Smoky stencils, secrets in the scenery, and a passion for patchwork

Story Street #19

Welcome to Story Street – a monthly newsletter from children’s author and illustrator Jane Porter. Read on for ramblings about my life as a picture book maker, community artist, comic diarist, underconfident fiddle player and very, very amateur luthier.

One of the most inspiring things I saw in April is almost 300 years old. These ceiling stencils were made by soldiers living in the barracks at Berwick-upon-Tweed using candle smoke – and were covered up for centuries, until a 1970s refurb revealed this hidden treasure. So simple but so effective – I am really tempted to try it, though I’m not sure how it can be achieved without burnt fingers…

Picture book post

I’ve got lots of book news this month. A parcel arrived from Walker Books, containing proofs of my new story Be Bold Bob with the most luscious artwork by Jenni Desmond. This book will be out in January 2025, and I’ll show you more nearer the time – but for now, aren’t all those greens just mouth-watering? Jenni’s pictures are packed with emotion and glorious tiny details that I think small children are going to LOVE. I certainly do.

In other picture book post, I received my first copies of Mabel and the Big Wide World (written by Paul Stewart) which will be published on 6th June by Otter Barry Books. It’s also available in Dutch with C. de Vries-Brouwers.

I thought the best way to give you a flavour of this book was to make a video, so here it is: the first part shows you the book itself, but if you are interested in the process of making it, keep watching as there’s lots about that in the second half. You’ll get to see my initial sketches and roughs, character reference sheets, my collage scraps and find out about some real-life inspiration. I hope you enjoy it!

Watch out in the video for how I included a tiny bit of Mitcham in the book, from the project I did at Canons House last year…

You can pre-order Mabel and the Big Wide World here:

Book magic and a bean monster

Recently I’ve also been working on a MUCH more exclusive book – it’s for Albemarle Primary School, and it’s a collection of stories written by the children there in response to my story competition. I’ve written something for it myself too – and by special request, it’s about the school rabbit Oreo, and my story is all about how he solves the great missing bean mystery. I’m in the process of putting the work together to print a limited edition run of copies to celebrate the opening of the new school library, and we are all very lucky because Zanib Mian has agreed to write a foreword for the book - and visit the school! Her ‘Planet Omar’ series is very very VERY popular at the school, and the children are going to be SO excited when they find out.

Carried away by cushions

Since the last issue of Story Street, I’ve made some progress on my quilt making. I tend to plunge into big projects without any planning, but unusually with this one I decided to put my toe in the water by making cushions first. I got carried away and made five…

It turns out that patchwork is exactly like collage, but with a sewing machine instead of a Pritt stick.

I’ve been enjoying taking a haphazard, make-it-up-as-you-go-along approach, sometimes chopping up bits I’ve already sewn and putting them back together the other way round. The OPPOSITE to violin-making!

And I found that dropping in the seaweed cyanotypes freshens up the blocks and wedges of plain colour. Looking at Russell Barratt’s work has definitely helped me loosen up my approach.

I’ve now made a little bit of a start on the quilt itself – I discovered in my boxes of fabric bits some long-ago cyanotype fabric I made, this time using a horseshoe I found once on a river Wandle cleanup. So that felt like a nice lucky thing to include.

I’m now going to build the quilt out from around this piece - and now I’ve started I just can’t stop, so look out for more quilt news next time. It’s been a sewing frenzy round here…

Cyanotype tips

If you’d like to have a go at making your own cyanotypes, now is a good time as the weather is finally getting sunnier. You’ll need to start by ordering the right chemicals – the process involves mixing two different powders with water. I ordered mine from Gillian Cooper Studio. Here are my tips:

Before you mix anything, prepare – you will need to coat your fabric (or paper) in a darkish space them immediately put it somewhere completely dark to dry, so clear a space in a cupboard. I put all my fabric on sheets of cardboard with plastic bags taped on top. Do be careful because the cyanotype mix does stain.

When you are ready to expose to sunlight, have all your plants/objects ready to place on the fabric – ferns work particularly well. If it’s breezy, a sheet of glass on top will help you get crisper outlines. I found that you can get great results indoors if the sun is streaming in, then you don’t need to worry about wind ruffles causing blurry outlines.

Leave in the sun for 20 mins then rinse thoroughly and dry.

Panda and Penguin Find a Thing

I had a lovely catch up with illustrator friends at a book launch for ‘Panda and Penguin Find a Thing’ by Zehra Hicks. It’s a very playful look at the damaging effect of mobile phones on relationships – but delivered with the lightest possible touch. My nursery class loved it and seemed to get the message easily. Congratulations, Zehra!

Would you like help with YOUR picture book text?

Did you know that I offer 1-1 mentoring for picture book writers? I’ve got 12 years of experience making picture books as author and illustrator, as well as lots of teaching experience and I love helping people get the best out of their stories. I focus on getting the pacing and the emotional temperature just right. If this is something you’d be interested in, you can find out more using the button below. And if you have any questions, do feel free to ask.

Purfling pickers and Mongolian Techno

In violin-making news, I’m still struggling to get my blocks right – so much so that I spent a day questioning internally whether I should even carry on. I’m SO far out of my comfort zone with this precision work. Though I know it’s good for me, I am finding it extremely challenging. But what’s keeping me going is my classmates and teacher, who are all kind, supportive - and very interesting. And after all, where else could you spend the day listening to Monglian Techno while discussing purfling pickers? (I’ll tell you what purfling is another time if I ever get that far).

I’m looking forward to May, always my favourite month, and I’m going to start with a May Day picnic in the cow parsley. I’m also gearing up for an interesting collaborative banner-making project for Refugee Week, and a day trip to Scunthorpe to meet lots of families. Phew, it’s going to be a busy month!

As always, if you would like to buy a book, do visit my bookshop.org shop where you can find all my picture books as well as some recommendations.

Thankyou for reading. If you have enjoyed Story Street, do share with any friends who might be interested. I’m going to leave you with some April treasure - lilacs and apple blossom…