Emma Molony

Riddle 57: a print/book-making workshop

I led a book-making print workshop with 35 Year 3 and 4 pupils at Beer Primary School in East Devon. 

We explored the materiality of books – in particular, artist books – and creative ways to assemble books to hold a variety of images, words and pages.  

Each pupil made their own miniature ‘flag book’ inspired by The Exeter Book, the 1,000-year-old anthology of Anglo Saxon poetry housed in Exeter Cathedral’s Library & Archives. Listening to Old English, they explored the possible solutions to ‘Riddle 57’. The children ‘played’ the interactive riddle created by Double Elephant Print Workshop in partnership with poet Jacob Polley and medievalists Prof Chris Jones and Dr Megan Cavell, which was made during 2020 (you can experience ‘Riddle 57’ for yourself here). 

Each pupil made and printed their own collagraph illustrating ‘Riddle 57’. They also experimented with Oak Gall ink and Cuttlefish ink on different papers, vellum and parchment, using quills and reed pens to write their own riddles. We finished the day with decorating the books using (imitation) gold, silver and copper leaf.

The workshop focused not only on printing and using a press, but the physical creation of a book and investigating how literature and text can be enriched by the physical qualities of a book. 

To enjoy a digital version of the workshop outputs, follow this link.

To find out more about Emma’s work, head here: www.emmamolony.com

To find out more about Double Elephant Print Workshop, head here: www.doubleelephant.org.uk