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Blank Book

Richard Bell’s Wild West Yorkshire nature diary, Thursday, 16th October 2008

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MY FOOT’S not really this shape: I had to move halfway through the drawing, giving it that odd twist. Better stick to my left hand as a subject in future because it doesn’t get in the way of other people as much as my size 13 Nike trainer!

It’s actually larger than it might appear here as my hands, like my feet, are a little on the large size.

Puss-in-Boots

It’s such a shame that this guy would fail the audition for Shrek, but, there you are, CGI has made his kind redundant. What a contrast to the days when Oliver Postgate’s (and Peter & Joan Firmin’s) knitted aliens, The Clangers, appeared each weekend in a prime-time slot. Come to think of it, aren’t the Clangers, in fact, woolly three-dimensional cousins of Jacques Rouxel’s Shadoks?

This knitted toy is Barbara’s mum’s latest production, to a pattern by Jean Greenhow. You can see that he’s lost a bit of weight since he posed for the publicity shots for Jean Greenhow Designs. These are hard times: new technology must have literally knocked the stuffing out of our knitted characters.

Design © Jean Greenhow

“Are you still looking at that book?!” asks Barbara, as yet again I leaf through the blank dummy book I’ve made. I’ve just had a quote from my printer for a new larger format with the impressive name of UK Pinch Crown Quarto and, having made this blank 32 page mock-up, I’m thrilled with the possibilities it offers for my walks book. There’s room for one of my picture maps on the left and a three column layout of directions on the right. A bit big for the average pocket of course.

Me! ‘Ow
could I lose zee role to a computerised cat?!