From Bread to Books

The name Willow Leaves came by way of bread – and before that, a cottage. Years ago, Rosanne and her family renovated an old building on their property and named it Blackthorn Cottage, after the abundance of blackthorn growing nearby. When she began selling her homemade bread, the name evolved into Blackthorn Breads. “And then I had a friend who makes baskets,” she recalls, “and we had stalls together sometimes where I’d sell my bread and she’d be selling her baskets, and we just called it Blackthorn and Willow.”

That became the name of her craft shop in Glenarm, where she sold artisan foods, locally-made crafts, handmade books, and ran a micro-bakery on Saturday mornings. When the shop closed just before the pandemic – “not knowing that was coming, but it was good timing” – Rosanne shifted her attention fully to bookbinding and the name Willow Leaves was an obvious choice.

“I just always loved books,” she says. “I used to make little books when I was a child… I was very taken by the illuminated manuscripts of the monks. The idea that books can be beautiful as well as informative.”

That early fascination has carried through in the variety of forms she creates today. “I make books for writing and sketching and I want them to be both useful and beautiful: I think that I have always been a bit influenced by the Arts and Crafts Movement, in that respect. Different styles of binding suit different sorts of use. The traditional casebound book is a beautiful object and is very sturdy but it is not as flexible as a book with exposed spine binding such as a Coptic-stitched book where the pages open wide and lie flat – much appreciated by artists – that is less robust. Another style valued by artists is the concertina or Leporello book that is ideal for presenting a panorama. A style that I make a lot is limp binding; this is traditionally made from soft leather, such as goats skin, but I use cork material instead which is supple and pliable and lovely to work with.”

She often works with high-quality materials like Japanese silk book cloth, prized for its subtle texture and “It looks gorgeous with a range of colours,” she says of the silk. “It feels nice.”

Rosanne loves to work with beautiful papers. ”I use paper from different sources including my own marbled paper and my prints from lino cuts; however, I get particular pleasure from using the work of my sister who is a talented artist. There is something very nice about having a bit of a family connection in my work and to use papers that are unique.”