This was a frustrating piece to work on because of my idea to use thread. I wanted to create structure with the thread by wrapping it around and across the rusty wires. It was tricky trying to keep the thread tight and untangled, but also threading it around the wires in the first place was maddening at times because I needed more hands. I also had to be careful not to snap the wires or accidentally rip them back out of the book they’d already been glued into. I’m sure Boris heard quite a few noises of frustration as I worked on this. The rusty wires are old bed springs I scavenged the last time I was on Bowen.

Material in this altered book: Japanese paper, book, rubber stamping with ink, beach glass, thread, rusted bed springs, and Lovebird tail feathers from the Yuukster.

Detail of the thread wrapping and rusty bed spring.

Detail of the rolled pages from the bottom.