Bouquet began as an invitation to collaborate through art-making and poetry prompted by a shared engagement with nature, storytelling, and listening with a sense of curiosity. Our intention was not to make a book of paste paper paintings that illustrate poems, or poems that describe paintings, but to create paste paper paintings and poems that resonate in conversation with each other. Bouquet embodies the conversations rooted in collaboration that flourished into creative acts of discovery.

The book is a collaboration between Jill Cypher and poet Deborah Arnold and was Lead Graffiti’s best-selling book at the 2023 Manhattan Fine Press Book Fair held April..

Photo #2 : a close-up of the Somerset Textured White surface of “Kimono.’

Photo #3 : Jill positioning her paste paper for “Fire Season Haiku.”

Photo #4 : archeological evidence of the paste paper used to accompany each of the book’s poems.

Prices / ordering

• Hard cover edition is $500

• The price and details for a deluxe edition of the book is still in the planning stage, but will likely include a clamshell designed to display the book along with a separately printed poem entitled “the Vase.” Anyone previously purchasing the standard edition can buy the additional elements at a price to be decided.

Paper : 17 spreads, 7” x 10” overall

Binding : Hard bound by hand in a flutter book format with spreads glued along the fore-edges. The flutter book is a structure from the Eastern binding tradition. It’s a codex that can act a bit like an accordion since the text block can be gently pulled out from the spine to show multiple pages and spreads at one time. Single folios are joined along the books fore-edge to create the text block.

• Cover boards wrapped with Canapetta, cotton/linen bookcloth, Natural with an overprinted paste paper image along the spine and wrapping onto both covers, with an inlaid label on the front cover

• Paper : Text block spreads are printed on 300 gsm Somerset Textured White (mislabeled on the book’s colophon as 280 gsm).

• The paste paper painting tip-ins were hand painted on Fabriano Onyx Bright White, 120 gsm text, with wheat paste colored with acrylic paints.

Production  :

• Printed slowly & patiently via letterpress photopolymer plates on a Vandercook Universal III

• Binding was done in-house

• Books are numbered and signed by both artists.