A book that omits weaponry in favour of symbology, armoury and games
Starts 5 September | £399 | Online
Book now
I am anti-war. (Unless it’s interstellar and we have to save humanity - so one could argue that we ought to be pulling together anyway to fight climate change to practise.) Yet war is a fact of human reality. States of war interspersed with peacetime. Throughout history there have been beautiful ways to defend oneself, which is the more interesting problem for me. Beautiful Renaissance helmets and European, Chinese, Japanese, Persian and Indian armour reminiscent of miniature paintings with gold and engraving. There are so many metaphors and symbols in daily life that have their origins in that ugliest, basest of human instincts.
Chess is a game of war (which is covered in another Book) as is the ancient and complex game of Go. We’ll take the position of peace lovers and omit weaponry in this book. Sun Tzu’s Art of War is now a business classic. There are many interesting things we can glean from it too. ‘The dust rising in the terrain signals movement.’ We’ll use glitter and base our book on love for humanity.
Finally, since this is a strange and somewhat special book, and we are living in interesting times, I might ask my husband if he can design a shield for the book cover, we’ll see what we’ll get. Working with one’s spouse is like playing the opening gambit in a game of chance in itself…
Since these are book classes, we will also be developing our bookmaking skills and learning new book cover techniques with the leather gradually. This is also a slightly bigger book than previous classes and we will be getting bigger with time too.
Class includes a bespoke handmade leather envelope-flap cover to paint and free postage to anywhere in the world. Sent separately depending on production schedules. Make your own library of handmade Islamic books!
Upcoming Sessions
Dates: 5 Sept 2023 - 26 Sept 2023
Total of 4 sessions
Tuesday, 5 September 9pm - 10pm BST
Tuesday, 12 September 9pm - 10pm BST
Tuesday, 19 September 9pm - 10pm BST
Tuesday, 26 September 9pm - 10pm BST