my second written, illustrated and self-produced book!
Another labor of illustration love has finally arrived. Meet my Welsh ABC book!
I have been working on this for over two years and I’m so thrilled to finally get to hold it and share it.
the best little size
I created the first letter at Print Club in February of 2024. I was struggling to come up with ideas for our biweekly Print Club sessions and I have heard many pieces of illustration advice over the years to start with an alphabet when looking for a project. So I did. I wasn’t sure if I would keep going as I was still fairly new to linocut, but I figured it was a fun prompt to create a letter. And I was also dabbling with Welsh on Duolingo and I thought that was even more fun to do Welsh letters.
“A” turned out alright, but I just did a large red apple with the letters. Now letters are quite difficult in linocut as you draw and carve them backwards. I had created a couple pieces with letters and it turns out I find creating backwards quite easy and also very fun! So creating more letters was a strong idea. And I liked the letters, but overall the piece was boring. Then the idea came to me to pair an animal with the object. So I created another “A” and I followed that with a “B.”
the first two letters on my drying line keeping me inspired
“B” was an immediate favorite and still remains a favorite. I just adore that fox. And I knew I had to keep going. I loved discovering my linocut “style” of animal and really wanted to see what other animals I could create. It’s a hard thing to explain sometimes how characters often just appear as I draw, but it is such a delight to create them and meet them at the same time.
Realizing it would work to continue the series, I researched Welsh words and objects to make a list. I also created a list of animals to use with the objects. Then the brilliant idea came to match up Welsh animal names with the Welsh letters too! Luckily, I did that already with “A,” but “B” was a mismatch. I really loved how that one turned out though, so I wasn’t willing to lose it. I decided to just keep going, trying to match an animal and object to each letter and see how it all came together. Turns out there is not a Welsh animal name to go with every letter, so I had some room to play and match as I liked. So the fox stayed and became a fun part of the “story” as you’ll see if you read it.
the “B” lino plate and my list of letters, objects, and animals
I should mention that I did have a couple fluent Welsh speakers look over my lists and make sure I wasn’t making any egregious errors. Not to mention I needed help knowing how many letters to actually include. Welsh is an old language and there are quite a few questions when you dig into the alphabet and even pronunciations. There’s even a debate on 28 or 29 letters. And there are several English letters missing and a lot of new combination digraph letters.
It took about 18 months to create each of the letters – the process including picking an object and animal to pair for a letter, sketching ideas and then drawing one on lino in reverse, carving the lino, choosing a color, and then printing several copies of it to hopefully get a good clean print. I worked through the Welsh alphabet in order, not allowing myself to skip any letter. And Print Club every other week helped keep me on task as well as that was good motivation to have a letter drawn and carved so I was ready to use the press. My fellow Print Clubbers also became a huge source of encouragement as they were always checking in on what letter I was doing and how each one turned out. It was so fun to have others interested and excited and occasionally helping me brainstorm ideas.
“F” prints on the drying line
I had it in my head from the beginning that it would be fun to turn them into a book in the end, but I didn’t know quite how it would come together. Thankfully since I was already thinking of them in a sequence, I was very mindful of what colors I used in the order. And I kept all the sizes consistent and the letters too. I made a simple storyboard map to help me keep colors and variations in mind. It was so fun over the 18 months to add each one as I completed it and slowly have the whole series unfold!
the color map almost completed
And I’m pleased and a little shocked to admit that out of 28 letters and 2 cover prints, I only reversed one letter! It was a bit of a pain to cut it out and replace that letter exactly, but I did and it all works great. Whew!
Once all the letters were created, dried and scanned in; I started laying them out in a book format. I went back and forth on one letter per spread or two letters per spread? How much text I should add? Should there be a story? Did I do all the letters and words right? Was it too presumptuous of an American to make a Welsh alphabet book? And so many more questions swirled while I formatted. The creative process really is exhausting.
all the lino plates in a bag for re-use and safe-keeping
the book cover and “E” spread
In the midst of that I kept making pieces to go along with the book. I had to figure out a cover. I wanted endpapers. And I realized I should make a linocut self-portrait for my bio!
The first one went terribly. I questioned the drawing, the cutting was exhausting, and when I finally attempted to print it, I hated it so much I immediately tore it up and didn’t let anyone see it. Self-portraits are not for the faint of heart.
Thankfully, my second attempt went much better.
the final sketch that I carved into my self-portrait
I mixed a good bit of factual detail with some fun illustrative interpretation and I love how it turned out. I printed it in green of course. (You’ll have to spy the final print in the back of the book or around my socials and website!)
While all the pieces were coming together, the process felt like ages. My beloved Print Club friends were still checking in and asking about it as I worked on random linocut ideas every other week and was definitely at a loss without a series to continue anymore.
I pressed on in my studio. It seemed like the hard part was done – creating all the letters and other pieces. But really, there are many hard parts while creating. Hard things are actually good. They push you. I laid out all the letters as I wanted them, but how to string them together was the new question. I wrote and rewrote blurbs and pronunciations and sentences and explanations. Months of writing and rewriting, editing and rethinking, often questioning how clever I really am. And I wrote an opening reader’s note to explain the why of the book and hopefully apologize in advance for any mistakes I made with another culture and language. I’m really hoping the fun of the project and my heart in the process are evident in it all.
the gorgeous endpapers!
And here we are. A little over a month ago I finalized the book layout. I knew, just really knew, what binding I wanted for this little book; but getting there was quite a surprising process. I didn’t want a dust jacket for this. I wanted it light, small and easy to read with no fuss. I adore the many reprints and other books that are coming out these days with a quarterbind – matte hardcover with a colorful cloth binding – but tracking down a UK printer that could do it was another story. Thankfully, I found someone and it turned out perfect. The green cloth binding is a real joy to see and hold and it matches the ink of my name perfectly!
look at that beautiful cover and spine!
I’m so thrilled to finally see this book. I know not everyone will be interested in the Welsh alphabet, but it really is a very unique language and I hope the fun comes out in this little book. You might be surprised to uncover how much of Welsh culture and language has influenced a lot of the world. I have loved uncovering a bit of my own Welsh ancestry since moving here and learning a bit of the language is my way of admiring the country even more and respecting the culture that is still fighting hard to survive.
If you do want your own copy of my little Welsh alphabet, find me at some local markets or order it here on my website*. I also have several original prints of the letters that I am selling at markets (and soon online too!).
Thanks for reading about the process that has gone into making this. With the current artist war against technology, I hope seeing the thought, pain, process and care that goes into truly making something becomes even more celebrated. 💚
*Shipping internationally is still an insane cost, so I highly recommend ordering 2 or 4 books at a time to make the most of weight and size postal costs per book. (This ABC book and Ink the Cat’s Christmas are the same size so combining them for shipping works too!)