Say a big hi and hello to Ruth Bleakley! Ruth is an artist who also makes gorgeous handbound books and other stationery, including adorable mini-books! And she’s got a little something for you to win today, too…

Where do you live?

I live in a 400 year old seaside town in Massachusetts on Cape Cod, a sort of arm-shaped peninsula where the first Pilgrims landed. As I write this we’re experiencing a typical “Nor’easter” which is a storm accompanied by winds up to 50 miles an hour!

Where do you do your work?

I have a studio space in my home – for a long time I did my work on a rickety table in the corner of the dining room, but I was pretty unhappy at the lack of space and we transformed the TV room into my studio. Over the past two years I’ve acquired a huge work desk, two flat files for storing paper and various paper cutters.

What’s your favourite place in the world, and why?

This is tricky because I grew up all over the world, growing up in a military family. I lived in Germany, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. That being said, the most beautiful place in the world that sticks in my mind is Switzerland, up in the Swiss Alps with cows with bells around their necks coming down from the mountain pastures through wisps of clouds. I went there on a trip when I was 14 and have never forgotten the image!

Tell us a little bit more about yourself! Your ‘day job’ or business,
family, hobbies…

I have several part time jobs that keep me busy, one is working at a local coffee shop – I absolutely love to make latte art and have a serious weak spot for Double Iced Soy Mexican Mochas. I also work at a lovely stationery store where I get to design custom invitations for people as well as order lots of decorative papers. In addition I also teach bookbinding classes at the local community school – right now we’re working on a Longstitch binding.

What did you want to be ‘when you grew up’?

The furthest back I can remember, I wanted to be a teacher – but between then and now I also wanted to be a landscape architect, a genetic engineer, a botanist and a tattoo artist.

How did you first get into your craft/art?

I took a course at college called “Book Arts” mostly because my friends were taking it – but I instantly fell in love with bookbinding. It’s so easy to make a lovely polished little book and working with different brilliantly colored papers is a lot like painting or working in pastels – but less messy!

What do you make?

I create handbound books, as well as other stationery and paper items like drawings and original illustrations, handmade envelopes, marbled papers & notebook sets. I am drawn to bright colors, Japanese papers, gold paint, cute imagery of animals.

What are you most proud of making?

I did a pretty big job a couple years ago for the local scientific institution, binding a collection of biographies of local Nobel prize winners – I even had the cover stamped hot stamped in 24k gold, a line drawing of Alfred Nobel I’d created from a picture of the prize in Chemistry. I created not just one of these volumes, but three companion volumes to be distributed to different institutions. They were about 3 inches thick and contained probably around 300 pages each – very heavy!

What do you like the most/least about selling your wares online?

I like having a photographic record of all of my work, so that when I part with it, it’s not very difficult – when I was younger, I would hoard all of my artwork in a portfolio and never gave any of it away at all, so it was hard at first to start selling it – taking good pictures though, is like still having the original piece of work, but it takes up much less space. What do I like least? I really dislike writing up product descriptions and going through the actions of listing an item.

I love…

Bubble Tea – especially mango snow with boba mmmmm

It drives me crazy when…

I hear two types of music playing at the same time – one of the classes I teach takes place at the same time as a ballroom dance class in the auditorium next door – I had to turn off my music because I couldn’t concentrate on anything hearing Belle and Sebastian singing over the Cha Cha.

What’s your favourite word?

I have no idea, right now I’m thinking the words “omnibus”, “gesticulate” and “hyperbole”

If you could sum yourself or your work up in one sentence, it would say…

“Bright, Cheerful and Generally Pleasant to Look At” haha!

Visit Ruth Online!

Shop: RuthBleakley.Etsy.com

Blog: www.RuthBleakley.com

Twitter: twitter.com/ruthbleakley

Ruth has generously donated this gorgeous journal for a giveaway! But sorry fellow Aussies… this one’s open to the US and Canada only.

To Enter:

1. Visit Ruth Bleakley and come back here leaving a comment about your favourite piece from the page.

2. For additional entries, leave a comment saying that you: followed or subscribed to Epheriell Designs (or already do); have twittered about the givewaway; have shared the giveaway with friends on Facebook, or; you have written a blog post about it.

3. Entries close next Saturday, the 11th of December, at 12pm Australian EST.

The winner will be chosen via Random.org

Please remember to leave me a way of contacting you!

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