Meeting up in Edinburgh
Yesterday, I went up to Edinburgh for the day to meet up with fellow PaperTigers blogger Sally Ito and her children, who are on holiday in Scotland at the moment. Despite the pretty miserable weather, we had a busy, fun-packed day.
Of course, following Sally’s post about Greyfriars Bobby last month, we had to visit the famous churchyard – here we are by the famous statue!
On the way there, we passed The Elephant House, now famous for being the place where J.K.Rowling wrote Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone – and at the children’s behest we returned there later, which proved to be an absolute 
treat for an elephant-lover like me, as it is chock-a-block full of elephants from floor to ceiling – here we are, with elephant-shaped shortbread!
In between we visited the Camera Obscura and World of Illusions - here we all are in the thermal-imaging chamber… 
In the shop afterwards I found some beautiful Hiroshige pictures to make into Tatebanko, “the forgotten Japanese paper diarama”: they were certainly new to me but I’ve found this very interesting post about Tatebanko by artist Judith Hoffman (and what amazing metal books she creates!).
I also found a fantastic book for young (and old! – Older Brother, Younger Brother and my husband all loved it!) children: Gallop! by Rufus Butler Seder (Workman Publishing, 2007) – a “Scanimation Picture Book”. Without the moving images, this would be a charming board book for the very young, with interactive verse and good use of color and onomatopoeia:
Can you flutter like a butterfy?
Flittery-float-float!
Can you swim like a turtle?
Glippety-gloap-gloap
…and there’s a delightful twist to the poem at the end. But on top of all that, there are the truly wonderful moving images, which, magically, only work if you move the pages. Watch Seder talking about his Scanimation process on this video - fascinating! In the publication details at the front of the book, Seder “acknowledges some illustrations in this book are based on the motion photography pioneered by Eadweard Muybridge” – in fact, the cover itself pays homage to Muybridge’s The Horse in Motion. So there’s a good excuse, if one is needed, for parents to enjoy the book too! Another book, Swing!, came out last year too – it’s next on my wish-list…
So all in all, we had a great day and have clocked up another real-life meeting among the PaperTigers Team!
May 6th, 2009 at 9:17 am
How I wish I could have been there, to join in on the fun!… It’s wonderful to see these pictures and read about your day together.
May 6th, 2009 at 12:30 pm
What a great day! Thanks for sharing Marj. I knew that J.K. Rowling started off writing in a coffee house but I never knew that it had been identified. Isn’t that neat to be able to visit it. I’m sure a LOT of people – young and old – have had their photos taken there. Also neat to see you both in front the statue since Sally had blogged about it. I came across the Gallop book several months ago and have to say that it is mesmorizing! I’ll have to keep my eye out for Swing. Sally – hope you are enjoying your holiday!
May 6th, 2009 at 2:36 pm
It was a really fun day. I’m not surprised J.K.Rowling set up literary camp in The Elephant House. If I had it on my doorstep, I’d be in there writing my PT blog posts! If you click on the thumb print, you’ll be able to read the huge poster in the window…