book drawers

as promised, here is a peek at the drawers in the “tallest handmade book in the world {project}” book.  i have much more paint to add, things to bind, a cover to finish, etc., but it’s moving right along — i should share more completed photos but this is an in progress shot.  i will keep posting updates and peeks as the project progresses so everyone will know when i am ready to start the auction and participants can start spreading the word.

just to give you a frame of reference, this is the back cover/bottom of the book.  i have to decide if i should hide some secret items in the drawers.  probably just a thing or three.  but for now, back to painting cover bits — the back cover needs to have more continuity (promise i’m not leaving it like this).  my time was too busy trying to figure out how the heck to get drawers in and be able to “easily” bind it all while having a big ribbon closure as well.  (i’m a freak — i just envisioned feet on the bottom of the book!)… now my brain-gears-are-a-turnin’.  i could do it.  but…?

can’t wait to show you all more.  this has been such an awesome collaboration!  i wish i could clone myself into three people though ’cause it’s taking wayWAY longer than anticipated.  sorry folks.

❤

the tallest handmade book in the world (but not really the tallest)

i have truly and sincerely not meant to take so long on this project and feel like an ass.  i could make excuses about it, but i won’t, however since today is the last day of school i am back in action on this!  (i spend a good 7 hours a day homeschooling in addition to everything else, so summertime is the time to get stuff done around here!).  i’m very excited!

currently, all pages are ordered and the intro page is written out with all names, locations and either urls or email addresses except two people who did not provide contact information.  (this is part of my delay — trying to track them down.)  so, here i will list the participants and if you know either of the two and can provide me with their email address or blog/site url, i will send you a virtual kiss.  i want to get this up fast so not adding urls right now, but don’t fret — i will of course include them in the book and the pdf version so everyone is properly credited as they should be.

alicia caudle (that’s me)
mum and finn (that’s my son and me)
marni smith-gentry, usa
jill zaheer, usa
marit barentsen, the netherlands
patty szymkowicz, usa
hermine koster, the netherlands
jo murray, austrailia
bonia rose, usa
dave hayes, usa
bernie williams, usa
maggie mannwieler, usa
erin perry, usa
darline campbell, usa
janette gregson, uk
isabelle favre, france
sarah harris, uk
amanda kuykendall, usa

update: have tracked everyone down and gotten all info.  woohoo!  (and proper spelling)

for those who don’t know, the tallest handmade book in the world (which is really only about 4 inches thick) is a book made from donated pages that will be auctioned off to benefit my art group for children on the autism spectrum — click the link to the left in my side-bar to read more (but please note that i no longer have that PO box address).  for the summer we are bumping up art groups from one or two a month to one or two a week.  many of these kids’ families can’t afford contributing to the art supply fund and i can only buy so much.  currently i’m working with four kids on the spectrum on a regular basis, and a small handful of others here and there.  i cannot tell you how amazing it is to see their work!  i will seek parental permission and post some things soon.

what’s left to do?

make covers for both front and back.
finish my last spread (i did the rest of the pages in the intro spread and helped the little man with his four pages at least!).
take photos for PDF upload.
bind the whole thing up.
post it up for auction.

not sure if i should do a silent auction here on my blog, or if i should do it on ebay.  what do you think?  there are pros and cons to each option.

what can you do?

once it’s all complete, i will spread the word for a week or so and you can help.  tell anyone you know who may be interested.  i’m so excited to see how many people are interested in this book.  i cannot even begin to tell you how gorgeous it’s going to be!  the work in it is amazing and a half, squared!

i will try not to sleep much for the next couple of weeks so i can get this done, however i’m not stating a date of completion because i don’t know how long it will take.  i do hope you understand.  just stay tuned.  🙂  you can sign up for email alerts somewhere on my blog if you want to make sure you don’t miss anything.

check back soon for peeks!  i’m revving up my camera to get shots of all pages (wish my scanner was accessible, but i kind of lost it during some remolding projects — totally dumb!).  also, i’m going to have a give-away associated with the book but not sure how i’m going to do it just yet.

charity (squared) and tallest book request

i have some ideas and questions about the tallest book in the world project that i wanted to run by all of you lovely participants… but first i have some thank yous!

first, thank you immensely to all of you that have emailed me and/or commented and wish to participate in this project.  i’m hugely behind in emails (this is nothing new) but wish to get back to you all by the end of the week if i haven’t done so already.  thank you so much for participating in this project!  it warms my heart to know that there are so many like-minded and charitable people artists out there!  (okay, yes, artists are people too, but we’re a special kind of people.)

thank you also to miss maggie mannwieler for sending me a spool of binding thread.  you rock, lady, and i thank you so much!

i wanted some input from all participants on the charity in which this book will benefit.  my suggestions seemed well received by so many and no one has (as of yet) made any other suggestions but i welcome all thoughts and ideas.  as a recap, my ideas were something having to do with any or all of the following as they are daily aspects of my life as a mother and an artist: kids, art, aspergers/autism.  along the vein, i have researched a few non-profit organizations but have some more work to do and contacts to make before i list them out.

in the meantime, i’m working away on my pages.  here is a start that pretty much shows you nothing but a door on the front of my “page one”:

i promise to share more later and snap-shots of other’s pages as they come in.  i know it currently looks like a cover but i’m mystery girl — it will have a photo and other bits on top, and lots of secrets inside once i share it.

IMPORTANT BOOK INFORMATION:

as of yet, there is no specific deadline.  i’m loosely thinking the end of the year.  i want this to be TALL so don’t want to put a firm date on it until i know how many pages we end up having, etc.

pretty please request: when you mail your page(s) in, please include: name, location in the world, URL to website or blog.  please also send a photo via email with a shot of your page(s) to hi (at) altered bits (dot) com so i can keep it all straight.  it doesn’t have to be a good photo — this will just be for my visual reference so i don’t mess anything up when it comes to giving proper credits.

you are welcome to put your name and url on your page(s) — i have had a lot of questions about this.  but you don’t have to — the last page will have a pocket and i will list the page number, artist, location and url so you will be credited no matter what.

pages will be put into the book in the order received unless there will be a binding issue of some weird sort, though i can’t imagine that will be the case.

just as a reminder (because i was asked again), please use thick paper or whatever you’re using as your base/substrate, like watercolor paper or something else that’s sturdy so that it doesn’t rip when bound with needle and binding thread (see size, folding and other specifics in this post).  fabric is fine as is anything else that won’t tear or break when bound.  🙂

here is the mailing address again (unless you have my physical address — that is fine too, of course):

alicia
altered bits
PO Box 83928
Portland, OR  97283

on another charitable note, i was recently commissioned to do a piece for the cover of a book produced by a local meditation center.  it was to be a collage with buddha on it (thangka buddha, to be precise) and be colorful.  they wanted me to sell the piece when i was done so i could make some extra dollars as they only needed the digital art for the book, but i’ve donated it to them for an auction they are having to benefit an upcoming retreat (actually, both the original and a print).  it was different from my typical style in that it’s so vibrant and colorful but i greatly enjoyed the challenge and they couldn’t have been happier.  here is a shot of it on my shelf:

each flower and little piece is hand cut — it was fun!  ingredients: collage, acrylic, water color pencil, ink, crackle.

i hope you’re all having a fab start to autumn (on this half of the planet) or start to spring (the other side).  i’ve been working away on some serieses (that’s not a word, i know), some commissions and some collaborations and will be sharing those here soon.  happy book page making to all!  i’m off to work on mine right this second.

(oh, and i may be quiet again for the next week as the in-laws are coming in a couple day’s time and i’ve been a busy bee cleaning, organizing and cleaning more for their arrival.)

the tallest handmade book in the world {project}

i had an idea about six months ago but being the ever-so-busy girl that i am, coupled with my proclivity to procrastinate, and sprinkling a little bit of “frequently side-tracked” on top, i’m only just now sharing.  i kinda blame our dear friend seth apter for the inadvertent nudge — i have stacks on the brain as of late and this could be a HUGE stack…  introducing: the tallest handmade book in the world {project}.

i really have no idea what the tallest handmade book in the world measures in at, but know it’s more than a foot.  probably more than even three feet but i’ll just pretend it’s not that tall ’cause i want ours to be the tallest.

overview: if you want to play, create one or more page and send it to me (see address below).  i will bind the whole thing together as the pages come in.  once it’s completed, i will arrange an exhibition under all of our names.  how fun that will be!  i will also create a little zine-type publication in case anyone wants to see all of the amazing work that went into it with all artist names and contact information (this will be desperate from the altered bits zine).  my goal is 2 to 3 feet tall, but i’d LOVE for it to be as tall as me (i’m short — only 5’2″ or a tad less, shhh!).

the point: once the book is complete and it has been exhibited, i would like to auction it off somehow and have all proceeds go to a non-profit group of our choosing.  i’m all about “art for a cause”!  my personal thoughts on this are something having to do with children, art, aspergers/autism as these are things i live with on a daily basis in my life as a artist mama to a super cool boy… but i’m open to ALL suggestions and we can vote on it.  in my dreamiest dream of all, i would like to start a FREE or donation only, non-profit, weekly art group for children with special needs who could express themselves via the arts.  all i would need is a free or cheap space (which i may have found this week) and kid-friendly arty supplies.

specs: size-wise, the book pages will be 4×6″.  this means you’ll take a piece of 8″ x 6″ paper or fabric or whatever (preferably thick enough to be sturdy and not floppy but something that can be bound with needle and binding thread easily) and fold it in half to be four sides measuring 4×6″.  like this:

this may be the difficult part of many of us, but pages should be fairly unthick, at least at the binding seam.  some embellishments and things are okay but it shouldn’t have an super thick or heavy parts to make the binding easier.  you can paint, collage, stamp, do anything you want out of fabric or paper or unsharp metal or or whatever you wish as long as i can get binding holes in it.  this can be in any style or topic you desire — treat it like an art journal, draw or paint a portrait, doodle, print out some of your photography on thick paper, do a collage, write a poem on a colorful background, make a miniature quilt — this is totally your thing and all submissions will be accepted as long as they are not cruel or inappropriate.

this is how the binding holes will likely be placed:

if you would like to play, please just make sure all four sides are used on your paper (i’m using watercolor paper) so that there aren’t blank spots.  you can team up with someone if you think four sides is too much for you, or you can send more pages if you desire.  let’s see how tall we can get this baby!

i will take donations of binding thread, too.  i only have black but maybe it would be cool to use multiple colors?  if you have a spare foot or a couple yards of your favorite color(s) and want to pop it into your envelope, i would be SOOO very grateful!

if you want to play, let me know either by leaving a comment here or emailing me (hi at altered bits dot com).  feel free to share this with any of your friends that you think may be interested in giving something back to an organization through doing the art that we all love… or trying to achieve a guiness world record height of a handmade book (doubt that really exists).  feel free to use the image above (if interested, remind me to make a smaller side-bar iteration for your blog/website).  children submissions welcome too if you have arty kiddos who want to play.  my little dude wants to draw four monsters.  here is some of his art (i’ve posted this before — it was actually a mum and finn collaboration we did when he was 6 that he calls “two birds”):

as for the covers, i can do those or if anyone is interested, let me know and we can see what we can work out.

i hope you’ll like to play!  and if you like this idea, pass it on!

UPDATE:

here is a small sidebar image if you want to use it to link to this post.  i’ll update with my PO Box address tomorrow (just reserved and paid for it):

right-mouse click to save and upload to your blog if you’d like to use this.

also, to clarify (regarding a few emails i’ve received) it doesn’t have to be totally flat, just not super bumpy/chunky.  the page i started today, for example, is on super thick watercolor paper and the front side has a vintage book cover on it.  i only have to sew through the watercolor paper to bind it.  i think the other side will have glass on it and be a door.  so it doesn’t have to be just flat work the paper/fabric/page if you want to add to it — i just need to be able to bind it.  🙂  i’ll post photos one of these days once i’m done so you can see.

mailing address:

alicia
altered bits
PO Box 83928
Portland, OR  97283
USA

pulptastic deliciousness (another stack!)

pardon me, but omfg!  i received the most delectable, most divine, most gorgeously, stunningly beautiful parcel EVER last week (or the week before)!  what is it, you ask?  my book from the pulp redux collaboration!  for those who don’t know, the pulp redux collaboration is/was an international handmade/altered book collab with five gals: two from the US (lisa jurist and myself), two from new zealand (debie price-ewen and lisa sarsfield) and one from austrailia (kim palmer).  we each started our own books, and each participant created pieces to go into said books in the theme of the originator.  to see all of our contributions to date, visit the pulp redux blog.  my book’s title is “the museum of forgotten things”.

i had had the privilege of seeing all of my completed pages after lisa j. worked her divine magic as she sent it to me so i could post it all to austrailia.  so, kim’s contributions were new to me.  and omg, she created the most amazing things for my book!!  not only is it a book, all bound in gorgeous leather, but it’s a HUGE art quilt when you unfold it!  i cannot say or share too much as we’re having an unveiling exhibit in a few months, but i’ll share a peek.

in the spirit of stacks (see previous post), i will share this photo first.  i took this a mere 7 minutes after the book arrived a couple/few weeks ago and planned to post it all right that very second.

initially, we were all going to bind our completed books into one huge book, but this thing is TALL.  so, i have decided that although it’s a bit more work, it will be easier to view and enjoy if i bind them in volumes.  both deb’s and kim’s are pretty self-contained so i may just bind the other three.  then, i shall be getting a 2 foot wall shelf to display them on in my living room — i am so in love with all of the amazing work that has gone into this!!

look how tall it would be if i bound it into one huge book (i still may, but the volume idea sounds so cool!):

here’s a cheater shot of each of the five pieces laid out on my couch:

i am slowly but surely finishing lisa j’s book.  i’m not trying to go so slow but that is life sometimes… waiting for pieces once i find the perfect “thing” online, etc.  i HOPE to send it to her within the next couple of weeks.  how many times i’ve said that i do not know, but it will happen before the holidays, that is for dang sure!

how tall is your tallest book or art journal?  (i actually have a reason for asking — check back in a few days for my splendid and huge collaboration idea i’ve been toying with for a few months.)

stacks of stacks

the amazing and brilliant seth apter of  the altered page is hosting paper stacks, an online collaboration, starting this very day.  you can see how stacked he is here: http://thealteredpage.blogspot.com/2011/09/stackoholics-anonymous.html

to be totally honest, i’ve been so sucked into  “the first two weeks of home school mode” while also getting our house painted (HUGE drama there) that i didn’t even know about this until today when dave of clearer reflections emailed to to ask “hey, where’s your stack!?”  whoops!  but of course i could never ever pass this up so here are some of my stacks.

first, a stack of journal pages, waiting to be completed and bound into book form along with a small handful of collages:

aerial journal page stack view:

this is a book i started last year, with stacks of ghostly pages.  someday i will complete this book and share it with you — all true “ghost stories” and other creepy facts:

and lastly, a stack of fabric covered journals i made last year that i have since sold (except for the top one, which i gave to my dear, sweet friend jilly of jazworks — i love that girl!):

how stacked are you?  (i’m off to find out now!)  go to seth’s blog (linked above) and you can see bazillions of other gorgeous stacks too!

introducing the first ever altered bits print zine!

i am just giddy with bliss right now as i’m holding in my hot little hands the very first ever print version of the altered bits mixed media art zine.  there are 46 pages of detectible goodness greatness!  twenty-one amazing artists have created the pieces in this zine and i am so proud to have been able to design it, despite all the glitches and delays (sorry!!  that won’t happen again).  i spent all of today doing one last iteration of the zine, uploaded it and have made it available for purchase from lulu.com at http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/altered-bits-mixed-media-art-zine-themed-notorious-letters-and-symbols/15982653

soon i will be issued an ISBN number so it will also be available on amazon, and at that time i will order up heaps of copies for the altered bits shop too.

just to give you a tiny peek at some of what’s in the zine, i will introduce you to two gentlemen.  well, guys, at least.  first, jesse james.  i created this piece as a gift for my husband as he is a decedent of jesse james (which you can read about in the zine).

next, the storyteller.  he’s a quirky dude made from a wonderful anatomical doll i received from my super friend tracey kraft (actually, i think she sent me about 20!).  he’s the first in a series — wait until you seen the giraffe guy.  🙂

i did a girl too, but i shall share her with you another time.  i was clearly in a comical state of mind with her (and the guy above).

also in the zine is a wonderful and personal artist interview…

if the revisions i did today look as good as what i got in the mail this morning, i think you will like this zine (they SHOULD — all i did was move one page and alter a name misspelling).  i sure hope you all love it.  thank you, thank you to all who helped to create this first print issue of the zine!  i adore and appreciate each and every one of you!  in alphabetical order by last name: Jay Anderson, Seth Apter, Joanne Archer, Alicia Caudle, Finn Caudle, Katie Cahill, Kym Decker, Patti Edmon, Kerin Gale, Tricia Gillispie Scott, David Hayes, Lisa Jurist, Tracey Kraft, Melissa Majchrzak Buckley, Debi Mattingly, Kim Palmer, Lisa Sarsfield, Renate Starke Krammer, Esther Verschoor, Rachel Whetzel and Jill Zaheer — you are the best!!

the zine is not only available in print, it’s available as a digital download.  almost forgot that: http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/altered-bits-mixed-media-art-zine-themed-notorious-letters-and-symbols/15982653

(i will be adding all participants to my sidebar soon, and send trackbacks for this post, but for now, i have to start getting the little one wound down and ready for bed.)

ohoh, i will also be doing a secret drawing this week — ALL participants names (except mine and finn’s) will be tossed into a hat and whomever i draw will receive a FREE issue of the zine from me.  i wish i could afford to send ALL of you a zine… but i can’t.  starving artist, and such.  xx

 

one more pulp book completed: labyrinth (part two)

i actually finished lisa sarsfield’s book labyrinth last sunday, but since she had just posted i felt i should let her contributions to kim’s book stew a bit before i posted my contributions to her book.  i think now enough time has passed that i don’t feel as if i’m stepping on toes or anything…

part one of this post is on our pulp blog: http://pulpredux.blogspot.com.

so, if you want to see see the first pages first,
pop on over there FIRST then come back here to see the rest.
the book is called labyrinth so i’m creating a maze for you to go through if you want to see all of the pics.  i’m mean.

detail/side shot of the back page of the pieces i created for lucky dip lisa’s book.  i like making random boxes and compartments from scratch so i created one here.  had no idea what i was going to use it for initially, but i figured it out later.  😉

detail of the top of the boxy page, with a nice old “labyrinth” of pretty brass knotwork.

a little abacus of old beads, rusty wire and rusty brads (remember, my camera is evil and makes rust disappear — it’s way better in person).  lisa likes things that move, ya know…

close up of the mica covered, twine tied box:

untitled and uncovered box… a wee little nest i made with 5 1940s vintage beads nestled inside and a secret scroll note to lisa.

the nest in my cute hand.  the cute nest in my hand, rather.  my camera actually shows the rust this time if you enlarge.  ‘about time!

side view from the spine side…

side view from the page side.  love the threads atop the whole thing!  (that’s my pretty chocolate colored new couch it’s on, by the way).

all done!  that is my contribution to lisa’s book.  i will be sending it off to lisa jurist tomorrow (if i can find a large enough box!).  woohoooo!

one more pulp book completed

i am thrilled to share that i have totally completed lisa sarsfield’s book for the pulp redux collaboration and have started in on lisa jurist’s.  wohooo!  BUT because lisa s. posted her contributions to kim’s book yesterday, i’m going to wait to share what i’ve done in her book.  i don’t want to steal her thunder, ya know.

for now, i shall offer up just a wee peek to hold you over until a later post.

okay, i lie.  i’ll give three peeks.

peek one.  see seth apter’s magnificent brass X?  all five of my contributions have/will have one of these (we pulpy girls love seth and i wanted to put a piece of him in our books):

peek two.  this is a peek of page two, just inside the top page with the book i previously showed.  had to add a classic red “alicia thing” and this is that:

and peek three. this is the back page.  can you tell what that is?  i know you can’t tell what’s inside.

check back in a few days for the rest of the photos AND lots of fantastic pulpy news.

i’ve also been working on several new assemblages over the past couple of weeks (five, to be exact).  i’m not sharing any of the completed ones yet (yes, i may finally reveal some of my motorized and light up stuff that i don’t typically show online), but i’ll share this cute little start to a costume girl i’m doing for now (check out her little skull mask and ribcage outfit).  a little more cutesy than anything i would typically do but halloween is coming and… yeah.  i made this little girl from apoxie clay and such (thanks again, kerin e. ninny!).  i hope to have her finished within the next week or so and will post it here (may have to make a wee video of her since it will be mildly interactive).

for magnificent eye candy, check our pulp redux blog and lucky dip lisa’s blog.  new pulpy goodness was posted late last night!

lisa’s little labyrinth book

where does time go? i said in my last pulpy post “i’ve just finished the cover and will post photos on wednesday” and here it is saturday.  that’s what you get when you’re a wife, a home school mom to a fireball kiddo, owner of two businesses and arty girl who can’t stop creating.  better late than never, eh?  and i confess: i have been very, very naughty.  i realized that i can post-date blog posts, so spent the last two weeks posting multiple blogs on sundays all at once.  i’m not going to do that anymore ’cause it throws me off.

anyway, this is the cover of the little book that i showed some of the guts of in this post last weekend.  click to see enlarged version — it’s rather “nesty” looking behind the labyrinth.

it measures roughly 4″ x 5″ and will go into the other parts of lisa’s book that i’m working on this weekend (starting today, that is).  shown here is a chartres labyrinth covered with little slabs of mica and rusty metal brads.

here is a tiny bit of detail as you can’t see it well in the above photo:

and the side view with my intentionally rough binding stitches (click to enlarge):

i am digging how rustic and old this all looks, like from way, way back when labyrinths started, zillions of years ago.  that is, at least, what i was striving for.

now i’m off to work on another part of her book.  seems i’m now limited to weekends for the pulp projects… so must hurry!

happy saturday, all!