The Beginning of the End. -Pulp Redux, Alicia's book, the 'Museum of Forgotten Things".

I have been deep in the darkest depths of the studio for some time now finalising the piece for Alicia's book, "The museum of forgotten things'. Suffice to say I think the rest of the Pulp Redux collaborator's probably think I have forgotten all about it! Not true dear ones! It has taken a long time to finalise this piece. It is quite large and required such a lot of detail. Of course if you have jumped over from the Pulp Redux blog you will know all about the before part of the story. If you haven't here's a quick wrap up for you...

The main charachter is Hester who has recently died. She found out her husband was having an affair years ago and murdered him in an arson incident. After the murder Hester finds she is pregnant to her deceased husband and gives birth to a son, Thomas who dies in infancy. After this Hester embarks on an affair with Hans, the affair peters out and Hester has a child, Charlotte whom she gives up thinking she will have a better life this way.
There you are that's the short version, LOL! Breathe!!! LOL!

Okay so now you are up to speed. The question is Kim, what are you going to do to wrap up this story?


(Good question by the way!)

It seems to me that the tragedies here are compounding throughout as each participant's pieces unfold.

Secrets by their very nature eat away at us.
We are consumed by them, both in wanting to know them, then being horrified by that knowledge at the same time.

But, in the end, the thrill of the secret is in the sharing.




Wise words indeed.

And so I have created the book of secrets.

Able to stand on it's own as a piece but also well able to join with the rest of the participants pieces here, a book structure.

(What can I say, I love books!)







Some sneaky peeks from the inside.



Ladies white lace gloves. What do they keep hidden?

A tragic tale of a family doomed by the guilt and secrets that they keep.

But what happened to everyone, I hear you ask? Hester, and the child Charlotte.



As for the tale, well as you peruse the texture images from the piece I will tell you a little about it.



You see Hester gave up the child to her younger sister Iva who raised her as her own, but renamed the child Anna. (Remember that Hester was survived by her sister and a niece Anna?)

But of course it all went horribly wrong.




Anna (Charlotte) grows up well loved and happy, never suspecting her aunt is her mother and her mother is really her aunt.

She follows the family tradition and becomes a seamstress.

Meets a wonderfully handsome young man and they marry.

They have a child, Anne, but soon after Charlotte's husband is killed in the first world war.

Life continues but Hester becomes consumed in her later life by what will later be revealed as guilt and rage, but for the present is thought to be old age memory loss.


On Hesters death, Anna, (Charlotte) and Iva are clearing out Hester's papers and Hester's secrets are revealed.

And so...

Anna, or Charlotte as she now discovers herself to be, is enraged by the secrecy. Unable to come to terms with the lies and deceit she takes her own life, drowning herself in a local river. Filled with grief, Iva confesses all to Anne who is ignorant of the whole mess. Saddened by the loss of her mother through suicide and the stunning news of Hester's secrets and her murder of Richard, Anne decides to leave and start her life anew. Somewhere where she can forget all the pain and secretive lies of the past. She constructs the book of secrets and donates all the pieces of the puzzle to the Museum of Forgotten Things, finding in the museum's title an apt place to lay to rest the pieces of the lives she is leaving behind.



And there it is folks. I should say that the piece here is part of an art quilt. Measuring 34" x 22" in size the piece detaches completely from the book base if preferred and can be hung complete on a wall as is if Alicia would like to. Now I guess you can all see why it has taken so long to complete. Constructed of three layers of cloth and a mix of both machine and hand stitching it has been a mammoth task to finish in any sort of reasonable timetable, but here it is complete at last, my needle population decimated as I have literally worn out about 8 handsewing needles in it's construction, yikes!

I would love to show you it all in detail of course but that's all you get for now. All the last pieces of the Pulp Redux collaboration will be shown together in an online exhibition in the near future. We will of course give you those details later as they become available and you will be able to view all the last pieces of each book in full at that time.
But for now that's it for the museum of forgotten things.

I hope Alicia enjoys the piece. It will be winging it's way home in the next week dear one!

I should add here that this collaboration has been an absolute joy. For me the prurpose of joining in was to both better aquaint myself with each of the participants, each and everyone of which I was already a fan of their work, and also to push myself. To tackle new mediums, ideas and make them work within the limitations of the structures provided. To boldly go where I had never been before...

Okay I digress, but you get the picture.

I must say the collaboration has in everyway lived up to those original aims and expectations. I have indeed pushed myself way... way, out of my comfort zone. Had to tackle completely new ideas to integrate a piece or problem solve the how the heck am I going to get that idea over thought. I would strongly recommend the process to anyone. Go into it with your eyes open. It will be harder and challenge you more than you ever thought, but the rewards...

Unbelievable!

Would I leap in again, especially so soon after just completing this one... you betcha!

In a heartbeat.

The bonds of friendship I have gained, and the insight into my own artistic abilities, creativity and concepts have been the singularly most insightful process I have ever had the priviledge to be a part of. Yup, as I said ... in a heatbeat. Thank you girls for the bestest and most creative fun ever. Mwah!

Soon there will be more exciting things to show you as I delve into some projects which have had to take a backward step in recent months.
Stay tuned.
Also don't forget to visit Seth's blog, The Altered Page for all the latest goss from his new editions of the pulse, which I am happy to say I have again taken part in. It is such fun to find out what everyone is up to, thinking, participating in. I love interactive sites like his and he does such a colossal amount of work to collate it all and get it out there to everyone. If you haven't popped in to join in the fun, where have you been?

That's it. I'm off! See you all again soon with more fun and games!
(Well, at least the latest doings here anyway)!

En Route... Kim's final contribution to Debs book-Pulp Redux Collaboration

Hello everyone, back again. No interenet connection for four days left me feelin a little crazy I can tell you!

Oh, isn't technology fabulous!...
that is until it stops working!

We have had the most unbelievable wet season so far, rain rain and you guessed it...
more rain!
The pool is overflowing and I'm not sure if it is ever going to get hot enough to swim in, but I digress!

The fabulous (only if you're a duck!!!) weather has however had a fantastic effect on my art time, no distractions at all to take me away from the studio so tada...
I have finished my contribution to Deb's fantastic book for the Pulp Redux collaboration.

Okay, if you haven't read the post over at the pulp site, (and WHY HAVEN"T YOU!!!) here's the update on the storyline...


Deb's book centres around a storyline about our heroin Maude. Now young Maude has finally escaped from a loveless marriage, and purchased some great retro eyewear to correct her vision problem (which the evil first husband didn't even know about either by the way, what sort of husband was he!!!), and has taken up with her first true love Damien and the pair are cruising the world, as only people from the late 1800's can in fabulous style, (I'm still volunteering to be the baggage handler if only they would take me up on it, I don't mind a good holiday...). Okay last seen in Egypt (courtesy of diary entries from the fabulous Alicia), we now join the story of our star crossed young lovers.

Enter Kim.

Okay, so now you know the backgrouind I decided to do a 360 degree turn (as only I can, LOL) and pick up the storyline from Damien's perspective.

Now our dashing gent had some sort of life prior to he and Maude resuming their undying love, so what is it?

Now young Damien is an anthropologist, oh yes he is... with interests in the up and coming sciences of archeology and cartography, a perfectly respectable career for a man of his age and times.

Now as you have probably guessed from the previous post, Damien has been offered a position in an expedition to the Yucatan penninsular to explore the ruins of the Mayan civilisation.(Oooo, Oooo, pick me, I'm sooo wanting to be the baggage girl now, sigh!)

(Ahh, well if I can't go in person I'm so going to enjoy the creative process of making the piece and pretending I did, so there!)

Enter the brass book!

Here you saw the background information to the storyline and the scene is set for the next part of the tale.




Hidden niches, I love them so much!

And now over the page and...

Tada!

Damiens journal!

More secret compartments to reveal...



well there were more secrets to tell you LOL!





Since it would take waaaaay too many pictures to tell the story in this post I have put together a slide show instead. It includes some of the pics you have already seen and more of the new section together to tell the story. Sit back and enjoy...


or at least I hope you do!

I did think about adding music but decided it would probably drive you all mad after a while so I left it out.
(Read that as it would probably drive me mad after the bazillionth time it played, LOL)!

So here tis!

So there did you enjoy it? So our lovers have married in the steamy South American jungle. The package in the niche contains a piece of fabric from Damiens wedding vest and a small piece of lace from Maudes dress, along with a piece of poetry from Maude to Damien. Did you notice that Maude has cast aside her eyewear? Apparently she doesn't need it now! Very brave of her really, her being in the jungle and all! Well there you are. The piece will be winging it's way off to the lovely Lisa Sarsfield in New Zealand for her contribution now. I wonder what Maude will get up to next?

Speaking of the long white cloud, (which I'm sure has hit some sort of snag and ended up hanging over my house for the last few months!) Really it has rained evey day for weeks now and we are apparently going to have our wettest summer on record, oh goody! I'd best brave the rain and try to rescue some of the garden before it washes away! Just as well I love the rain now, isn't it!

Update Pulp Redux Collaboration

So I found the matches...

LOL!

I thought I should fill you all in on the progress of the altered book I'm making for my part in the Pulp Redux collaboration.

The end result...


I'm quite happy with this one!


I've created a burned niche in the front cover of the book to house a new title.


Oh, yes, the title, well...


I rather thought I'd call it...


Fragments, Vestiges & Remains!


What do you think?

A book about the little pieces that make up the whole.
Perhaps fragments of fabrics, text, textiles. Maybe a fragment of a life lived, an object from another place or time,
or some small vestige from something that has survived... something.
The idea intrigues me.

Then again I'm curious, and inexplicably drawn to remnants of almost anything and the stories they represent.


Here's the book niche.


I rather thought the niche worked well with the title.

I love it, so of course you should too, LOL!

Ahh, but seriously I thought the burnt remains idea worked well with the theme and you all know I really enjoy a good burning in the name of art!

But there is so much more to do so I had best get on with it!


Now the dark blue covers aren't at all what I have had in mind , so...
what to do?


Well I really like the aged look of the book boards and fabric on the cover so how about a wee colour adjustment, a bit of a reno!



I decided to go with that idea and have used walnut ink to dye the covers.
Wow, that was fun and I'm really pleased with the result, just what I had hoped for!


Look...

Hey, not bad, but you should see my fingers, LOL!

Basically it took about a third of the bottle to get good even coverage and 2 days to dry completely but it was worth it.
I'm really happy with the resultant colouring and it has kept the book covers aged appearance, and I think it fits in with the theme so much better than that blue shade.

Now pushing ahead with the alterations and keeping in with the theme, some fabric dying to add to the covers.

Since my hands were already covered in walnut ink, I have also dyed some cheese cloth and tulle to add to the book with the ink.

I've glued it on and now I have to wait for that to dry too, sigh!

Getting there! I'm sooo impatient, I have all these ideas and can't wait to play!
(Stamping my foot and poking out my tongue too, LOL!)

Think I'll go make some embellishments while I'm waiting!

Pulp Redux

Things have been a little hectic of late, now I know that sounds familiar but well that's life here, always on the go! For those of you that don't already know I am so pleased to announce that I am a part of what I am sure is going to be a fabulous altered book collaboration with another 5 wonderful artists! Introducing...


Pulp Redux!

A fabulous altered book collaboration with Lisa from Lucky Dip, Debrina from Debrina's Diary, Alicia from Altered Bits, Andrea from
The Artful Eye and Lisa from Mudhound Primitives and yours truly of course, LOL! We would of course love to have you all pop in and follow the collaboration as it makes its progress across continents and countries changing, altering and growing along the way. Click on the logo below or the sidebar of this blog to jump over for a peek. Don't forget to say hi while you're there either!



So what am I doing for the collaboration...

well that would be a book you sillies, LOL!

Oh, okay, you really want to know the details, well here goes.
In keeping with the pulp redux theme, I have gone for an already exisiting book to alter rather than a new book construction.

The book below is the choice, a Dutch text -'An Introduction to English Art'.

How apt an art book for an altered book, LOL!

As you can see just you're average book. The book is 10" x 7" so large enough for plenty of fun but hopefully not to large to post as weight will be an issue as it progresses through everyone.

The book has some beautiful pictures and I have had to thin it down by a third to accomodate lumps and bumps for additions by everyone so out went the gorgeous pics. I have included one here to show you.

Gainsborough, Yummmm!


After some thinning, time to get to work creating a cover. Nothing too complex. It needs to set the theme but not be too heavy for postage or overly embellished as I don't want bits falling off with postage and handling and also as I expect I will be rebinding the book on it's eventual return back to Oz, so simple to kick off I think!

Time to chop!

Wow, aren't old book boards tough going but at last a hole. The start of what will be a niche for the new title of the book.
For those of you who know me, I think I will be doing a little more altering here.
That blue has got to go and I have one or two other ideas as well.

Don't forget to pop over to the Pulp Redux blog site and say hi. We would love to hear from you all!

Now where did I put those matches...