alicia's final contributions to lisa s's book: labyrinth (part one)

i've finally finished miss lucky dip lisa's book, labyrinth. by the time you're done with this post though, you may hate me. ;)

front of my little bundle of pages, including a brass X i purchased from seth apter's etsy shop... i'm putting one in each of the five pulp books. (click the images to see enlarged versions.) what you're seeing is a little labyrinth book tied to the top of the bundle of pages:


here is the book all alone. if you would like to see the inside of the book and additional shots, you may do so on my blog HERE and HERE. in the spirit of labyrinths, i'm going to make viewing this a maze of potential fun (or probably annoyance).


once you open the top, you see this... a fabric/fiber collage with a paper collage, labyrinth and quote on top of it, and on the right, i just cheated. lisa mentioned that she liked a collage i recently did so i recreated a similar one for her book. maybe not a literal labyrinth, per se, but in my opinion nests are one of nature's many labyrinths.


detail of the quote/labyrinth page, stained and aged all purdy with hand made dyes (100% natural, of course) and coffee:


under the paper collage, a labyrinthy nesty bit (can you tell i went as nesty with her book as i did labyrinth?):

detail of the collage...


here is a peek at the back page...

if you want to see the rest, head on over to my blog: http://alteredbits.wordpress.com

(see, told you i was sending you through a maze...)

:)

alicia's final contributions to deb's book: through the eye glass (part 1 of 2)

so sorry but this is going to have to be a two part installation, part two being posted in a day or four.

i am finally pretty much finished with deb's book "through the eye glass". i had initially come up with several ideas, but the day or so before it arrived she asked me "where are you going to take damien and maude?" oh... hmmm. i hadn't thought of that. so gears shifted and plans changed... except this one.

"page" one has two doors. a top door that opens from right to left like a book, and a door at the bottom that opens from the top down (shown in a previous post). the contents of the bottom door will be revealed later as it's still in the works.

debs likes "tiny details" so i tried to incorporate as many tiny things as my patience would allow... like little tiny silk flower knots.

and little tiny crackles on the petri dish i incorporated into the page...

the petri dish lid is another door, that opens once you unsnap the lion's head pull that you can just barely make out on the right.

inside, you see a cameo of maude's profile. you'll learn more about this later. this piece an (of course) be removed from its petri dish enclosure.

the cameo piece itself opens up to reveal a sweet little heart -- an obvious symbol of love. :) it fits the story, promise.

on the back of the cameo piece is another wee pocket with a note from damian. leave me alone about the handwriting please and thank you. :) i worked for FOUR HOURS to have male victorian era handwriting and failed, so gave up.

open the whole top door, and this is what you see:

on the left, a collection of tickets and such, with a scroll of sorts beneath.

detail of the scroll closure:

the scroll...

it unrolls to be about 22 inches long and is a series of diary entries that tell of their travels and all that they collect along the way. there isn't a treasure in the box that you'll have to wonder where it came from... well, maybe one or two but that would be intentional.

the other side is a treasure box. (debs! you asked me "can you sneak that wee frog on there? -- i did!) this is a collection of things from around the world that will be revealed in the diary pages.

the locket opens to reveal damian. yeps, i stole that photo from lisa's photo of what she did in this very book. we need a wee bit o' consistency, right?

i had a huge amount of fun making the hinges for the top (the lace is very stained and the metal rusty and patinaed in a gorgeous way, but you can not tell here for some reason.

oh, here you can, kind of:

next post will be a quick follow up of what's in the bottom box, and what the back is all about. i may do a video as well so the flow of the book is more obvious. peek back soon.

a drop of pulp: alicia's initial contributions to deb's book, through the eye glass

i'm being a bit intentionally obscure on my post because i want debs to be at least a little surprised when i'm finally finished. but, i haven't posted in awhile either so feel i should post something.

so, without further ado, here are some photos i posted on my blog yesterday, as well as a few more showing what i did last night.

this piece is not complete, obviously, but it's a vintage lace covered glass-like dish of sorts with a lid. next post you can see it's purpose, but the glassy front felt eye-glass-esque and befitting for the title of the book.

this is a handle of sorts that serves a purpose that will soon be revealed.

just a bit of detail -- some crystal beads.

detail of another part of a page (told ya i'm being obscure!):

more pretty little beads. these are from the 1940s and are ever so pretty and somewhat shiny.

replicas of late 1800s train tickets, proving that the lovely couple (see deb's previous posts if you don't know what i'm talking about) got out and about in the world.

part of a collection of mementos and trinkets collected along the way. this button is from one of her dresses. i got two of them from my mum years ago and they were actually from the late 1800s, right when the story takes place. i couldn't resist splitting the pair so deb could have one in her book.

another peek at some of the treasures...

if you can tell me what this is, i'll give you a buck (close up detail of something special).

part of a pocket. i am not in love with this yet so i will either add to it or recreate it. i keep vacillating about this piece.

i made this out of candle wax, an old chinese coin, copper paint and a baby wipe. it's part of a collection of goodies to go into the above pocket.

a glimpse of a portion of the front of what the above wax seal is on.

i'm not sure where yet, but i MUST use this eye-glass looking lens. it has a five on it which represents the five of us who are working on each others books. such a lovely old lens!


that was my previous obscure post from my blog. last night, i got lots more done... and will show things a little more "finished".

this is the camio shown above that fits into the round glass-like "box" shown above. okay, it's a petri dish. shhhh. i've aged vintage lace, ribbon and fabrics. around the edge, you will see little metal "bits". these are pins -- like the kinds used for sewing. i had to cut them in half with wire cutters as they were initially too long but i wanted some extra detail around the edges. i think i'll add more.

no project is complete (for me) without a wee bit o' crackle! you can see it WAY better in the enlarged version of this photo.

sometimes i get my heart set on something without thinking. i aged these old hinges for days in vinegar only to find (once they were perfect) that they were way too big. whoops! i'll use them in another project of course, and have already come up with an alternative idea for this.

this is a special little bottom part on the main page:

...it's the top of a compartment, hinged with leather from a vintage dress (it wasn't mine!) and old metal bits. i made this box out of foam core and lots of other things and part of the lid warped. it will be fixed and flat by the time i'm done, thus less "gappy".

the flap door opens up to reveal a pretty little black velvet lined compartment, but i'm not going to tell you what will be living in the compartment yet.

with any luck, i should have this completed within the next week or so and will have LOTS more photos and perhaps a video too -- debs is such an inspiration and had the most fantastic idea. it will help to reveal how things unfold, move, etc., i think.

Alicia's Book: The Museum of Forgotten Things, almost ready!

i have made some new additions to my book and gotten new photos taken. i have a few more pages to complete (three of which are started) and may or may not post those later. one of them does not fit the "museum of forgotten things" theme, but rather is a tribute to us five ladies working on the book and it's flight around the world. i also have yet to finish the cover, but should be doing so tomorrow.

page one is finally complete: charlotte. her page has some things i'd gotten from lisa j. and debs. i wanted to incorporate as much of everyone as i could into my pages, even though you'll be doing your own pages too... just felt right.



the top waxy-charlotte part opens up so you can read the charlotte poem:

page two is also complete and one you've seen lots of already so likely isn't too exciting. also, i lost my real dude photo that is supposed to go into the frame so rather than sew the frame on now i kind of glued it in a more temporary fashion so i can replace him later. whoops! supposedly that's a real diamond that i glued onto the flower. i don't really care for diamonds but i liked the little sparkle it added (i can't believe i of all people wanted something "sparkly"!).


page three is barely started and i'm not finishing it until the book makes its way back to me next year (primarily due to the fact that there will be bones, and such), so i SHOULDN'T post it, but i am. i sewed the pages together to form a folder of sorts and it will be stuffed with goodies later. this is more of a personal page and probably doesn't seem "forgotten" to most, but the super succinct reasoning is that i always wanted to be a forensic chick. that's a real dental x-ray and there is really dna on the slide. this is a funny shot -- during my very last stitch on this page, my needle broke.

i have to add some fabric to the page behind this piece, and a hinge, but here is a better shot of page six:

the top piece opens up to reveal another image (then the bottom piece will be hinged to open another time, revealing something else, but i'll save that for later peeks too). recognize some of the fabric, lisa j?


11/16 update:

this is page 5 -- there are 5 of us playing -- the nest has five little crystals in it -- the book, like the bird, is flying around the world... just a little tribute page that doesn't fit with the theme, but i don't care. ;)


and a couple of peeks at the new page four (old page four is now page six) -- a glass tube and broken glass watchmaker vial from the late 1800s with fabulous little pieces of paper from debbie, and on amazing fabrics from lisa j:

this looks cooler in person -- a spider web i made and sewed onto fabric before rusting it.

this page makes me thankful that i don't often sew. i sustained numerous injuries including a self breast needle biopsy, a needle under a finger nail and a hole in my thigh (accidentally sewed something to my jeans). i should stick with paint and paper. ;)