Kim's contribution to Debs Book- Through the eyeglass

I have almost finished my piece in Debs masterful creation 'Through the Eyeglass' but thought I had better update you all on the goings on.
Debs piece revolves around a central character, Maude. Now Maude has had some heartbreak in her life. After recovering from what appears to be a loveless marriage, Maude was finally free to return to the love of her life, Damien, and the two have been travelling the world happy to be back in each others arms again at last. Oh, I can hear all your little hearts fluttering already. But...
(You so know there has to be a but don't you.)

Somethings popped up!


Now don't go gettin all defensive thinking I'm ruining Maude's perfect life now she finally has her man here.



It's just that life has a way of sidetracking us all just when you think you have it all worked out!


And so...



On to the latest doings in the life of Maude and Damien.



Now Damien did have a life before he teamed up with young Maude you know!



And so now...


There's something about a map...





a little travel to parts unknown...

and the remains of a civilisation...

and there's a brass book...




So, will you come with me to...

If you would like to catch the rest you will have to pop over to my blog for the finer details :)

So far that is...

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

i have finally completed deb's book and found the time to photograph it. here are a couple of photos of the completed book, and you can see about three times more on my blog: altered bits

if you missed the first post, you can view it here.

i reshot a few photos of the color because it looked a little too pink before. this is a more accurate representation.

previously, i had not revealed what was in this lower compartment on the main page because i hadn't finished it.

it's an owl... because deb loves owls.

actually, an owl necklace. i am NOT a jewelry person so it looks like it barely made it through those hundred and fourteen or so years... but the thought behind it was sweet, i hope.

the back page is a huge ol' pocket that houses all of the paperly things they collected along their travels.

here are the items: altered postcard, a map, a photo or three, something else...

the backs of two of the items. i had a lot of fun fashioning that wax seal out of paint and... wax.

i'll be shipping this off to kim the moment i find a box large enough -- and that is my quest for tomorrow.

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.