There are a few things I’m trying to do at the moment in terms of new work:
1. Make time for experimentation with new ideas and materials
2. Create lower priced inventory
3. Repurpose leftover materials or objects from other projects.
These three goals came together with the collage I finished yesterday.
I started out wanting to make a collage using scraps of pages leftover from completed altered books and it evolved into a lovely finished piece with 3D objects, repurposed security envelopes, and part of a book cover cut from this altered book. I used the inside of a shallow wooden box as both canvas and frame.
Quite a few of these materials were items given to me by friends who no longer had a use for them. I’m really glad I could repurpose them into art.
Materials used: wooden box, partial book cover, scraps of book pages, security envelopes, wooden bobbins, silk thread, two paper birds, gesso, glue, and gel medium.
If you’re interested in this piece I’ve already listed it for sale in my Etsy shop. I’ve priced it in a slightly different way than the altered books because I view this as an experiment and want to keep this in an affordable price range.
Late last year I was thrilled to get my first request to create a commissioned altered book for a client. The couple had recently found a deer skull on their Gulf Island property and felt it was the perfect thing for me to work with in making them a custom piece of art. It’s not the first time I’ve used bones in an altered book, but it definitely was the largest.
The skull was quite fragile and missing a large part of the nose, so my first step was to assess every break through the skull. I had to determine where to glue without causing further damage and then reinforce certain parts so the whole thing wouldn’t fall apart. In the photo below you can see the paper “bandages” I created inside the eye sockets. I felt without these the glue wouldn’t hold and the bottom part of the skull would come right off. (It almost did while I was feeling about).
The book I chose to use is an encyclopedia volume with a lovely red cover with a raised border embossed on the front and gold letters and designs on the side. I carved through the cover and cut a niche three quarters of the way into the pages, making it large enough to accommodate the skull.
I took a short timelapse video with my iPhone 4 as I did this, which makes it look like a faster process than it actually was.
Once the book was ready I began pulling out materials to create the rest of the composition. I took inspiration from the background notes given to me by the client and used these to guide in the selection of objects. I won’t go into detail here but I was looking for things with symbolic significance specific to them.
The photo below was taken when I was satisfied with the placement of things and is a “sketchbook” version of the final composition. It helped me remember what should eventually go where after I dismantled and put everything out of the way. I still had much work to do in preparing the book and mounting the skull.
Above are some process shots I took while I worked on different things. I used a thick heavy thread at the base of the skull as this was the only point from which I could attach it to the book. These loops of thread were sewn into a heavy paper that was glued into the book and then covered over with the sewing pattern paper. The image above with the clamps was taken after the skull was mounted in the book and some of the pages still needed gluing together.
This is the finished altered book, many steps away from the previous photo. I used eight watch parts in the composition and it gives it an unintentional steam punk look. The fancy embossed border on the cover works nicely (as I’d hoped) with the rest of the composition. I love all the details in this altered book, from the shiny metal parts to the zig zagging fissures through the top of the skull.
This was an interesting project to work on because there were many problem solving challenges along the way. But that’s what I love most about making altered books. It always gets me thinking in new ways.
The outcome of this project is a positive one, with the client happy with the work I’ve produced and the first successful commissioned altered book under my belt. Here’s hoping many more will come my way.
Materials used: book, sewing pattern paper, tree bark, wasp nest, red thread, small glass bottle, seeds, watch parts, moss, and deer skull.
This particular cradle frame panel has been hanging around unfinished or half-started (depending on your perspective) for a couple of years. I did a gel medium transfer of an ink jet print of one of my photos and overlay this with a semi-transparent spiral patterned Japanese paper. That’s as far as I got with the thing two years ago. I found the long dimensions of 12″ x 24″ challenging to work with at the time.
I picked it up again this week and decided to follow the same theme of birds, book pages, and thread from the previous two collages. I broke up the background image with pieces of book pages and tried to treat both as texture. The thread and bits of scrap paper add a bit more colour and give the collage some flow from one bird to another.
This is the largest collage I’ve ever created. It’s challenging to work larger and I think I prefer making smaller pieces because most of the materials I have to work with are small scale.
Materials used: scrap book pages, red thread, paper birds, rubber stamp & ink, origami paper, and gel medium.
I haven’t had any time in over a month to devote to creating new work so yesterday I made a point of setting aside the entire day for this. I focused on making simple collage on wooden cradle frames. The idea is to have artwork I can sell at a lower price point than my altered books. I completed two 8″ x 8″ pieces yesterday, and each took less than two hours to make.
I followed a similar theme in both collages, using paper birds, pages from books, scraps from the same yellow paper, and red thread.
It felt so good to make these. I always get a bit antsy when I go too long without making something and I love how easily these two compositions flowed out of me. I definitely want to make more soon.
Materials used: book pages, sheet music, red thread, paper birds, rubber stamp & ink, Japanese paper, Japanese maple leaf, and gel medium.
For the past few weeks I’ve been working on a paper craft tree (pictured below) made with reclaimed cardboard and book pages. This work is one part of an interdisciplinary collaboration between myself, Kirsti Wakelin and Darren Carcary of Resolve Design. The project began back at the end of summer when I first had the crazy idea to make a paper tree and to bring together our three different disciplines.
I was using a call for exhibitors at the CreativeMix conference as an excuse to experiment and collaborate. It was a whirlwind project to work on after learning of our acceptance at the beginning of October. The tree and graphics came together for the first time last Thursday (November 4th) when we presented the work publicly at the CreativeMix conference exhibition.
A bit of background. This project was an opportunity for me to explore the creation of larger work than I’d previously done, as well as to partner with a designer working in a very different medium than myself. I was curious to explore bringing together motion graphics with a handmade paper tree and how these two different mediums could interact with one another.
The work is inspired by the idea of a tree of knowledge, and we chose to interpret this in a literal sense in both the tree form and the graphics.
From the Resolve Design artist statement: “Our project began as a simple creative art exercise, developed over 4 days, loosely based around trees in general. But research about the evening migration of crows to the Still Creek roost uncovered commonly known, but oft-forgotten Vancouver facts – historic and current. The project quickly focused on exploring Vancouver, with trees as the connecting element.”
The photos below were taken during the run of the display. The tree was positioned against a 12′ x 10′ white wall with hardcover books and paper flowers placed around the bottom of the trunk. The projector was located approximately 16′ in front and fully covered the display wall with the projection, both running the animation and lighting the tree. The movie was on a two minute loop and used beautiful illustrations created by Kirsti and interesting text about Vancouver that flowed through and around the paper tree.
At the exhibition I was absolutely thrilled to see people drawn in by the piece. Little kids were enthralled with the animation and the tree, and at least a few kept their parents waiting while they watched it over and over. We had great feedback from people who stopped by to talk with us, and it’s pretty clear we gave people the sense of wonder I was hoping for.
Darren, Kirsti, and myself definitely want to show this work again at some point, though we don’t have any specific plans at this time. If you would like a chance to see the paper tree, it will be on display at my place during the Eastside Culture Crawl, November 26th to 28th, along with other new work.
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.
Part of the enjoyment I am getting out of creating work based around these wood animals is learning more about their flesh and blood counterparts. I’ve always been interested in animals but how much do I really know about most of them? Honestly, not much. But with each animal I pull out of the bag I’m learning something new.
The goose is a great example of this. They’ve always seemed like a ridiculous bird to me, but reading more about them has changed my mind. They are incredibly loyal, fierce defenders of their young, and gifted navigators. (Boris would probably also add something about how delicious they are). I almost fell heavily into Mother Goose whimsy with the goose, but the extra knowledge kept me from it.
I decided I wanted to make an assemblage piece with this book and have the main composition with the goose inside a niche. I used more colourful elements in this one just to switch things up because so many of my previous altered books lack colour.
The crazy blue and white patterned paper covering most of the book is from the inside of envelopes. I’ve collected a pile of different envelopes with patterns on the inside and as I was looking through these I found a few with this pattern and wanted to use it. I realized these were from Royal Bank mailings, and since I’d just received something from them I ripped it open to find more of the pattern on the inside that I wanted to use. Thanks for your great timing bank people.
The thread is the last element I added to the piece and as always it was very awkward to work with. Some of the thread is strung back and forth between the clarinet pieces, while the swirly bits were positioned and tacked down with gel medium.
The goose is the fourth new altered book in the wood toy animals series I’ve been working on. It will also be available for sale at my studio during the Eastside Culture Crawl.
Materials used: book, red thread, paper flowers, dried poppy seed pods, wooden blocks, wood goose, envelope paper, clarinet keys, gel medium, and glue.
When I pulled the bear out to work with I started thinking about polar bears but then inspiration led me (and I can’t remember how) to the constellation of Ursa Major. I felt this was a much more interesting idea to work with and sorted through my other materials looking for further items to incorporate into the composition. I was glad to find a star map in my paper box to use as the end pages in the book. But when I rediscovered the rusted bed spring, scavenged from Bowen Island a year ago and forgotten about, I then had everything I needed to complete the work.
I really wanted to do more with this book. The last two I’ve made have left the books as flat canvases. With this one I decided to fold and cut the pages and make it a three-dimensional piece. I spent a long time cutting and shaping the space in the pages where the bear would rest because I wanted to make sure he would sit flat and be well supported. The rusted bed spring also needed a lot of careful work to have it supported where it’s inserted inside the book. I reinforced things between the pages with cardboard so the spring would float over top rather than rest on the pages on the outside.
The metal stars and red thread were a final touch. These are meant to echo the star shapes and the lines that connect them on the end pages map. I always find working with thread rather aggravating because it slips away from me as I wind it around things like the spring and stars, but I love the affect.
This work will be available for sale during the Eastside Culture Crawl in November. I’m creating as much new work as I can to entice people to visit me for the Crawl.
Materials used: book, wood bear, rusted bed spring, red thread, metal stars, star map from an encyclopedia, glue, and gel medium.
The bag of animals made of wood has been a wonderful thing to work with so far. I’m enjoying pulling out each animal and choosing a different one each time to create a home for in an altered book. I’ve always adored this rooster for his proud posture and decided to run with the cliche of having him crow at sunrise.
As I began work on this I took a detour into studio cleaning as I went through my storage boxes of paper looking for things to use. All of the boxes were a complete mess and sorting through them allowed me to discover paper I’d forgotten all about. I used two of these to create the very colourful sunrise in the book. The triangle with bricks printed upon it is from collection of wooden toy blocks I picked up at RubyDog’s Art House, and it serves nicely as a rooftop for the rooster to stand on.
This altered book came together quickly and easily, which surprised me. It always feels a bit wrong when an artwork seems too easy, but I’m not really sure why. I’m really happy with it though, and love how colourful this is.
Materials used: book, sewing pattern paper, origami paper, wooden rooster, wood triangle, glue, and gel medium.
For the next little while, I have decided to focus on creating two series of altered books, one based around a collection of toy animals made from wood and the other around the blank books Siobhan gave me. It’s been awhile since I’ve made new work so this week I dove into the bag of animals looking for inspiration and came away with the idea to use four of them at once.
I started thinking about fables and folklore using animals to teach lessons and explain things about the world. I couldn’t find a suitable tale on which to base my composition but I kept thinking about Chicken Little and the Town Musicians of Bremen. The calf, goat, piglet and chick are in a tale all their own. It involves piling one on top the other to try and reach the sky, but also the wearing of special party hats. I leave the details of the story up to you.
I’m starting to make new work in preparation for the Culture Crawl in late November. This piece will be framed and available for sale at my studio, along with much of the work currently listed in my etsy shop.
Materials used: book, wooden animals, tissue paper, Japanese paper, cardboard, acrylic paint, wooden blocks, and poppy seed pods.
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