spine at your own will. I learned this one from my auntie in South Korea but I believe it also features in Heidi Kyles book The Art of the Fold.
Come back here next week and I’ll reveal what’s happening in week 2.
This course is live right now and you can book anytime to get access to the modules that have been released, with more released weekly. It’s currently on an introductory offer of £99 until 31st October before it goes to £149. So if you fancy it, now is the time!
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We’re a mixed race household and try and celebrate both our Korean and British culture. My daughter loves that she is a mix and it is wonderful to see how proud she is that she is from two cultures.
I make a big deal of Chuseok, even though we are far away from any family, it has always been me that’s made sure we acknowledge it. This year is the first time she will learn about its origins and we will bring some new traditions in our family of 2.
Chuseok is a celebration of the harvest and is also known as the festival of the harvest moon, as the moon is often at its fullest during this time. It is a symbol of prosperity. There is a folk tale that is told at this time called The Rabbit Moon. My friends blog Through Books We Grow has posted a blog about some of the stories around Chuseok.
Moon cakes are often eaten on this day so we will make our own version later along with our paper dolls.
Are you celebrating Chuseok? What does your lockdown feast look like? Leave me a comment below.
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I'm very excited to share that the Ident I created for the ITV Creates programme is showing again this week on ITV.
Last year I was commissioned to create a version of the logo in my own style. I chose to use modular origami and 150 geological maps to turn each letter into a floating island, referencing our own island and the multicultural nation I am proud to be part of.
Here is a snippet of the work. Catch the full version (there are several) on ITV until Sunday 27th September 2020.
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I have been asked a few times if I will run any in-person workshops and I'm not feeling brave enough just yet. Personally, as my method is working closely one to one with people, I couldn't see a way of safely maintaining distance.
However I was thrilled to be asked to run some online workshops by Dilly Arts. I've got 6 sessions scheduled on Saturday's from the end of August, they're free and available to book now. I'll be sending out kits for the workshops so if you fancy it, please make sure you book early so I can post the materials out to you.
I'll be running bookbinding and paper art sessions and there will also be Yoga and upcycling sessions to join, so do take a look at the Compassion Arts project.
]]>Who even am I?
I'm Yvette Ja. For long time followers, people used to know me as Yvette Hawkins, but I changed all that because honestly, for 41 years now, I've felt a complete loss of identity and self and a big part of that comes across in my name.
Of course it shouldn't matter what you are called, you make who you are after all. Except when you are an artist your name is not just you, but your brand, what your work is about, your identity.
I've definitely felt a certain discrimination when it came to applying for asian focused artist exhibitions because my name is not Korean. I have also felt discrimination on my English side for being white enough to be accepted into arts jobs but not asian enough for people to listen when I tell them about racism I have experienced in the workplace.
Being mixed race is tough. Then add in that the industry I work in is white, middle class and honestly, very, very blind.
My mother was ashamed of her Asianess so they purposefully didn't give my brother and I Korean names. For some reason I ended up with a first name which includes a letter that isn't even in the Hangul alphabet - so my Korean family would always mispronounce my name. Mad!
I don't want to be asian and I don't want to be white. I want to be both. I am mixed race and that is how I identify, so I changed my name to Yvette Ja. I have French, English, Korean and Japanese heritage. Ja was the name given to all the women in my family, but is actually Japanese. I did think twice about using it as the connotations of Korean people having Japanese names comes from the Japanese occupation and Korean women being sex slaves, something I obviously have a problem with. But this is a family name and being the only daughter, I feel a pull to carry on the name.
So welcome, make a cuppa and take a look around. It's new. I will be adding my installation portfolio when I find the time. You can commission me for anything paper art related. I also make books, run workshops - my work is rooted in traditional craft practice from Korea and UK - I will bring both of these cultures to any project I work on, and hope that it is accepted and celebrated.
Looking forward to sharing more with you.
Yvette Ja.
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