alicia's initial contribution to kim's book: fragments, vestiges & remains

although i am not entirely done with the first two pages of kim's book, i felt i should post an update nonetheless. when i finish the remaining page(s) i will post a few more updates of these.

first and foremost though, i must apologize for the illusive and evil little white string that found itself in almost all of my photos. where it came from, i do not know! how i missed it is an even bigger mystery.

because ms. kim has shared a bit of history of where she comes from, i felt i would share a bit about mine... though the darker side of portland, oregon, usa, as it felt more appealing to me. the very short story is that portland has a very dark past -- the portland underground or shanghai tunnels as they were called. able-bodied men were kidnapped and dropped through deadfalls (trap doors) from bars, saloons, opium dens, whore houses, etc., housed in underground cells, then sold to ship captains into "white slavery". women were also kidnapped and sold into prositution or sold overseas into slavery as well.

this is della. she was one such girl who was kidnapped and forced to live an undesirable life of... undesirable stuff. i don't want to give away the whole story as some should be a surprise to kim once she gets her book back.


the copper frame around the glass door will be covered in beeswax and carved into and painted -- like i do my wee apothecary bottles. if you enlarge the above photo, you'll see that there is a wee bubble in the glass that looks like a tear, which really fits into the story.

the little glass door opens to reveal della's photo. behind that are her sister's diary pages about her disappearance. the book pages aren't entirely attached yet but will be by tonight. and that string is gone now. grr.

you can see dell'a pocket watch that fell from her pocket when she was kidnapped. there are wee diamonds inside but one came loose when she dropped it so it floats around in its case.

on the bottom of the page, a photo of the family house and an older photo of della are tied to the page. you'll have to read the diary pages to figure out how an older photo of her was obtained.

behind the photos is a heart, sewn on by her adoring little sister who misses her like mad since her disappearance.

on page two, you will learn the history of the shanghai tunnels and portland underground.


at the top of the page, i've fashioned a pocket for photos of the tunnels and cells from 160ish years ago. two rusty old nails are threaded through he pocket for no real good reason other than that i thought it looked cool. ;)

basement walls were knocked out and doors were added to create an intricate network of tunnels and cells beneath buildings, streets and sidewalks. the nicer of cells had a single chair in them. grated metal doors kept the captives locked inside, and the only light offered was from an occasional lantern.


(dang illusive string again! -- below) the bottom part of the page looks, to me, like what i thought it would feel like to be snatched and thrown into the dark and dank places below the lovely city of portland. things are more rusty than they appear in the photo.

on the bottom of this piece is a handle -- sort of a deadfall on the actual page. a hatch, or trapdoor.


open the door to read a more complete history about the portland underground.


and beneith that, an old map from the mid 1800s of what downtown portland looked like from a semi-aerial perspective.


the remnants of portland's infamous history of the shanghai tunnels and the portland underground are still with us. the stories have lingered, along with the rubble, the trapdoors, the secret entrances and the catacombs that still extend their presence beneath the sidewalks, streets and buildings.

tonight i will get happy with wax for the frame, attach the diary to page one, do some stitching on the bottom of page two and put these pieces into kim's book permanently. more photos coming soon.