Official Launch: What's Coming Next

If the first chapter was about how we arrived here, this one is about what we are building next.

Right now, growth looks like timber frames and half-finished walls.

Recently we’ve had the opportunity to start the extensions of our small box home. My dad, a veteran and ex-carpenter, is practically single handedly building a home that fits our family. The future studio with shelves lined with fabric and books, work benches that aren’t shared for family meals and toddler activities, is still likely a couple of years away.

For now, work happens in the inbetween. Inbetween the constant hum and non-stop of motherhood and demands of small, rural living. A rhythm that is ever-changing and fragmented. But I can see the next step coming.

Ethan and I are seriously considering leasing a small space in a nearby town. Not for grandeur, but for clarity. A place that allows professionalism and dedicated time. A place to focus and create. A place that lets me leave work at the door so I can be fully present with the boys at home.

Breathing room for both parts of my life.

This will come with its own challenges as travel time and high cost of fuel becomes a non-negligible consideration. Though, while we are only in the first chapters of this small business adventure, I have high hopes for Book and Kettle, as Ethan does with his own ideas. So why not jump into the deep end.

Because when you start small, the only thing to do is grow.

As our home expands and dedicated time becomes more readily available, so too will the product range I’d love to create and offer.

I’m already working on various bookmark types, waiting until I have enough stock to post collections on my online shop. All handmade, there are printed paper bookmarks with artistic designs, hand embroidered felt tea bag bookmarks, and a small batch of old book spines that I am reinvigorating and reinforcing for a second life.

Likewise, I am creating collections of various notebook styles. Simple Japanese Stab bound pocket books, hard cover decorative coptic binds, and small children’s notebooks to name a few.

In true Book and Kettle fashion, upcycled fabrics will be used for tote bags and multi-purpose drawstring bags alongside my featured aprons. Patterns that may have been destined for a landfill will be transformed into something useful once again. For library visits, farmers markets, or storing small projects.

I would like handmade paper to become a central offering. Keeping with my core principles it will be recycled, small-batch, textured sheets made thoughtfully. I already have quite the collection of scrap paper to use.

I’d like to revisit the initial daydream of natural hand dyed linens, hand embroidered book covers, touches from nature for feel and comfort.

Seasonally, at markets, there may also be home-cut flowers and rainbow eggs from our chickens. Not as a shift away from the handmade crafts, but as a natural extension of the small homestead life surrounding it. Although, these are far in the future.

Book and Kettle is based on products without excess, without waste, and without compromising the environment we are raising our children in. And although we may move to a studio space while we build our own, the small towns that surround our village are still our community.

I’ll be continuing local workshops in Glen Innes, sharing bookbinding skills in person, and expanding to other locations as the opportunity arises.

The Cottage Notebook Club will continue to grow as well. More than a product, I see it as outreach to like-minded people who value handmade work and little reminders to keep pen to paper in the digital age.

I’m also looking forward to hosting local market stalls, offering a hands-on shopping experience where you can feel the textures and see each piece up close. In time, I hope to partner with like-minded stores and small shops, allowing Book and Kettle to sit naturally among businesses that value handmade goods.

Alongside all this, Ethan is preparing to establish his own business focused on book repair and conservation. After completing his Masters in Information Sciences, his work will lean into preserving stories already written, while mine centres on creating new ones. Two complementary paths. Two chapters in the same book.

This year we will also be married. And if life unfolds kindly, we hope to welcome a third child next year.

While this may be an ambitious adventure it doesn’t mean haste. Life has thrown so many curves in the road before, reshaping what I thought would happen and when, so I’ve learnt to hold onto certain dreams with quiet resignation.

Travel is among them. Family road trips, overseas Odysseys, discovering artisan workshops and absolutely everything great the world has to show. Although quieted by plans of homemaking and business building, wanderlust is still a core purpose of mine.

But who knows how things will unfold?

The story is still being written. The next chapter is already forming.

Thank you for your support and creating it with us.