Often when I’m working on these altered books I catch myself thinking about how many odd things I end up doing and the hilarity of trying to explain these out loud. Take for example this altered book. I had to figure out how to attach a kangaroo to a spring and then attach them both to a chair. Imagine trying to explain that one to someone asking about what I’m working on. Nevermind that it’s not a real kangaroo, or a full-sized chair.

By the way, trying to sew a kangaroo on a spring to a tiny chair is about as aggravating a task as you can guess. But it’s no one’s fault but my own for coming up with ideas I have to find elaborate and painful solutions to execute in order to get what I want. The stitches were the best way I could come up with to keep the spring secured to the chair but also allow for enough movement that the kangaroo can bounce around.

This is another colourful and wildly patterned book, which I’m happy about. The little chair came from Nicole’s studio garage sale on the weekend, and I painted it red to stand out strongly against the busy background. The eight wooden tiles came from a bag of sudoku tiles Ariane gave me. I decided to treat the number 8 as if it were a shape and not a number.

The kangaroo is the fifth new altered book I have made in preparation of the Eastside Culture Crawl. Very soon I will get everything framed and ready for sale.

Materials used: book, tissue paper, sudoku pieces, wood chair, metal spring, red thread, wood toy kangaroo, glue, and gel medium.