Did you know that round things make us happy? Bubbles, balloons, balls… or anything with curves is likely to put a smile on our face. So this month, I’ll show you how to: round up joy in a circular bookart project.

You’ll Need:

• A sheet or two of medium weight paper (not whippy thin, not too stiff)

• Scissors

• Glue stick

• A pencil

• Six different colours of ink

• Brush

• Something round to draw around (I’ve used a favourite mug from Studio Brae, across the corridor from my Edinburgh work space)

• Notebook and pen, or any scrap paper, for jotting down ideas

• A white marker pen or anything that will be legible over the ink

Step-by-step:

Start simple! With the pencil, draw around your round object, fitting as many circles on each sheet as you can.

Then ‘colour in’ each circle with a different-coloured ink. Clearly I don’t think it’s important to keep within the lines…

Loving the jewel-like tones.

Enjoying the textures here. When you’ve filled in each circle with colour, set the page aside to dry.

Then draw two more circles (or several more if you like.)

And add colour to those too.

Once the ink is dry, cut out the circles with scissors.

Nom nom juicy circles.

Fold each of the circles in half. See if you can feel when it’s easiest to fold – then you’ll be perfectly aligned with the grain direction.

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, look here to see why it matters.

Make a list of things that round up joy. Quickly write down six without overthinking it. Perhaps six isn’t enough, especially if you have more than six circles….add what you need.

Using the white marker, add each joyful thing to a circle. I’ve chosen to leave half of the circle clear; you could use this space for an illustration for an extra amount of joy.

When you’ve arranged them in an order that makes most sense, we’re ready to glue. Place a piece of waste paper into the centre fold of the first circle. Then spread the glue right up to and over the edges, so that every part of this semi-circle is covered.

Place the second semi-circle on top, taking care to line everything up. Use your finger or a bone-folder to ensure that every millimetre is adhered together.

Keep adding and building and rounding up joy, until all your circles are bound into one!

You *could* glue the last page to the first, so that you have a never-ending book….but I prefer to be able to fold the book flat.

This How To: Round Up Joy bookart project is inspired by the chapter in Emma Gannon’s book A Creative Compass, where she talks about being a guest on Russell Howard’s Five Brilliant Things podcast. She concludes that making a list of joyful things is a good way of getting in the mood to create. So what are you waiting for?!