CELTIC INSPIRATION

As you can see from the journal bookshelf, a new little "limp binding" with a leather cover has made its appearance. I was browsing on the web the other day and fortuitously came across information about this book of bindings originating from Tallinn, written by Monica Langwe - and needless to say I felt compelled to order a copy.

 

Whilst waiting for its arrival, I have been doing quite a lot of reading recently, and in particular, have been reading John O'Donoghue's truly inspirational book of Celtic wisdom, entitled "Anam Cara", which translates as Soul Friend. I was particularly struck by the quotation (page 106/107 in my copy) from Meister Eckhart: "Thoughts are our inner senses", as I hadn't really considered thinking in this way before.

Being Scottish, is the reason, I suppose, that I have always been interested in things Celtic, whether it is wisdom, all those wonderful eternal spiralling designs, or script.  In particular the Ogham script has fascinated me, partly because of its utter simplicity - an alphabet of just 20 straight line letters/symbols. It has mainly been found in Ireland and Scotland, carved into Standing Stones - messages and names from the ancient times...

Inspired by these various strands of thought, I decided, in my enthusiasm, to make a leather covered journal with a limp binding - somehow incorporating the Ogham script. The images above are the result of this fun experiment and, of course, the lettering spells out the Meister Eckhart quotation, reading from bottom left, line by line, up to top right (but not in gaelic as Ogham would originally have been written). Isn't it just great when you are able to weave together several threads of your interest and imagine a new pattern in the fabric of life?

Comments

[Colour Out Of Space]

I really love what you have done with the Ogham script. What an inspired idea to incorporate it into the binding of the book and it looks beautiful.
Angie

[Hilary]

Thanks Angie, it's the first of many, I hope. I'm sure that I will be able to improve on this prototype and bind the new books with lots of lovely word symbols!

[Leather Man]

Definitely a unique design on the binding. What a find. Leather journals and book especially hand made make you think a lot more about what you put in them.