story text image binding
craft and imagination
combined into handmade books
book work by
eva engstrand
slut sats (conclusion)
Size: 210×130 mm. 64 pp. Riso print. Hard covers. Edition: 1. Completed March 2026.
This book marks the end of a trivial project that I have persued on and off for six years. I have (unsystematically) been collecting Swedish words spelled with only four letters and explored the limits of expression using only these small words. Between the covers of this book is the ultimate full stop to a pastime that turned into an obsession.
leka (play)
Size: 240×180 mm. 16 pp. Riso print. Leporello book with hard covers and cotton band closure. Edition: 2. Completed February 2026.
A graphic poem built of letters and images portraying a child-king and his ethics. It is part of a project using Swedish words spelled with only four letters. It accompanies the books Sten (Rock) and Kyss (Kiss) on the same theme and they make up a set with same size and design.
kyss (kiss)
Size: 240×180 mm. 14 pp. Riso print. Leporello with hard covers and cotton band closure. Edition: 2. Completed February 2026.
A graphic poem built of letters and images about a romantic rendezvous in the night. It is part of a project using Swedish words spelled with only four letters. It accompanies the books Sten (Rock) and Leka (Play) on the same theme and they make up a set with same size and design.
sten (rock)
Size: 240×180 mm. 16 pp. Riso print. Leporello with hard covers and cottton band closure. Edition: 2. Completed February 2026.
A graphic poem built of letters and images inspired by steep mountains and falling rocks. It is part of a project using Swedish words spelled with only four letters. It accompanies the books Kyss (Kiss) and Leka (Play) on the same theme and they make up a set with same size and design.
de prekambriska albumen (the precambrian albums)
Size: 190×154 mm. 12 pp. Paper collage and wax pastel crayon on Fabriano Tiziano 160 g. Each book is a unique copy. Completed October 2025.
Three handmade books portraying imaginative sceneries from Earth’s early history when life-forms started to appear. Collages made of recycled prints and drawings leftover from previous projects with added wax crayon elements. Five folded sheets are attached to a piano hinge accordion. A wooden lead pencil is used as a plug to secure the hinge.
tecknarens knut (the artist’s knot)
Size: 210×100 mm. 24 pp. Riso print. Soft cover booklet. Edition: 6. Completed September 2025.
A mildly indecent and ambiguous story about an artist drawing a continuous line that bends and folds over itself into loops and knots. Japanese style binding. A string of yarn with a knot is attached to the front cover.
handbok i upplösning av knutar (how to untie knots)
Size: 105×195 mm. 40 pp. Riso print. Soft cover booklet. Edition: 8. Completed June 2025
This booklet manifests a temporary obsession with drawing knots. Between the prints of a knot in different combinations of colour and design are five picture poetic instructions for how to liberate oneself from mental knots. Swedish text.
knycklarna (the crumplings)
Size: 105×200 mm. 60 pp. Digital print. Edition: 5. Soft cover booklet. Completed February 2025.
Black ink drawings combined with 38 rhyming verses in Swedish about the enigmatic personalities of trivial paper balls. Cover made of crumpled gift wrapping paper. Decorative stitches on the spine.
i love light
Size: 210×297 mm. 48 pp. Riso print. Edition: 3. Completed March 2024.
Samples of combinations of riso inks printed on recycled old prints and drawings.
bluffen (the hoax)
Size: 130×180 mm. 36 pp. Riso print on Skandia Ivory 170 g. Cover gift wrapping paper. Edition: 8. Completed February 2024.
This is a story about an insignificant being who ventures into the alternative reality in the hope of unravelling the mechanics of illusions. A story in rhymes about a spy who pursues the truth of being runs parallell. Swedish text.
flimmer: röd / grön / blå / brun (flimmer: red / green / blue / brown)
Size: 110×178 mm. 7 pages with 3 flags each. Risograph print on Skandia Ivory 170 g. Edition: 2 copies of each colour combinations. Completed September 2023.
A collection of flag books inspired by a model from the book The Art of the Fold. These books expand into space in interesting ways and can be enjoyed in various viewing angles.
ceremoniella hallucinationer med anledning av en kröning (ceremonial hallucinations about a coronation)
Size: 100 x 140 mm. 32 pp. Riso print on Skandia Ivory 170 g. Cover: gift wrapping paper. Edition: 12. Completed September 2023
In this little book I express my bewilderment caused by the bizarre spectacle of the recent royal coronation. In ten rhyming verses I outline instructions for how to stage the ceremony.
ljudbok (audiobook)
Size: 100×150 mm. 240 pp. Digital print on coloured paper. Edition: two of each language version. Completed May 2023.
This book is a collection of sounds as they appear in comics magazines and books. A simple but absurd story inspired by these sounds run at the bottom of each spread. There is one Swedish and one English version.
studies in screen printing
This is an ongoing screen printing project started Summer 2022. I am exploring how improvisational practice in both book making and screen printing with open frames can play out.
tornen (the towers)
Size 105×200 mm. 128 pp. Digital print and handmade stamped pages. Completed May 2022.
A inquisitive individual sets out to unravel the mystery of the towers that appear out of nowhere at sunset. The story is told in rhymes and line drawings.
six dialog books
Size 73×70 mm. 96 pp. Digital print.
Experimental project started in 2020 and completed January 2023. The result is six small books containing a dialogue between two individuals. Their alternating lines are interupted by images that change the cause of action. It is a play with imagination, illusion and the factual token on the page.
berget (the mountain)
A series of three books. Size 105×147 mm. 128 pp. digital print and original drawings. Completed May 2021.
My aim was to create a coherent story in words and images. The first two books are based on ad lib drawings but I failed to make a story out of them. Some insights about storytelling formed in my mind and I finally managed to complete a story. Which is the third book Berget uppför (The Mountain Up). It tells the adventure of two insignificant creatures looking for the Mountain. All three books are based on the same design structure.
early books revisited
My early books from 2018-2019 are beginner’s experiments. Particularly in the craft of bookbinding. But also in composing content for miniature books. Making miniature books came to an end but the contents of the books were worth a revisit I thought. In 2021 I completed the final disposal box for the Caspian Sea Project and the Chat Books Project and in 2022 the Lady Books Project.
pandemic books
These two projects – the C-O-R-O-N-A books and the Raspy Rhymes book – are my reaction to the restrictions imposed on my everyday life when the pandemic hit the world early 2020. They were completed within that year.
the square project
The Square Song Book. Size 100×105 mm. 176 pp. Digital print. The Square Box. Size: 116x116x24 mm. Completed February 2020.
Three stories run parallell on the pages through the whole book. One is expressed in black squares – images as well as words. One is a text addition to the square song. The other one tells the story of the making. The book is also an experiment in making use of the semitransparent paper.
