Kapiti Book Arts group launched

Imagine my surprise when my eager response to a vague and mass email query to call together Kapiti book artists resulted in a date being set within 24 hours! I'm not used to being around people who are active, efficient organisers. These Kapiti book folks are dynamos!

Turned out that I was the only attendee who wasn't Prue Townsend (book arts and paper making tutor at Whitireia Polytechnic) or one of her ex-students, which might explain the efficiency. Their warm welcome was a genuine effort to not be a clique, and even though I was the only stranger there, I didn't feel like a newbie at all. Hopefully future meetings will grow to include other unaffiliated book artists on the coast (Ngaere wanted to come but had a prior committment selling half-finished craft projects(she buys them from op shops) at the Twilight BitchCarnival in Aro Valley).

We started with an extensive and rambling show and tell, punctuated with Teresa's homemade afghan biscuits and cups of tea and packed lunches. It was a good way to get to know eachother and get a feel for where the group can go. We set meeting dates and themes for the next six months (more or less 3rd Sunday from 10-2, mostly at Lindale Campus) and agreed that we would take turns sharing skills and structures with the others. In March we will all make flexible leather journals, and April we will make Edible Books to celebrate the International Edible Book Festival.

I have been so excited about the International Edible Book Festival since I heard about it a couple of weeks ago. I love making food, I love making books, and I can't think of anything more fun than making books to eat. I already have two ideas for conceptually interesting edible books but I'm just not sure they will be yummy enough. That is my personal challenge: to create a delicious book where the flavours become another layer of meaning.