Right now my house has trouble with rats. They had made a hole in the wall in my studio, so I’m having to go through all of my boxes of lovely paper and leather and such, because all of these things make for nice nest materials for the rodent families. I don’t begrudge them that, well I wouldn’t, except that they smell. My current approach is to open an ikea box and if it smells of rodent I curse them.
But the upside is that I’m making the time to look for new bits of paper, throw out bits i’ve kept just in case, and slim down the collection somewhat.
This book, made in the middle of my flight into the Dress series, was purely because the 2d image I had made several years ago was just right for a concertina book. The poem came from my stash (no rats in there) on evernote of lovely words that I come across in my world.
The original work is on an Alice in Wonderland calendar that Bronwen Black gave me. It had a raised playing card feel to it, and I have treated the surface with oil pastels, collaged pattern paper, rubber stamps and a heap of other things. The whole thing feels quite regal. The rest of the works from that series didn’t pass muster as a book.
I’m also benefiting from having re-discovered some bevel rulers I acquired from Megan’s mum a few years ago – i’d just put them away, and the clean out helped me rediscover them. I’m kinda liking the not quite rough edge it gives.
And here are some photos of the product in progress.
