Friday, May 30, 2008

The Moly has Landed

Actually I had never heard Moleskines called 'Moly's' up until very recently when I joined a Moleskine Exchange. I recently blogged about my own Moly (here and here) for the exchange and my first entries in it.  I posted it off to Alison earlier in the week after a dodgy beginning. Then I just waited for Clare's to arrive for me to draw in.
Well here it is!  While I've  heard others say (well read really) that they look so different in the flesh, well... IT DOES!  It looked good to me in the online shots Clare put up on the Moly_x_25 blog and her Flickr site, but in the flesh! it just looks... well... (I hate to use those often overused words again, but...) absolutely fabulous!!!  It comes in its own little cosy cover and is accompanied with gifts!  What more could a girl ask for? (I won't say anything about the gifts for fear of spoiling the surprise for the next recipients in the exchange.)  


So, here I am.  With it.  Feeling all VERY precious about it.  And wondering what to do.  

It made me think about my own Moly, out there, travelling the world without me for the next 6 months.  I thought about how good it had turned out that I messed it up and had to get completely unprecious about it.  I put sticky notes in it to tell its future artists to write this here, that there etc etc.  I found myself thinking I wish I had put more notes in it, saying in particular, don't follow my rules, don't follow the rules of anything, just plain get into my book. Interact.  Replace. Obliterate. Transform. Get  down and dirty!!! (Maybe not 'obliterate'.)

Once again art brings about surprise.  I do expect art's nice surprises.  But I never expect the elements that end up surprising me.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

How fantastic! I look forward to seeing what you do with these over the course of the project and am excited to see how ours turns out ! Which I will be posting in another week!

Clare said...

Hi Jan, Love your write-up about our moly_x exchange.Specially " I found myself thinking I wish I had put more notes in it, saying in particular, don't follow my rules, don't follow the rules of anything, just plain get into my book. Interact. Replace. Obliterate. Transform. Get down and dirty!!! (Maybe not 'obliterate'.)"


Been to your etsy & must say you have 'Tempted' me.

My name is Cindy said...

These Moly's sound fascinating. Does Moley refer to the cover, the paper or the style of book (ie the folds?) ? I've seen it referred to in various places but never been sure. I really like the idea that the pages flow and over lap. I'm just starting on a journal round robin but may suggest this kind of 'swap' next time. Good Luck!!

Jan Allsopp said...

Cindy, 'Moly' is an affectionate name for any kind of Moleskine brand notebooks, sketchbooks or, as in this case, Japanese fold journal. Enjoy your swap! This is my first and I've just signed up for my second - a portrait/self portrait one.