| The Living Paintings Trust is a charity providing specially adapted books for blind & visually impaired children and young people in the UK. They recently published an edition of Margaret’s Unicorn by Briony May Smith, and we caught up with Helen Molyneux, head of marketing and communications, to find out more about how they work. Briony and I were struck by the craftsmanship involved in creating a Living Paintings book, can you walk us through the process? The process for making a Living Paintings audio tactile book takes about a year from start to finish; from choosing the book to it being sent out to a child to enjoy. Once we’ve chosen the book and gained permission from the publisher, we start with line drawings of the main characters in the story. We ensure the drawing will make sense when it is recreated in a raised image. Sometimes we have to alter a few tiny details so that the final tactile page isn’t confusing to readers. |  |
 |  |
Once we have the line drawings, we then send these to our master carver who recreates the drawings in
wood. The carvings are finely detailed so that when we make our plastic tactile pages from them, the
reader can feel all the details like a hairy monster, or a big smile or a sleek cat.
wood. The carvings are finely detailed so that when we make our plastic tactile pages from them, the
reader can feel all the details like a hairy monster, or a big smile or a sleek cat.
 |  |
When we have the master artwork, we can then form our tactile pages using our thermo press. Plastic sheets
are heated over the wooden carvings and the characters appears from nowhere like magic. It’s brilliant
and my favourite part of the process!
are heated over the wooden carvings and the characters appears from nowhere like magic. It’s brilliant
and my favourite part of the process!
 |  |
Our tactile pages are then passed to our volunteer painters who paint each page in colours as closely to the
book’s colours as possible.
book’s colours as possible.
 |  |
While this is happening someone else is writing a script that describes all the illustrations in the book as well
as guiding the readers over the tactile pages to really bring the characters to life. We then ask celebrities who
have a link to the story to read the script for us which is done in the studio. We’ve had some wonderful people
so far like, Olivia Colman, Richard E Grant, Sir Derek Jacobi and a whole host of other brilliant people giving their
time for free. This is then produced to include music and sound effects to really bring the story to life for blind
children.
as guiding the readers over the tactile pages to really bring the characters to life. We then ask celebrities who
have a link to the story to read the script for us which is done in the studio. We’ve had some wonderful people
so far like, Olivia Colman, Richard E Grant, Sir Derek Jacobi and a whole host of other brilliant people giving their
time for free. This is then produced to include music and sound effects to really bring the story to life for blind
children.
| We print the whole story in braille on clear plastic sheets that we interleave with the actual pages of the book so that sighted family and friends can read together at the same time with a child who is blind or visually impaired. The book is put together to include the original story pages, the clear braille pages and also the tactile pages. It is packaged up with the audio which is contained on a USB key or as a download link and is then put on the shelf in our library. |  |
Margaret’s Unicorn is read by the actress Shirley Henderson and there is musical accompaniment, too.
How many people are involved in creating one of your books?
We have a small team of 15 in the office who all at some stage work on the books, whether it’s in the
fundraising team to raise the money to fund the book, the publishing team who gain the rights and work with
the publishers, writers and illustrators, or the production team who physically manage the production of the
books in the studio, marketing to promote the books to our beneficiaries and the wider public and the library
team who manage the books and know where they all are at any one time!
Aside from staff we rely on our amazing funders to invest in our ideas to provide the income to bring them to life.
How many people are involved in creating one of your books?
We have a small team of 15 in the office who all at some stage work on the books, whether it’s in the
fundraising team to raise the money to fund the book, the publishing team who gain the rights and work with
the publishers, writers and illustrators, or the production team who physically manage the production of the
books in the studio, marketing to promote the books to our beneficiaries and the wider public and the library
team who manage the books and know where they all are at any one time!
Aside from staff we rely on our amazing funders to invest in our ideas to provide the income to bring them to life.
We have an incredible team of over 150 talented volunteers who generously give up their time to write scripts,
carve the wooden forms, hand paint the tactiles, print braille pages and bind the books. They work tirelessly
to bring these books to life with love and skill.
Then we also have the wonderful celebrities who read our exciting immersive scripts. We use sound
recording studios to record these scripts to make sure the sound is really clear for our readers. This is handled
by sound engineers who add wonderful sounds effects and music to bring the magic of the story to our
young readers.
carve the wooden forms, hand paint the tactiles, print braille pages and bind the books. They work tirelessly
to bring these books to life with love and skill.
Then we also have the wonderful celebrities who read our exciting immersive scripts. We use sound
recording studios to record these scripts to make sure the sound is really clear for our readers. This is handled
by sound engineers who add wonderful sounds effects and music to bring the magic of the story to our
young readers.
 Olivia Colman reads 'Under the Love Umbrella' by Davina Bell |  Greg James reads 'Supertato' by Sue Hendra & Paul Linnet |
The most important people are the children who road test our books. We ask beneficiaries of our
library service to tell us what they think. Are the tactile pages clear and make sense, does the description
work? They give us vital feedback so that we can tweak the book to make sure we have the best possible product
to send out to children who need these books. We haven’t tracked it (yet!), but as you can see there’s a lot of love
in our book from some brilliantly talented people.
library service to tell us what they think. Are the tactile pages clear and make sense, does the description
work? They give us vital feedback so that we can tweak the book to make sure we have the best possible product
to send out to children who need these books. We haven’t tracked it (yet!), but as you can see there’s a lot of love
in our book from some brilliantly talented people.
What do you find are the main challenges to adapting books for your library?
The main challenge aside from funding, is making sure the tactile pages are as true to the book as possible.
We rely on the skills of our artisan carvers who make 3d versions of the characters from line drawings.
These are incredible to see. They make sure every texture, every sentiment, every leaf will be felt when the plastic
is formed over it. They are works of art in their own right.
The main challenge aside from funding, is making sure the tactile pages are as true to the book as possible.
We rely on the skills of our artisan carvers who make 3d versions of the characters from line drawings.
These are incredible to see. They make sure every texture, every sentiment, every leaf will be felt when the plastic
is formed over it. They are works of art in their own right.
Roughly how many copies of each book do you publish? And how do children and young people gain access
to them?
We usually publish about 30 copies per title. Children can receive the books through our free postal library.
They sign up (Free Library For Blind Children and Young People - Living Paintings) for free and are sent
an introduction pack so their carer can introduce the concept with the child and practice with really simple
tactile forms for the child to get used to it. Then they can then order whatever books they like from our library.
We suggest about three to five books each time they order. The books are sent and returned for free through
Royal Mail’s Articles for the Blind, so it’s really easy for people to send their books back to exchange for new ones!
to them?
We usually publish about 30 copies per title. Children can receive the books through our free postal library.
They sign up (Free Library For Blind Children and Young People - Living Paintings) for free and are sent
an introduction pack so their carer can introduce the concept with the child and practice with really simple
tactile forms for the child to get used to it. Then they can then order whatever books they like from our library.
We suggest about three to five books each time they order. The books are sent and returned for free through
Royal Mail’s Articles for the Blind, so it’s really easy for people to send their books back to exchange for new ones!
How do you go about choosing which books you’d like to adapt?
With new titles we look for gaps in our provision. So we look at our titles and map them for similar topics,
issues and educational need and see where the gaps are. We then look for suitable new titles that we could
adapt. We also ask our beneficiaries if there is anything we’re not covering that they would like us to produce.
With new titles we look for gaps in our provision. So we look at our titles and map them for similar topics,
issues and educational need and see where the gaps are. We then look for suitable new titles that we could
adapt. We also ask our beneficiaries if there is anything we’re not covering that they would like us to produce.
Images from the Living Paintings edition of 'The Elves & the Shoemaker'
And for those who wish to find out more about what you do, or who would like to support your work through a donation or volunteering, how can they do this?
Our website (www.livingpaintings.org) has lots of information about us and how to sign up to our free library.
There are many ways to support us (Support us - Living Paintings) including donating, volunteering or simply following and sharing our social media posts to help us spread the word. Everything helps.
To keep up with all our new titles, new celebrity readers and most importantly to hear form the wonderful children we work with, find and follow us on social media and watch as children get to fall in love with books their way, through touch and sound.
And for those who wish to find out more about what you do, or who would like to support your work through a donation or volunteering, how can they do this?
Our website (www.livingpaintings.org) has lots of information about us and how to sign up to our free library.
There are many ways to support us (Support us - Living Paintings) including donating, volunteering or simply following and sharing our social media posts to help us spread the word. Everything helps.
To keep up with all our new titles, new celebrity readers and most importantly to hear form the wonderful children we work with, find and follow us on social media and watch as children get to fall in love with books their way, through touch and sound.
