Deciding to explore and nourish my creativity in a different way, I attended a print and book making workshop at Crescent Arts (http://www.crescentarts.co.uk) this weekend.

Led by Jade Montserrat, the two days were leisurely, relaxed and inspiring. We created plates using all sorts of ephemera and carborundum to add text, with some very pleasing effects. Being completely inexperienced, I had no idea how what I had done would come out in print, so the ‘reveal’ when I lifted my plate from the paper after it had gone through the press was exciting.

Plate made from ephemera & text written free hand in mirror writing. And (right) resulting print.

I had imagined being able to print up my poems in this way, but, of course, this method is not suited to that. I do, however, think that I might be able use it to create decorative pages to interleaf with poems.

In any case, I believe it is always refreshing to try a different creative activity, which will certainly spark something new in my chosen form.