The Unwinding Cards
I do love sending postcards. Also, when I go to a museum ( remember those days when you just went to visit a gallery, a museum?) I would always buy postcards, to stick to the wall, or to send to friends. I have The Wild Cards, with Robert Macfarlane. There are cards available from Graffeg. And now, hopefully, will also have these new cards coming from Unbound.
Unbound, for those who don’t know, is a young-ish publisher who really rock a very old idea, taking it onto the digital platform. Like all publishers they have a submissions policy. They don’t take everything they are offered, but their whole ethos is to publish things that readers want to read. Usually, from submission to publication it can take 1, 2 or 3 years, depending on whether an idea is fully formed, or a book needs to be written, illustrated, crafted and designed. And all the while there is a target that needs to be hit before a project becomes real, and this is where the reading community come in.
The Unwinding was funded to the tune of 316%, which is amazing. Once a project hits 100% it becomes a real and viable thing, and not every project achieves this. It is a big ask, for people to invest their money so that I can invest my time in creating something that is as good as it can be at the time. When The Unwinding began we has an idea of how it would be, wanting a small pillow book of dreams, but not a real idea of how it would develop. This was even more so with Feather, Leaf, Bark & Stone, which published a couple of weeks ago. People’s faith in our ability to deliver the finished creature is what funds these ventures.
Before I say more about The Unwinding Cards, this is one of the reasons I love working with Unbound. I had always wanted to make a heavily illustrated note book ( Like a colouring in book for writers). I suggested to Unbound that we could make a silent version of the book, simply by stopping the presses, and taking out all the words, leaving space for people to add their own. And so, The Silent Unwinding was born. To go with this now there is an audio book, so while you draw or write in your Silent Unwinding you can listen to the words. It’s available from Audible online. I’m really hoping for a vinyl version too, perhaps with a sleeve that is a colouring in sheet, so you can listen and colour.
The Unbound model works well for me too, as I like to keep in touch with people who support my work.
And before I say more about the Unwinding Cards I want to talk about an idea for The Silent Unwinding. I was contacted in the last few days by a woman whose child is struggling to sleep. The past few nights she has read her The Quiet Music of Gently Falling Snow and she has drifted off on the dreams. I suggested that she get the Unwinding Audio Book….. and also a copy of The Silent Unwinding. That together at bedtime they think and talk of three lovely things that have happened in the day, that they have seen, that they have heard, and together they write these into a copy of The Silent Unwinding. Then read. Then sleep. This is all about the searching for beauty as a practice in life, because art is a discipline, and sometimes even sleep is a discipline and it can become a ritual and art is a ritual… all things bound and unbound together.
Ive been painting in a copy of The Silent Unwinding ( I love doing this, a kind of fancy doodling. This one will be foxes, keys and teapots….) This is for the pledge levels of another project, The Accordion Books. (Heads up here to buyers and indie bookshops on these. They are going to be available to pledgers up to 6 months before being released into shops, so, if you are a shop who wants them you NEED to contact Unbound direct and place an order. And if you are a pledger, who wants them for Christmas presents, they will be scarce in shops until next year. x) Do watch the film if you go to this page. It will give you an idea of what you will get. Also, if these work the next two will be Hare and Hound…..
So, this is our new venture. 100 cards in a beautiful box, to send or to keep. You can frame them, paper the walls with them, write dreams on them or wishes, send them out across the world or invite a neighbour for supper, use the to write the shortest stories on and leave around town for people to find…..the only limit is your own imagination. As I write this there are 7 supporters. So come and join us. The entry level is £20 which will get you one box of cards. But remember, they won’t be ready until next autumn. By then you will probably have forgotten. Until one day a box arrives….. and then it will be time to unwind.
The Unwinding is available in USA, UK, Germany and China, thanks to the initial support of the early pledgers who took the idea to the 100% target and then beyond. In the UK you can also buy copies of The Silent Unwinding from all good independent shops. Signed copies are available from Solva Woollen Mill, Seven Fables, Rossiters Books and Kenilworth Books. Support your local bookshop if and where you can, or visit your local library.
I loved the story about the child who can’t sleep, thank you for sending your magic to one who needed it.
Jackie, I’m still awaiting news of the despatch of my set of cards and Unwinding book, and now the whole project is missing from the Unbound website – if I’m to sit tight and wait that’s fine but I’d love to just buy them elsewhere if the situation is more complicated than that. Have you any advice for me?
A surprise in my postbox today, yes I had forgotten but there they were . A box of beautiful postcards, the Unwinding Cards. The excitement of picking them out of their beautiful box one at a time and marvelling at their beauty was equal to anything I felt as a child unwrapping that one special present on your birthday. They did indeed arrive on my 65th birthday.
I had bought them to send to friends and family but I have decided instead I will select one each month at random and write something on it something that has touched me that month. Maybe something I heard, something I read or just my thoughts. These can be a gift I can leave for my children or grandchildren so that one day when I’m gone they can get to know me a little better. Thank you Jackie, these wonderful cards will make a difference in my life.
Bless you x Good timing. But they’ve taken an age to get these out into the wild.