The Story Behind the Book
The Making of Talking Rocks
by Jill Timm

In the New Mexico desert, the ancient native people chipped petroglyphs on big blackened boulders revealing the lighter rock underneath. I found the viewing of the petroglyphs an experience in itself. You had to walk around and view the images individually, all though some boulders were close together and you sometimes could see another drawings over the shoulder of the rock in front of you. Other times you had to walk a ways with eyes sharp to spot others, not all the boulders had images. Like all my books, I wanted this book to reflect the essence of the place and the experience I had.

Talking Rocks takes you to these drawing grounds with close-ups of intriguing images and whole boulders cut out from the page, allowing you to travel through the book rock by rock just like you were there.

The rocks had a sheen that was micro sparkly. A couple of days later I was in Denver and stopped in at Paper Pleasures, a paper store. There I came across a black paper that looked just like the rock surface with the subtle sheen. I knew it was perfect for the book cover and book case. Talking Rocks Includes an introduction and colophon. The book is printed using Giclee, a museum quality digital printing method. The book is 2.25Ó x 2.75Ó, has 42 pages with 17 photographs. All the rock cutouts are cut by hand, a few books at a time! Limited to an edition of 50, with an optional, but recommended matching slip case.