JAZMINA CININAS

One of my most magical memories of Estonia is visiting a friend's home in the forest by a lake at midsummer. The first time I visited, Kalli's husband, Ove, was busy spinning honey because the beehive had just been trashed by a bear! I spent midsummer night around a bonfire as Kalli played the squeezebox, then everyone piled into the sauna to work up a sweat before jumping into the lake. On my second visit, I encountered a beaver on my morning swim. Kalli has shared her lake with a moose, and her forest is inhabited with lynx, wolves, deer, hare, martins, foxes and all manner of creatures. It is like a fairytale. How could I not make a book about Kalli's place?

One of my favourite ways to decorate the covers of my books is using the inlay technique, in which different binding cloths are collaged together to create an image. Each year, I need to make a new example to demonstrate the technique to my students. These are some of the covers I have accumulated over time. Now to just get on and fill them with content....