Making Cobbled Philosophies

‘Cobbled Philosophies’ are some of my favourite things to make at the moment. They’re small, and they seem quite simple, but the process can stretch out for days as I search through pages of old books and other printed matter for the words that I’m looking for.

They never finish the way that I think they’re going to when I set out. I start with a thought or a feeling that I want to explore, but the fact that the words need to be found in the wild means that I can’t be fixed in how I plan to express it. In my searches, I end up taking myself on little meaning detours, trying to come at an idea or expression from different angles depending on the individual units of language that make themselves available to me as I go.

This circuitous route invariably has me interrogating what I am trying to say quite closely, and I always find myself asking questions like:

Does this feel true?

Is there a better way of communicating this?

Have I questioned this belief?

If I accept this, what follows?

Could this mean more than one thing?

It’s a meditative process, and one that draws my focus into the act of both meaning-making and hand-making in a way that is so pleasingly absorbing, and creatively satisfying.

This is my most recent finished one:

I hope you’ll have go at making your own if the mood takes you. You can use any old book pages, newspapers, magazines, brochures, and so on, so it’s easy to get started, and if you’re anything like me you won’t stop at one. I’d love to see them if you do.

Essie xoxo

P.S. To see if there are any Cobbled Philosophies available in my shop, go here.