You are currently browsing the category archive for the ‘group project(s)’ category.
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.)
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!
i have a massive texture making fetish. dunno why, but i do. so, i think every tuesday that i’m in the mood will be texture tuesday. a freeby texture i’ll offer up for use in your physical or digital art, iffin you’re into that sort of thing. (i have NO idea where “iffin” came from, sorry.)
BUT that is nowhere as cool as pulp in my hands… yesterday, i received not one but TWO of the books for our pulp redux collaboration. i have both lisa jurist’s book (mudhound primitives) and lisa sarsfield’s book (lucky dip). yes, two pulp books in my hot little hands in unison!! omg, they are AMAZING! i gently unpackaged each of them, one at a time, to get a good look at them before carefully wrapping them back up. they are so fat!! and i don’t mean in that weird teenage cool way. they are thick as hell! lisa s’s measures in just about 4 inches thick (two more people to work in it) and lisa j’s book is just over SIX inches thick. wonder how they will look when i’m done…
…this is how they look pre-alicia-contributions…
lisa sarsfield’s book (i’m working on this one first as one more person will need it after me before pulp #1 comes to a sad end). her theme is “labyrinth”:
and this is lisa jurist’s book. i’m working on hers second as i’m the final contributor and i don’t want to hold anyone up. her title is “roots, beneath the layers”:
(and happy birthday to my husby! he’s 31 today. woots!)
join the altered page on sunday, september 12th for StudioScapes, the newest installment of the pulse. on that day, and continuing on consecutive sundays, stop by to see images of vignettes from the studios and homes of nearly 150 artists, each one chosen by the artist as their own favorite. mine will be a part of this tomorrow, so make sure to check it out if you are remotely curious about what crazy pisces girls keep in their studios.
i’ve been quite quiet for a long time but am excited to be nearly caught up. i’ve been prepping for two shows, potentially a third, remodeling parts of our home, redecorating others and jumping in head-first to the world of homeschooling (that’s the short list). i have SO many new things to share and will do so soon. for now though, make sure to check out StudioScapes! i’m very excited about this new chapter of the pulse and know you will be too.
also, the pulp redux collaboration is back in action — we had a few little slow-downs for bit bit but i should be receiving TWO books in the coming week and new stuff has been posted on our pulp redux blog. you really must go peek!
time, and the whole world, stops when our little ones are unwell, doesn’t it!?!! i had my wee man in the hospital yesterday after several days of a horrible virus. the world was already running on quarter time with him home for the summer holiday and me unable to do 75% of what i intended each day, but this week, nothin’. i didn’t eat or sleep for the most part let alone art. until today. finally did the last 20ish minutes of work i had to do on deb’s book and photographed it. omg, this thing is HUGE. i am on an enormous box hunt. but we’ll go there in a sec. the bug-boy, as i call him, is now fine — much, much better. his 103.5 fever has dropped to 99 and after plumping him up on some bags of IV fluid, he’s looking pink and precious once again. no more of that pale faced and sunken eye crap for my boy.
part one
i posted several of these photos on the pulp blog a couple/few weeks ago, but some are “fresh” and unseen as i haven’t had the time to post as i had promised/planned:
here is the first page i created for deb’s book… the top cream part and the bottom multi-colored parts are both doors to compartments within the pages.
debs loves tiny details so i tried to add as many as possible.
close up of the cameo lady through the crackled glass.
this round glassy piece is a petri dish. of course it opens — and of course there is something inside (something much prettier than you’d typically find in a petri dish, i suspect).
this little piece is removable. see how crackled the petri dish is? i’m nto sure why it has a pink tone in this photo ’cause it’s most certainly not pink.
close up of the cameo piece. if you enlarge, you can see all of the crackle behind the lace.
cameo-girl’s head thingy opens, and behind it is a heart.
flip that piece over and you see a little pocket, complete with tiny details and a note from the gentleman in deb’s story. i practiced “victorian era man writing” for days and hours and days and hours. this is my “i give up” version.
around the edges of this piece is aged ribbon and little pin heads. i guess i didn’t do a very good job taking this shot, but you get the idea.
open the creamy petri dish “door” page and this is what you see.
close up: proof of their travels. debs had asked me when i got the book where i would be taking the couple in her story. here are some of the places.
detail of tickets… and the tag from a little prezzie damian gave maude.
detail of the cover of the 22 inch scroll, which is her diary.
the diary scroll.
writing… every single item on the next page (er, in the next compartment) is passively mentioned in this diary, as are the things from the back of the book which will be shows in part two.
here is a collection of things maude saved throughout their travels. deb asked me to please, please sneak a little brass frog i had into her book and here it is. that button is actually from the late 1800s, when the book takes place.
this locket is rustier than it appears in real life.
open it to see damian (same photo lisa used) and the top of the eiffel tower.
hinges — i made these myself out of metal bits, pin heads and lace. yummy, if i do say so myself.
the other photo didn’t capture the rust and patina, so here is a close-up.
****************************************************************************
part two
i took all of these next photos within the past couple of hours, of the “missing parts” from before and the ones that looked pinkish — the book isn’t pink, promise, but these may be a tiny bit off too. but, you get the picture:
slightly more color accurate photo of the front.
mmm, detail. love the glassy crackles (i’m doing this in two more pieces i’ve started in the past couple of weeks).
better coloration of the cameo piece.
the heart again. i think the other shot was fine so now i’m probably just boring you.
here is the door on the bottom. what is in it? i hadn’t mentioned anything about it last time.
oh? what’s that? an owl? deb loves owls, so i had to creatively incorporate one into her book somehow. i had purchased this pendant last december or january for a birthday present for her and took 4 months to properly age it. it was a stubborn owl. the top ringy thing ended up breaking off due to corrosion but the brilliant and majestic kerin said something to the effect of “duh, just fix it with epoxy clay” so that is just what i did. thank you keriny! could not have fixed this crazy owl without you.
i love all of the greens and rust on the owl. i crackled him too, but you can’t really tell, then put a thick layer of something i’m hugely allergic to over it to preserve the rust and patina. hah. that’s a funny concept to me.
okay. i am NOT a jewelry maker. i’m jewelry retarded. but i liked the owl in his reborn state with this horribly rusted and green-patinaed chain so i just faked a necklace out of it.
the chain is attached to recycled green sari silk with french knots every few links, lace that i dyed on the top, and little glass and crystal beads. maybe it was once an ornate and beautiful necklace? or maybe it always looked a bit funky. definitely has a bit of personality either way, even if it isn’t the best personality.
and finally, here is the back page, or the back of the treasure box book. a pocket that holds more memorabilia that they collected throughout their travels.
close up of the pocket. i had purchased five of these Xs from seth apter, choosing to incorporate one into each and every of our pulp books. they are so cool! most of this is hand-stitched though i didn’t do some machine stitching.
within the pocket is a collection of stuff. when deb and i first “met” and became friends, we were both, quite ironically, looking at the book urgent second class at the very same minute in time. because of this, i wanted to incorporate at least one fun altered postcard similar in concept as a friendly little happy thought between two friends. i wasn’t intending to rip of nick bantock’s style or ideas. i had also printed a wonderful photo onto textbook paper but it looked too much like his wonderful work so i didn’t opt to include it in the book. the rest of the pieces are just photos and a map and such.
the backs of the two things that have backs interesting enough to share.
close up — i made this wax seal with an asian coin, wax and copper paint. fun stuff.
i also added a little tie closure to the treasure box, just in case.
other side view with those pretty little hinges again. and why does the lace look pink? hmmph.
the tower of deb’s pulpness. all of our pages together (well, deb’s start to her book, lisa’s pages and mine). how will this be bound?♠
better shot, without the cover on top. still not sure now she’s going to do this, but i bet it will be a wonderfully fun project indeed!
and now, i must find a new box. i was packing everything up carefully to send this off today, but alas, i must go on a box hunt.
the moment i find a box large enough, i’m shipping this off to the lovely and ever talented kim in austrailia. i think i’ll use the box she sent her book to me in as it was huge and may still be around here. i hope! i’m not recalling whose book i get next but i’m stoked! it’s either lisa j’s or lisa s’s and i have big plans for both.
keep peeking back here often for book goodness as not only am i working on those two books soon, but kerin and i are doing a small book collaboration (i’m excited to be her first book collab partner — this is fantastically cool!!) and i’m working on an alicia book, all for myself to contain all of the little bits and stories that may be too dark or weird or ill-mannered for others.
first and foremost, i love debs beyond words. she’s one of my sweetest and best friends. i say this because i’m just posting a wee bit of non-discernible pupliness which could, for all intents and purposes, make me appear to be a taunting little bitch. but i’m not. suspense is fun, right? as many of you know, i have her book, through the eye glass, and the following photos are teeny tiny snippets of some of what i’ve done so far. i want her to wonder a bit. squirm a little. i’m not going to reveal much until it’s complete (soon!).
this part isn’t done, and it’s pretty much all she’s seen so far.
he may need to be aged a wee bit more…
pretty crystal beads…
this handle may need a wee longer in the vinegar too… (oh, a handle!? does something open!??)
more pretty beads. vintage glass, i think. from the 40s, but oh well. can’t get EVERYTHING from the 1800s for the book, right?
a tiny proof of their travels.
my mum found two of these buttons and they are very, very special to me. i’ve kept them in a sweet little box for years. supposedly, or at least as she was told when she bought them, they are actually from the late 1800s which is perfect, since deb’s story starts in 1896. who better should have the other half of my pair?
mmm. vinegar patina. pretty. (is that part of a locket?? maybe.)
if you can figure out what this is, i’ll give you a buck.
half machine, half hand. may remove it though… not that you have any clue what it is, i’d guess.
i made this from scratch. ingredients: candle wax, scotch tape roll, old chinese coin, copper paint, baby wipe and the movie labyrinth — i got bored on our family 80s movie night.
more proof of their travels?
i’m not positive where this will go yet but a) it’s practically an eye glass and b) it has a five on it. five of us girls are working on each book. must be used.
more soon.
(update — i added more photos to the pulp redux blog)
i have just completed my additions to kim palmer‘s book fragments, vestiges and remains for the pulp redux collaboration and oh my, has it been such an honor to work in her GORGEOUS book. you can check out her blog posts to see all of the pages and details, but here is the cover if by some weird freak of nature you’ve missed it:
not a huge amount has changed in the book, but i’ve finished up all of the outstanding bits and pieces, adding a bit more detail and texture and small elements here and there.
one of the additions was a beeswax and acrylic frame around the copper tape i had edged the glass door with on the first page.
maybe you can see it a little better here:
the door opens up to reveal a photo of della, a young lady who was captured in the victorian era of portland, oregon (where i’m from) and taken down into the portland underground/shanghai tunnels and held captive before being sold into prostitution. behind her photo are journal pages from her sister who wrote in attempts to find sollace in her despair. you can read more about it in my initial post on these pages here.
i just LOVE how kim’s glass bottles with scrolls flow with my page ever so perfectly. it looks so intentional.
here is the whole page, actually in the book this time:
i had a super huge scare along the way in that i opened, dropped and thus spilled some red alcohol ink on my second page. it’s nowhere near THIS crimson in person (thank you, flash!) and i rather like it. i was quite pleased. the area is about the size of a US quarter and rather looks like blood. quite befitting AND i’m sooooo very glad it didn’t land on the white page or the book (they were on the other side of the room, in a box — accident prone girls like me must work this way).
after i finished the black page, i was pretty bummed that it felt top-heavy. there was a bit more space on the bottom and not enough space on the top. i accounted for everything except the photos that were going to be in the top pocket. i fixed this by stitching and embroidering some linen — black and black — and putting it along the top. i cut the bottom to fit the book and perfecto!
when we very first started this collaboration, before i had finished my pages (well, i’m still not finished but before we sent out) and prior to even having kim’s book, i had the idea of buying five of something, i wasn’t sure what, so that i could put one in each of the books. i went to lots of antique and thrift stores, scoured etsy and ebay but since i didn’t know what i was looking for i couldn’t find it. i decided to just stop looking and POOF, it appeared. mr. seth apter mentioned in his blog that he had posted the first pieces in a series of art elements he would be selling in his etsy shop. check that out here: http://thealteredpage.blogspot.com/2010/02/proceedings.html i saw them and i KNEW i had to get five and use one in each book. not only are these elements extremely cool, they are from seth who we all adore. it felt doubly befitting to use them.
my camera’s flash is messing with me again… and you! the x is actually distressed, but you cannot tell here so well. i thought it was a perfect completion for the page, both visually and symbolically.
here is the whole, completed second page. there is a stray element in the photo — that green patina piece. not sure how that got in there or if i like it. lisa, let me know if it’s on the page when you receive the book. if it’s ugly, could you please yank it off?? this is so mysterious.
see though — the red isn’t that hot and crazy as the previous photo.
my two-page spread, all attached in the book and ready to go:
i just love the side views of this book! kim’s going to have her work cut out for her if he’s going to want to re-bind it all. i do think she will want to as once it’s completed i think it will resemble a star burst more than a book. 🙂 it’s gorgeous none the less!
towards the beginning of the book, kim has a sweet page with five chains for each of us to add a charm. hers is the friendship coin and key, mine is the heart. i searched and searched for a human heart as that is so very “alicia” but was unable to find one. i still intend to. the red is velvet from my favorite childhood doll’s dress that i carefully tied on.
i forgot to take photos of each of the books within the book: the diary pages behind the photo of della on the “white” page and the history of the portland underground under the trap door on the “black” page. maybe i can con one of the girls into taking some for me. assembling those were part of the most time consuming aspects of the book, but so much fun! the pages are aged with instant coffee and made to look very old. they look pretty darn cool if i do say so myself. under the trap door page, there is a pocket within the book with an aerial map of the portland area from that era. how did i forgot to photograph all of that??
i now have deb’s book and have already started in on it: though the eye glass. so check back soon as i’ll have images to post… now that i’m pretty much not on my death bed any longer.
okay, so i’m totally and completely insane for thinking that i can do an entire print zine during the holidays. so, i’m not. i am notorious for over-committing and i’m in the mood to stop that. particularly since design work went from crap to “oh crap!” in that i have a pretty big load coming up. and my son likes my attention more than he enjoys the back of my head, so, i’m slowing down a wee bit.
so, here’s the deal, which i will post on the altered bits site later. i am going to extend submissions to february 15th-ish and accept things for both the notorious AND the words and symbols themes. i will also add a select few images from previous issues: anatomically altered, odd numbers, and black and white. in order to do this, i will need to have previous submitters fill out a wee form authorizing me to add it to the printed zine — this will also help to ensure i have all proper links and contact info, etc,. and fix things like the spelling of my sweet friend debbie’s last name (yeah, she’s one of my bestest sisters and i spelled her name wrong in two issues — i am the WORST and therefore publically apologize)… and stuff like that. i’ll upload it to the zine page soon too — will let you know here when it’s up. also included in the print zine will be other fun things such as the pulp redux collaboration blips, and probably something special from kerin on resin clay, or so i hope — she is a wealth of knowledge and her brain contents should be shared with the zine-buying world. advertising is available in the last couple of pages so let me know if interested, and i will likely add a page or three on events and workshops so let me know if you want to advertise anything there (the release of a book, a super coll art retreat, a gallery exhibit, etc.). if you missed out on previous themes and wish to submit something say, anatomical or black and white, feel free to do so. i will accept up to three new pieces per person but everything but be submitted properly (my site will have instructions soon). i think that covers it for now — all sorts of great, jumbled info.
although it doesn’t entirely fit with the theme, this is a little peek at part of my tribute page to our pulp redux altered book collaboration and the five ladies participating. five little crystals are in the nest, the bird, like our books will soar around the world.
P.S. that bird is made of resin clay. 🙂
possible peek at my cover tomorrow. i have to get this thing in the mail to debs!
i spent a bit of time working on my book for the pulp redux collaboration today, and took better photos. you can read more about it there and see larger photos, but here are a few peeks.
the title of my book is “the museum of forgotten things”. some of these things are obvious, some are not… to anyone other than me.
page one: the frozen charlotte page. the pearly moony piece is from my sweet friend debs, as is the lacy background. much of the other fabric is from my sweet friend lisa. i loved that i could include things from both of them, particularly because they are two of the amazing ladies i’m doing this international altered book collaboration with.
the little frame piece is painted, covered in beeswax, then painted again, and the backing that the charlotte is on is a mica sheet. that part is double-hinged so you can see/read the charlotte poem beneath.
page two is about a lady… you can read about her in a previous post here. the photo of the man is not the one that is supposed to be there — i lost him and replace him when i get the book back late next year. i guess it doesn’t really matter what guy is in there though since he’s dead anyway, but i liked the other dude’s creepy mustache. the stripey burned fabric is a piece of his shirt and blah, blah — you’ll get it when you read everything as it all pertains.
sparing you page three for now.
page four is annoying me because the top opens, then the middle opens and that means four times more work BUT it’s fun and i like it. it tells a story without words… that’s kind of dark but very personal for me as well. i’m already sharing too much. (she is from one of my collage sheets — i cheated)
opened peek:
this is an old side view of the book. i need to take a new one. between every paper-page for everyone will be a foam core page for extra play room. all pages will have the little loops and sticks (7 total) and i’ll, of course, stitch everything together once i get home. i think it will be a foot thick by then (30.something centimeters for those of you who don’t know what a foot is). ((that is an ongoing semi-inside joke — i’m not being a bitch, promise.))
more peeks coming soon: pages five and six, and the cover. i will be shipping this off to debrina next, in a day or three. in the meantime go look at everyone else’s books on the pulp redux blog.
on a completely irrelevant note, except that it’s a book, lemony snicket’s first in the series of unfortunate events (the bad beginning) is now free online, here. my little guy and i read all 13 books and althought dark and depressing at times, really enjoyed them. actually i lie. we read 12.5 of the books together and i finished the 13th on my own. short version: daniel handler, er, i mean lemony snicket, was doing a book signing at a local book store. i surprised little guy by taking him there. he now hates lemony because he is an “asshole who doesn’t know how to appropriately joke with children” (a direct quote from my son after asking if he could get a “bad word free pass”). anyway, good book so if you have kids or whatever, it’s free now.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:
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).
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.
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.
here is the book out of the box:
and lastly, some of the texture on the sides of the box:
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!!
Altered Bits Gallery and Shop
AlteredBits' Barterable Bits
Altered Bits Blog 