to give a wee flashback, we originally did two pieces for seth’s disintegration collaboration. we = my son and i. he wanted to do an “asian scroll” so designed this all by his five year old self (he’s six now, for the record). i did this little doll arm fetus “thing”.

they “afters” of those can be found here for both and here for the excavation of the doll arm since it didn’t decay enough the first time.

and now for the now.   i assembled this little… assemblage out of most of the disintegration bits and a few others i’d found along the way (all old and or aged to keep the theme). i first made the box out of a cigar box, mat board and foam core for compartments that are “raised”/less deep:

disintegration project, assemblage, seth apter

it’s not actually ALL the way done but i am already two days behind schedule thanks so our 100-106 degree heat wave and a wedding we attended this weekend, so i figured i should post it as is rather than wait any longer.

this little “nest” was the arm’s bracelet as you’ll recall. and the branch was a copper thing i found at an antique store around the same time (along with the grapes in the lower left as shown above), and among the first round of things i rusted with vinegar and water. i love the little bottle, which i found at another antique shop, but i’m not sure if i’m going to keep it there with a scroll/secret note in it or replace it for a different bottle (i wanted to make a necklace out of that one).

assemblage box, mixed media, art

i never washed the dirt off the arm, but rather painted over it to preserve its disintegrated appearance. i think it looks pretty darn fab. this photo is crap so i’ll re-shoot one of these days. you can see the tiny book i made in the small compartment.

doll arm, doll parts, assemblage, book, found objects, found object art

i made some tiny scrolls out of the paper from the large original scroll, and added a spring i recently found on my beach combing trip. i added a charlotte because it needed something and having been buried for so long it felt like it fit the feel of the piece.

paper scrolls, frozen charlotte, rusty spring, assemblage

here is the book out of the box:

handmade book

and lastly, some of the texture on the sides of the box:

assemblage texture, crackle

i’ll post more photos when i have it complete. i haven’t decided if i’m going to figure out a way to hang it or put it on a small base with feet. i think it needs something added to the top as well, but we’ll see.

thank you so much, seth! this was a lot of fun!!