There is something so pleasing about making items in a batch. You get into a rhythm with each stage of the project, and it can be very mindful repeating a process. I changed my job recently, and I wanted to make my ex-colleagues a gift. I decided upon customising a kraft notebook with a bumblebee linocut for everyone. I made 16 in total.
I printed up part of my bumble bee linocut onto handmade paper - the original linocut is made up of 4 bees, and I chose the one I felt would fit best. It is a two colour linocut. You print up the yellow first as it is the lighter colour, followed by the detailed black linocut. Once dry, I trimmed off the image.
I carefully pasted a thin layer of wallpaper paste onto the back of the bumblebee. With care, I flipped it over, positioned it onto the notebook, and using a dry brush, I smoothed the bumblebee down. You always learn something new every time you undertake a new process. If I were to make these notebooks again, I would dry them so that the covers with the bee on them were sandwiched between blotting paper and boards to keep them flat, with the rest of the notebook sticking out away from the boards. I dried the whole notebook between boards, and this meant that the first few pages of each notebook went wrinkly!
Overall though, I was happy with how they turned out. The handmade paper, the yellow and black of the bumblebee and the brown kraft notebook all tone in well with each other. And it was a very satisfying batch of items to make!