Joan
The topic this month was ‘Palindrome’ and I made a double concertina book to illustrate ‘A man, a plan, a canal, Panama’.
It uses collaged papers and maps to show the building of the Panama Canal and the men who designed and completed it.
Alison
I wanted to make a flexagon book so used two-letter words that can be read forwards or backwards and with a little graphic assistance, upside-down. A fun experiment.
Patti
I decided to move away from the traditional palindrome for this month’s theme, instead making a book where the actions are reversed! My grandson, Alfie, loved it!
Tamsin
I knew that I wanted to make a square flexagon for this topic, as I felt that the continuous unfolding and turning structure would work well with words and phrases that can be read both forwards and backwards.
I decided to write a palindrome poem for the flexagon, inspired by the palindrome phase ‘won’t lovers revolt now’. I used two sheets of Japanese Hosho paper for the book, writing in walnut ink.
Gill
For the theme Palindrome I chose to make a simple graphic book based on my favourite Palindrome which is Yo Banana Boy.
Isi
A book about a French slang called VERLAN – “back to front” where the vocabulary is built with the inversion of syllables in a word. Originally a gang slang that is now used in the jargon of youth culture. Rotten for example is POURRI >> RIPOU which stands for a corrupt policeman. Another example is for the word woman in French, which is FEMME in Verlan it becomes ME- FEM > MEUF.
Verlan, I feel, carries a poetic quality and rebellious spirit in its language.
