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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.)
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 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!
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!
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.
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!)
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.
i just posted an update on the pulp redux blog with my contributions to deb’s book. i will post here later this evening with additional photos and detail shots, then again in the next couple of days with the finalization. then it’s off to… kim in australia.
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)
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