The Small Batch List is back

And, a little blast from the past, I'm calling it Loobylu

Hello! The Small Batch List is back for 2023.

Those of you who subscribed many, many years ago may not even remember that you did, and will be surprised to see this in your inbox. Hopefully many of you will not only remember, but be happy to see me, as I am happy to see you. I am looking forward to sharing with you the things I am drawing and working on, and the things that are inspiring me.

If you are new to the newsletter, welcome!

You will see that I have moved back to the original name of my vintage blog, Loobylu. Perhaps it is a weird nostalgic tug, or a need to be associated with something more than just a random list in this big online world, but the moniker Loobylu has been attached to the virtual me, for better or worse, for 23 years. It suits my mood better these days.

You will also notice that I have joined the newsletter platform Substack. I feel much more at home here. This feels like a sandbox for adventures. You can leave comments and explore the archives in a very blog-like format.

What are you up to these days? I am currently working a part-time office job, and using my spare moments to draw and make and dream. Most of this art-making is focusing on filling sketchbooks with messy, inky experiments. I am playing with comic book formats and sequential storytelling, and I am making sketchbooks from scratch. Next month it might be something different, but this is where I am right now.

A few things of note this week

Making: Speaking of making sketchbooks from scratch, I keep returning to two sources of inspiration and information. The first is this how-to video; Rajiv Surendra’s Bookbinding Guide for Beginners. It’s easy to follow and not too complex (and easy to get lost in the slightly enhanced eyes of the host in the video thumbnail). I highly recommend it for demistifying the art of bookbinding.

The second is the instagram of thing maker, Margaux Kent, and her business Peg and Awl. Beautiful handmade bags and notebooks, and delightful inky illustrations. Total eye-candy.

Watching: Are you watching The White Lotus season 2? It’s the show I am most obsessed with, but I cannot remember a single character’s name. Old guy, sleazy guy, nice young guy, tech douchebag, tech douchebag’s wife, Aubrey Plaza, the cute guy from Flowers, Billionaire lady, Billionaire lady’s assistant, that English actor, the French guy from Emily in Paris… regardless, I think tonight is the last episode, and I can’t wait. Who dies? Who’s conning who? Will Aubrey and the cute guy from Flowers implode? I have my theories and I hope the writers don’t let me down.

Dancing: Ok, ok, I will be real with you, I am definitely not trying Wednesday’s dance from Tim Burton’s Netflix joyfully dark series Wednesday. But I am loving it. And I may have tipped my head back and moved my hands back and forth while talking about it. So that’s kind of dancing, right? Here is a great article in the NYT about the dance itself and (brilliant, brilliant) Jennifer Ortega’s choreography and inspiration.

Podcasting: So happy to have two of my favourites in conversation in my ears this week. Jessica Abel interviews Austin Kleon on her podcast The Autonomous Creative. Discovering your creative system (and the perpetual motion machine.)

Cooking: It’s Peppermint Bark Weekend, my annual tradition where I make a lot of two-tone peppermint bark¹, put a small amount into plastic sleeves as gifts for friends and teachers, and then devour the rest over the cold weeks of December. It’s so good. But I watched Claire Saffitz make Lemon Bars on her YouTube this week, and now I can’t get them out of my head. Despite the words “lemon curd” striking fear into my heart, and the ingredients list including a dozen eggs, I might give these a burl².

Listening: By now we have all been served our Spotify’s 2022 Wrapped, where our character is defined by our carefully monitored music listening habits and twisted to make us question our core belief systems. This is a year when I had to do a lot of non-distractible thinking and writing, and so it turns out my top artist for the year was Johann Sebastian Bach. I have to say, this was a little bit of a shock and made me realize I might just be getting older. Luckily I was also dubbed “The Nomad” - a sonic explorer who listens far and wide, which is pretty darn cool, even if it implies I might also have a long white beard blowing in the wind as I wander the auditory landscape, and stagger home again on my weary old legs to crank up the “Royalcore Romanticism Fancy” (classical) tunes. I am determined not to have Bach, Chopin and Grieg occupy my top three spots again next year. Here’s my current list of actual favourites.

That’s all for this week. See you next time.

xo,

Claire

1. The recipe is no longer online, but essentially it is melted bittersweet chocolate mixed with a few drops of peppermint extract, spread thin on a foil-covered baking sheet covered in, left to cool and then melted white chocolate spread over the top. Sprinkle it with crushed candy canes. Leave to cool and break-apart.

2. “Give it a burl” - Australian/NZ for “make an attempt”.