Bernadette Joolen: About My Handmade Books
and Cards...
You're a writer... You read, you write...You make little books!
Writers will always find a way to make books.

NOW THEY CALL IT DIY... Kind of a little movement, it seems. The do-it-yourselfers
who like to make their own things. Be we grew up that way, and didn't call it anything
at all! In seventh-grade, for example, all girls learned how to sew. It was required to
graduate! (Imagine that.) Many girls began to make their own clothes then. I loved
making my own clothes! It was a study of lines, form, color, construction, shapes. (Of
course, a study in fashion too.) We made A-line shifts with zippers down the back,
peasant tops, simple skirts. We even learned how to make pants and jackets too. I think I
developed an appreciation for making things, for raw materials, natural materials, then. I
would look at a scrap of anything and think... What could I make from that?!

So now, I find it difficult to throw away beautiful things!! Beautiful things made out of
natural materials, like paper, fabric, leather, wood. I find that all of these things--like
people too!--grow more beautiful as they age. And we live in such a shiny new world. I
love graciously aging things. I like to make things out of these things. Like the tiny quilt
that was once the backdrop for this page. The wool was from an old thriftshop skirt, the
floral, from another favorite skirt I made myself. Though in Seattle, it is usually too cold
for skirts!! No matter... I find a second life in everything. Life grows rich and beautiful
that way.

Well... For some ten years, I used to send my stories out, to literary journals all around
the country.  (I have been published in several of them!) But inevitably too, the stories
would come back to me, because thousands of people play this game, of submitting
stories to the journals, for only few spots available. But when they came back to me, I
was in love!! With the postmarks, the cancelled stamps, the envelopes, now all weathered
and tattered and torn, and journeyed round the whole world, with my stories inside!! (I
have fallen in love over lesser things.)

Well, so... My sweet handmade books and cards are made from the returned envelopes
of those submissions!! Kind of a nice circle, no?!  For awhile, I sold them on consignment
at a local bookstore.  But now that I know how to make actual books, I can do other
things.  Nonetheless, these small handmade treasures are gems that few people will have!
So you should buy one for your own. And your loved ones too.

I didn't even realize it... But I have been making little books for a long time. My sister
surprised me once, several years ago, with a little book I had made for my nephew when
he was just a tiny one. (I did not know I'd been at it that long!!) I admit, I was pleased
with my work, rather pleased with my own work. These little projects are a testament to
the perspicacity, the resourcefulness of writers... We will write, and make little books, no
matter what. Just try and stop us, you'll see. And in case you didn't know, that's a good
thing!!!!

I call my handmade cards Beautiful Dreamer cards. For awhile, I had a blog called
Bernadette Joolen, Beautiful Dreamer... (I had already thought of these cards.) Then, I
started the blog and forgot the cards! Then, I closed the blog and remembered these
cards. There is a time for everything. Discover them for yourself on my storefront page!!

Copyright 1990 by Bernadette Maria Joolen.  
All rights reserved.
.