So hello dear bloggers. I can assure all those worried folk out there who are wondering if I have fallen off the planet that I have managed to claw my way back again! Truthfully I found heavier boots work well at keeping ones feet well attached to terra firma, LOL!
Ah but really I have been up to my, err, derrier (is that how one spells this word??? let me know) in fabric!
The studio, I should say new and previously clean studio, is covered in bits, the cat plays non stop and is well disguised as a mop, in fact if I thought about it I should drag some string around the house and he would chase it and mop the floors all in one go! Exercise and clean floors... something to ponder at another time perhaps!
I digress!
I have however been extraordinarily busy trying to get my book for the Pulp Redux collaboration finalised and posted away to Alicia before the poor girl has a fit and thinks I have forgetten her. Never fear, that wouldn't happen!
And so, lets take a peek at the progress so far...
Five darling cherubs, one for each artist!
Inside the cover a pillow of fragments. Little threads kept from projects over time and brought together to form a pillow. On the pillow some sage advice from the bible. (Hard to beat for sage advice really!)
(You know the drill, click for details if you need a closer view).
Nothing be lost!!! OMG! After moving house and trying to find everything in the new house and studio, I'm not sure I can even find the cat anymore!
Onto the opposite page.
(The cat will eventually miaow when he gets hungry!)
The wee cherubs.
Underneath I have constructed a chatelaine.
A what??? I hear you say!
A chatelaine.
In previous times a chatelaine was a series of chains attached to a womans belt to hold the household keys.
This chatelaine is for the contributing artists.
I thought it would be nice if it held a token item, one from each artist. I have attached a key and a washer inprinted with the word friendship. The items represent the friendship formed over the making of our books and our collaboration together.
But wait there's more...
The right hand page opens out to reveal a hidden page.
Inside are 5 small handmade books. One for each of the artists.
I thought it would be nice to give each contributing artist a place to talk about their contribution. Here we can discuss our artwork, talk about the ideas and the formation of our contributions, or ourselves and include a wee picture of ourselves if we like and have a place to sign our work. Many of us work with surfaces not conjucive to signing and this offers a place to enable that.
Each little book is constructed by hand and has an outer cover made from suede and has watercolour paper pages which have been stitched together by hand. Each little book measures only 8 x 5 cm.
Here's a closer look at one of the minibooks.
Here's the book free of it's confines.
Then bound within the page.
The light is a little weird it was very early in the morning so sue me!
The colour of the book is actually somwhere between the two pictures, but you get the idea.
And then on the opposite page there's these little ones.
The five chicks...
Like us, five chicks singing their song...
5 artists hoping to be heard.
And so the inside cover work is complete.
Time to move on to the actual piece for the book,
But more on that later.
It will involve a short history lesson...
or two.
