Dear Supporters,

In our 15 years of creating, our studio has never faced upheavals like these before. It is particularly frustrating to go from being the punctual press we were to such a thinly oiled machine. But knowing that we have people awaiting our books, and continuing to order them, has been a massive encouragement for us throughout.

Barriers to trade resulting from Brexit mean we unexpectedly have to rebuild our online shop, loss of income and unsolicited admin. The pandemic has resulted in long-term illness, closure due to homeschooling, strain on our mental health and extraordinary lead times for our collaborators, where as many of three personnel changes have taken place due to illness and furlough.    

So it was, yesterday we conducted a deep clean of our studio in anticipation of an Autumn that will see us complete half a dozen handmade editions. That might sound like a heavy workload but, dear reader, right now the idea of being cloistered with glue, bone folders and ribbons is bliss! 

Your Blackbird is nearly complete. It is sewn on orange ribbon and has a black card cover. What remains is to add a unique life drawing and make the japanese case, covered with pistachio cloth. We have also sourced white clasps that resemble a blackbird's beak. As we will be doing this alongside two other editions it will take a little time.

Many thanks for your messages of support via Twitter and email.

David and Ping Henningham