Travel Writing Ireland

September 02, 2009

Travel Writing Ireland

Long ago, during my first year in college I attended a luncheon titled “Travel Writing Ireland.” Two of my future professors were speaking of a study abroad trip. They took a group of students to study in Ireland; they all kept a record of their journeys in a handmade journal of their own crafting. This luncheon ended up having a great influence on me. I would go on to study literature with both of these great professors and learn bookmaking from one. I would also go on to study bookmaking as an art and artifact, in the Middle Ages and in medieval French monasteries. I would actually venture into medieval ways of papermaking, ink making, and illuminating. But, also, I would continue to make books as an art form. And I would, one day, journal my own way across Ireland, recording the serendipitous ramblings of this traveling soul. This is what you are seeing: the handmade journal that accompanied me on my travels across Ireland in May 2009. In here, are things that 1000 photographs couldn’t quite capture and ephemera that just can’t be thrown away or stuffed in a box (receipts, brochures, flyers, maps, a business card, etc.). This is a raw journal now, as time passes I will add to it, embellish it with journal entries or artwork. Ephemera is mostly just leafed in between pages now but will someday be incorporated into the journal. The journal is covered in green leather and the end leaves are a green marbled paper (not of my own making, I wish). Hand laid ivory paper and watercolor paper is interspersed throughout. Each time I open it, to work on it or just to leaf through, Ireland beckons me back. Back to delve deeper into its mysteries to explore the lands of green and mist and myths.