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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
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!
we pulp girls have certainly been slacking with the book posts lately, but i have a sneaking suspicion that we’re consciously or sub-consciously trying to prolong the whole event. i also know that we’ve all been some busy girls with HUGE things going on in our lives as of late. i have been instructed to keep the peeks of the last book i work in (this very book) kind of cryptic as we have some secret future exhibit plans where all will finally be revealed, so i’m not showing as many photos as i typically would. this is, however, round one of two posts i will be doing.
originally i had NO idea what i was going to do. this was in part due to the fact that no natural bits (branches, flower bits, dried leaves, moss) could be sent overseas to new zealand or austrailia due to very strict postal laws and of course, particularly with a title like this, it was a necessity. THANKFULLY i ended up being the last one to receive and work on this book so i’ve cheated and included heaps of nature bits in this so far.
several different fabrics (some hand-dyed by my very own natural dyes i have been making), fibers, dried flowers, moss, vintage book and handmade papers surround the edges of the page.
many watch parts, gears and vintage brass beads also adorn the page to depict “time”.
even rust gears peek out through the sandwich of nature yummies and organic wool.
imagine living in the victorian era… you are little alice searching for the rabbit hole. i imagine she would find many secret things along the way, and many little hiding places and treasures.
two tiny drawers are hidden on the side of the book (i may add tiny “drawer pulls” but have not yet decided).
more treasures from nature, and even that “late” and elusive white rabbit hides in one of the secret drawers… ’cause in my world, he can.
this is a bit wider of a peek, so you get a slightly better idea of where i went with this. the alice image is actually a door that opens, and there is about an inch-deep secret hiding place inside.
this is not the end result of the compartment, but i wanted you to see how deep it is — that is a deer knuckle bone or something odd like that, and of course a little vial. not sure exactly how i will complete this section, but it will come to be soon enough, i’m sure.
i hope i don’t get in trouble for showing this much of the page. BUT you have no idea what’s on the back, or any of the other secrets that alice and her friends hold, so that is good… for now. every single little bit of this book has been hand-stitched — no sewing machine was used for any part. AND i only bled once while creating it (so far).
i had SOOOOO much fun working on this first part of lisa’s book that i couldn’t stop. my mind kept going and going. as it now turns out, lisa’s book contribution is the first piece in a series of several alice-inspired nature/victorian/steampunk/forest/taxidermy/apothecary pieces. they are so very alicia and contain all that i love. none are 100% done, but i’ve started 6.
here are some very tiny peeks at my very first one that i started, called “finding the rabbit hole”.
i started mine on a 6″ x 12″ canvas — this is the 12″ side, with similar nature bits as in lisa’s book, twigs, dried flowers, moss, and other secrets.
here is alice’s key — all rusty with the number 41 on it. maybe i’ll actually finish these 6 pieces before i reach that age? it has no significance, of course… i just like numbers. next to it, a real white rabbit taxidermy paw.
on the top left of the piece, there is a hole with a glass ring framing it. if you peer inside, you will see a teeny tiny mouse skull and jaw. this was taken while the adhesive was still wet, so there will not actually bit any shiny bits. if there are, i shall fix that!
and of course i’ve found some of the white rabbits watch parts to include when i get a bit farther along.
i’m totally cheating right now… writing this at 2:40 PM on the 17th, to be posted sometime in the morning of the 18th (didn’t want to compete with my winners post, plus am not going to be home tomorrow). i’m probably out to breakfast at the big egg right now — it’s so yummy that you should be quite envious of me. it’s not even a block to paxton gate from there either, and omg, you know how i love that place!! (if not, scroll down a few posts.) shall i buy myself a birthday jackalope? hmmm.
i’ve been working on a series of new mini-books for a little gallery that’s interested in having them. to me, they are “little objects of affection books” in that i’m putting all of my favorite things into hand-made little wooden boxes and frames on the front. this is the first, and isn’t done (though the 3rd, 4th and 6th are complete), but soon. victorian doll parts, glass vials, dried flower petals from my garden, porcupine quills, vintage medical book text. (you can barely make out “delirium and insanity” inside the top of the box i made, and “a disturbance of the mental processes” on the paper underneath. didn’t plan that, but it makes me smile.)
of course it has a funky alicia-style rustic-woven and tangly binding too:
but way better than a silly little book — i received a WONDERFUL package the other day from the generous (and extremely talented) donna watson. i share her affinity for rocks, and she shares mine for frozen charlottes, so we swapped. how perfect that i had plenty of room in my new printer tray from miss lisa! for now, this is a little collection on my coffee table, “objects of my affection”. i’ll probably relocate it all later to do an assemblage in the box, but for now, this pleases me to no end. though i think i’ll take the red “mars” marbles out.
aren’t these just divine! look at the top two-toned, smooth and gorgeous oblong stone! and the one with the white ring! and the speckled one. donna has a real knack for rock finding for sure!!
the following six are perfectly round and absolutely lovely. they look like marbles — which i also have a huge thing for so these are double-perfect!
thank you so much, donna! i LOVE these wonderful stones!
speaking of “objects of my affection”, i keep forgetting to post this fantastically sweet shirley temple doll i found at the flea market a few weeks ago. look how crackled she is!! she came that way naturally (imagine my surprise to have found her!). she’s missing an arm and it looks like a creature chewed off half of her opposing foot, but she’s divine none the less. i’m guessing about 15″ tall or so… maybe more. i want to create a creepy motorized piece out of her, maybe motion detection style so she waves when you walk by or something. i wonder how hard that would be. (oh, just hollered to the husb and he said it would NOT be hard a’tall. rad.)
right now she’s just hanging on the wall in the hall, greeting people as they pass.
happy february 18th to you all!
i’ve been on a handmade book and journal kick lately and completed two more last night. this one is teeny tiny and goes into an assemblage of sorts that is not ready to share (truth be told, i’m not sharing it until the zine comes out, ha!).
ignore the glue on my filthy little fingers…
the second was started before i got pneumonia. i couldn’t finish it for a long time ’cause it didn’t really feel “me” despite my secret obsession with peacocks, creamy vintage crocheted lace and vintage beads, but it’s done, and i’m off on a couple anatomical books now, as well as some with glass covers (working on drill pressing glass is going to be fun!!). this one was just added to my shop (it’s a little blank journal with 44 pages):
i think i actually showed this before, now that i think of it. boring! sorry about that. did i show the test tube books? i must go check…
i’m quite behind on blogging but soon will be posting that ever so cool pile of things i found that made me gasp, details on the zine (you still have time to submit your piece or three!!), photos of my recent commission and something so sweet you’ll want to cry. not really, but it’s sweet, promise.
what are you working on this week?
november is always a quiet time of year for me. hectic, but still and calm-feeling at the same time for some reason. it’s getting cold now which makes me want to go out even less than i typically would and i get so very busy creating holiday gifts for fam and friends, winter-time art show goodies, stuff my shops, etc. that i feel like a quiet little machine. as crazy as november and december always are to me, i feel like i’m going in slow motion in this hushed little space of my own.
i’ve made a few more handmade books. that makes 18 so far (they are tiny though). three of these are gifts for sure (the two above = gifts to me – are the only non-blank ones), and some may soon be in my shop as i may have created too many to fit in my wee space at the 12/5 art fair (do you think 3 assemblages, 15 mini-books, 25 cards, 25 prints, eight collages, a large handmade book, five wristcuffs, three necklaces and six journals will fit on a 3×5′ table??).
i also did a series of anatomical collages a couple weeks back, or so. four of which can be found on my site — just posted them.
first, i created a woman…
then i created four men. here are three of them…
so, i was insane to put the zine submissions deadline in december… at this rate i won’t even get anything done for it and that would be no bueno. if you’re not sure what i’m talking about, see my previous post about the altered bits zine.
new deadline is january 28, 2011. if you wish to play in the zine, please have submissions to me by then, instead of the previous mentioned december 20th. between the holidays, gift making, a couple art fairs, two exhibits and other arty obligations, this will work way better for me and probably for you too.
in the past couple of weeks, i’ve made a zillion mini books (having been having heaps of fun inventing new binding methods — see two of them above), a series of new anatomical collages, more journals, some cuffs, and lots of other things — i’ve been quiet in blogland but that’s so not the case on the home-front. lots of art and news to share soon when i have a wee bit more time. and soon, i’ll post peeks of lisa j’s book i’m working on for the pulp collab (i started in on it a few weeks ago but didn’t touch it again until last night).
happy sunday!
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!
as some of you may know, i was blessed last week or so with not one, but TWO books from the pulp redux collaboration in the same day. i received lisa jurist’s book from kim palmer in austrailia, and i received lisa sarsfield’s book from debbie price-ewen in new zealand. since i’m the last to work on lisa jurist’s book, i decided that i should start out with lisa sarsfield’s book entitled “labyrinth”.
i haven’t done much yet, but this is what i accomplished this weekend, or the part i’m willing to share so far. i won’t give away my plans for the book, of course, but within my pages there will be a removable inner book. here are some peeks at that…
first, the first two inner pages. here i have hand stitched a classical 7 circuit labyrinth. i did the stitching rough on purpose as i liked the little loops and tangles that came from the “imperfection”. on the right, a small booklet within the book (that will go within the main book) explains the history of the classical 7 circuit labyrinth.
here is a detail of the hand stitched labyrinth. my fingers got a bit grumpy after awhile — i’m not the best or most patient stitcher in the world and after about 3 or 5 hours they stung a bit. but it was well worth it! four strings for every stitch — that was part of the time (and i did say i’m a slow sewer, right?).
on the right of this page, i attached seven vintage beads and buttons to reinforce the seven aspect of this particular labyrinth.
this is an utterly crap and shadowy photo of the second page spread. this is a variation of the roman labyrinth which the left hand side explains. i’m a little embarrassed. the stitching on this was initially perfect. as in no lines were askew. i sewed it onto birds nest paper and after the fact thought that it needed a quick dunk in coffee. did it, wrung it out and poof, it dried all lame. should i redo it? be honest now. the lower right was the most effected area… and bottom. grr.
and this is the back cover of the book — a reflection of the roman labyrinth. i’m a horrible evening photographer — everything is shadowy and askew, but you get the general idea. i’ll post better photos when i’m done.
i will save the cover for later… mostly ’cause it’s not yet done. this is just a small portion of what is to come in lisa’s book so stay tuned!
update: a few hours later
okay, just got some WAY better photos and finished and photographed the cover. will post it all on wednesday or thursday, time permitting… just in case you want to peek back.
phew! what a summer! things are always crazier this time of year, aren’t they! travel and kids home (mine and half the neighborhood), move travel and no time to work or art it seems. at least we’ve had some adventures to spokane and coeur d’alene and long beach and corona and san diego and la and such… though not all were under the best pretenses (though that’s neither here nor there, i suppose). i haven’t had a lot of time to art or hardly any time to visit my favorite blogs, but soon summer will be over and school days will reconvene.
i’ve at least gotten to finish four more charlotte pieces for my attempted 100 piece series (now if i stopped selling these i could maybe actually have 100 someday!). i have photos of numbers 9 and 11. at least i have plenty of 1900 and 1901 sheet music to do twice that many so we shall see where i end with these.
i just did a PDF tutorial that i’ll be posting in a week or three on how to crackle and age frozen charlottes and other bisque or porcelain dolls. as a result, i had lots of new little girls to play with.
charlotte’s song #9: heart song
lots of vintage lace, naturally dyed and aged, metal bits and pieces that i’ve rusted, antique sheet music, recycled sari silk ribbon, etc…
charlotte’s song #11 (i really need to photograph 10 and 12!) this is just a simple one, but cute none the less.
detail: a rusty or metallic charlotte and pretty turquoise stones.
i have a 20 to 30 piece show with these little girls next month but the left-overs will surely be going up in my etsy shop (aiming to have 30 done just in case there is room but may only have room for 20). better get to sewing though, huh!!
i also had the time to start three books, but just barely. i gave a mini peek of book one a few days ago and will show it soon, completed. that one is for me and is entitled phantoms and shadows. i dig ghostly things, ya know? book two was supposed to be for a collaboration that kerin and i are doing (see below) but she is a silly and fickle girl and wanted to change the size so this will be a different alicia-book which is just [almost] as thrilling ’cause i’m already loving it. i’ve had so much fun working on these covers and am looking forward to hearing what everyone thinks once i get them done. i still need to come up with a title and better theme for my big huge book with kerin (okay, not HUGE, but decent sized — i think they are 9″ x 12″ and will probably be a foot or three thick, hah), especially since the cover is nearly done. we’ll be posting those in the weeks to come, huh keriny!? other than these and my art journals, that’s really all i’ve gotten to do as of late. but i shall not complain!
oh, the book… i almost forgot about these photos. this is of course not at all done, but it’s a pretty fun cover, i’d say. i am going to singe the lace a bit, for one… maybe do something to the bird skull but it’s so lovely natural “as is” that i’ll probably just leave it. you can’t tell in this photo but the skull and vials are inset about 1/2″ or so from the rest of the book…
and i’m going to do that waxy alicia-thing to the ends of the vials before i actually attach them (they currently hold porcupine quills, something green and nature-esque, and some animal teeth — yeps, i like taxidermy parts and bones!)…
hopefully i’ll get at least two of these books done before summer’s end, and a handful more charlotte pieces. i’m not sure why i like them so much but they are quite fun!
does anyone know where to get taxidermy bird wings? i really, really, REALLY need one for this book. have found nothing on ebay or anything else and know a lot of bird parts are illegal to sell (wings?) in some places. if i wasn’t so sweet i’d sick one of our cats on a crow. totally not serious!!
what are you working on this summer?
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