The Next Life of a Wedding Sari

Storyteller Hari Tiwari and Ambika talk about the design in
Ambika's sari

Hoo - ray to artist Susan Gaylord who's joined Dal Rai, Hari and Ambika Sharma, and me and many others in the  NH Humanities Council Bhutanese Nepali Book Project.  Susan is now the book designer.  She created a  book dummy with the text of "The Story of a Pumpkin" (told by Hari Tiwari, left in this photo)  She has also scanned fabric Ambika (right) brought from Bhutan and Nepal.  From the scan she created a border around illustrator Dal Rai's first watercolor illustration.   She scanned Ambika's gorgeous red wedding sari for other borders.  You can see more photos and read Susan's account of the Nepali Book Project on  her blog.

Hari holds Ambika's nephew while they watch Susan scan the  fabric.

Susan Gaylord scans Ambika's fabric brought from Bhutan. 

In the midst of all this work and modeling, Ambika also made the best chai I've ever had.

SUSAN's done it again

Susan Kapuscinsky Gaylord, creator of the Elephant Rag's  own elephant, has a new book, Handmade Books for a Healthy Planet.   Susan writes, "I am inspired by book forms from different cultures. I use recycled materials and keep the process as simple as possible—no rulers allowed here. I believe we are all creative beings. I encourage you to celebrate that creativity with books of your own."   I already gave my copy away to someone I adore.  This book is a celebration of the art form of books but also of creativity itself. 

A Sewn Book Waiting for Her Own Words: Interview With Susan Kapuscinski Gaylord

"Living in this world of media saturation, it is easy to think that all the important things are happening somewhere else. Making books about our own stories and our own lives reminds us that we are the center of our own lives."

After Susan created The Elephant Rag logo, she told me more about her art, her passion for books, her exploration of the bindings and paper used around the world, and her belief in inviting others to make art.


Terry: Based on the number of workshops you do, you must think it’s important for kids – and adults – to make their own books, and probably fill them with their own stories.
Susan: I absolutely think it's important. When I started to make books on a regular basis, I knew that I wanted to be a teacher as well as a doer. Because I work with a lot of simple forms, the construction is simple and the materials are easy to gather (especially now that I focus on recycled ones). To me making books is the perfect introduction to art and creative exercise. I think it is important that we take the time to tell our own stories. Living in this world of media saturation, it is easy to think that all the important things are happening somewhere else. Making books about our own stories and our own lives reminds us that we are the center of our own lives and helps us to value ourselves and our families and friends. However I also have another sense of the book which comes more from the art side of things: the book as an object. I have books in my collection that are in languages I can't read and yet I take great pleasure in looking at them and turning the pages. It is the book as book and the pattern of the marks on the page that I find so beautiful. I like to think of books as celebrations. They can celebrate a memory or a story but they can also celebrate your particular interaction with that particular collection of materials at that particular time.


Read the full text of the interview.