unreliable spotters guide #1

an exercise in letterpress printing, limited edition of 20. i wanted to create a business card that would stand out and be kept.

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using a single-sheet fold produced an 8 page book. text printed on letterpress, images hand stamped. images are a mixture of commercial and hand-carved rubber stamps. 

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the format of a spotters guide was drawn from my fond recollection of the i-spy books of my childhood. however, not all is as it seems. all images are mislabelled, some more obviously than others.

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my intention was to subvert the format by creating a disconnect between words and images, to engender a sense of unease through misdirection. on reflection i don't believe i achieved this, because the mislabelling was not obvious enough.

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for reference (really!) the "blackbird" is a crow, "partridge" a grouse, "owl" a buzzard, "nightingale" a thrush, "duck" a goose and "sparrow" a swallow.

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i intend to produce a series of these books, expanding upon and hopefully clarifying the "unreliable" element. the second is currently in progress and will contain imaginary animals, starting with the jackalope.

jackalopes! thousands of them!

well, 28 to be precise, but there were times when it felt like thousands :D

blanket for a friend's first baby, knit in lace-weight cashmere yarn doubled or tripled to roughly 4ply weight, crochet border. it was this friend who first introduced me to the jackalope, so i see it as her mascot. 

after several abortive experiments, including one i hope never to repeat in fairisle on the flat, i decided on duplicate stitch as the most sanity-preserving option. each jackalope took 45 minutes, never mind the 36,000 stitches in the stripes, truly a labour of love.

the yarn was left over from a simple striped blanket i made for my youngest. for anyone wondering about the practicality of cashmere for a baby, these yarns (from colourmart) machine wash beautifully on a standard setting. each wash fluffens the yarn until it's cloud soft.

best of all - and unlike with mine - i managed to finish on time \o/ baby is due any day now...