Fruitmarket Book Fair

Every year, professional and amateur bookmakers gather for the Fruitmarket Gallery Book Fair. This is not a gathering of commercial publishers. These are craftspeople who often produce one-off art books. It is impressive and daunting to me, a very amateur budding bookmaker! In fact, my bookmaking tutor, Jane Hyslop shows her wares there every year. I'm sharing her table small because I caught her with her eyes closed, dangit. But truly - she is a master bookmaker and inspires everybody at the Fair.

Also showing is the head of our undergrad illustration department, Lucy Roscoe. She creates these lovely little 3-D vignettes—absolutely charming!

My friend Hazel Terry displayed a well-stocked table of her uber-creative mind.

Truly, I have learned so much from her constant experimentation and her wonderful blog, the art room plant. Give her a follow if you want to see what true inspiration looks like. Here's Hazel in a workshop during the fair (she's on the right).

Another of my faves, who I shared with you last year from the Bookmarks exhibition is Anupa Gardner. I absolutely drool over her work! Well, no I don't, that would damage her lovely books.

I returned from these gorgeous examples of handmade books to making my own for my formative review. I still have a lot to learn about making handmade books, but it's turned out to be something I really enjoy doing. With time, I'm sure I'll improve!
     We bought several small cards and postcards as gifties for friends, but oh! I could have done so much more damage buying books than I did!