Fragements, Vestiges and Remains- Lisa Sarsfield's contribution

Page 1, dedicated to the Maori

Page 2, dedicated to the missionary who befriended both parties.

Page 3, dedicated to the British.

The King's movement v's the Queens.

This is the BATTLE OF GATE PA.

 

I'm on a roll! Here's some close ups of the work I've been doing in Kim's book. It's all very "New Zealand!"

My theme is the Battle of Gate Pa and you can see the rest on my blog. http://lisasarsfield.blogspot.com/

alicia's final contributions to kim's book: fragments, vestiges & remains

i am pleased to say that i have completed my additions to kim's book, fragments, vestiges and remains and it is currently en route to lisa j. you can read more about it on my blog: http://alteredbits.wordpress.com.

around the glass door on page one (see this post for more details), i've added beeswax and acrylic to the copper tape edging i did to give it an aged look and make it a wee bit less coppery.

another view:

i LOVE how kim's glass bottles with scrolls in them work so well with my page too:

here is that page in its entirety:

it's not really this red in person, but i had a mishap with some red alcohol ink that i was using on a different project. as it turns out, i love it. phew!

the page was a bit top-heavy to i cut off the bottom and added a stitched and embroidered pieces of black linen to the top to even things out. i love the contrast in texture of the different fabrics:

at the very beginning, i wanted to find five elements that i could use one of each in everyone's book so there was that one, simple element that matched in each of my five book contributions. i found these elements in seth apter's etsy shop. thank you seth!

here is the whole completed second page in the book:

and the spread of both pages in the book, all ready to go:

i am just loving the side view of fragments, vestiges and remains!

i forgot to take photos of each of the books within the book: the diary pages behind the photo of della on the "white" page and the history of the portland underground under the trap door on the "black" page. maybe i can con one of the girls into taking some for me. assembling those were part of the most time consuming aspects of the book, but so much fun! the pages are aged with instant coffee and made to look very old. they look pretty darn cool if i do say so myself.

i now have deb's book and have already started in on it: though the eye glass. so check back soon as i'll have images to post.

Fragments, Vestiges and Remains -Kim Updated

I guess you all thought I'd completely fallen off the planet by now, but no just at it full on in the new studio!
Honestly, moving, what a hassle, and trying to find everything! At last I have my book done and it will be off to Alicia, (who probably has no hair left after worrying if I will ever finish it, and we can't have that cause bald for ladies is NOT a good look!!!).
Well enough about that let's move on and take a peek shall we, while I fill you all in!

Under the cover a little fabric play...





Yes, good advice, don't lose anything Kim! The words sit on a pillow of textural fragments. Under the cheesecloth, zillions (cause I just looove that word, LOL) of fabric threads from assorted projects that I have kept over time.


On the opposite page...


something for us, the contributors to the book.


Five sweet little cherubs (just like us really!).

Underneath I have constructed a chatelaine.
Okay I can hear you all going what??? from here!
In past times a chatelaine was a collection of chains which women would attach to their belts to hold the household keys.
In this case it will (hopefully!!!) contain a token from each of the participating artists. Something that reflects the friendship that has arisen from this collaboration together. For my part I have added a key and a token that says friendship, representing the keys to our friendship together.

But wait there's more...



The page opens up to reveal, a little suprise...

An additional section for the contributing artists. Five small hand made books, one for each of us to write in.
I thought it would be nice to hear from each artist about their work in the book. Here we can talk about our piece, what's behind it, or how it developed, maybe add a small picture of ourselves and to sign the work here. Each little book is constructed of a suede outer cover and watercolour paper and hand bound. The other inner page shows a picture of five birds and says 'the song of the five chicks'. Well that would be us, five chicks collaborating together in our books and our song is our art.



So, now onto my contribution to fragments, vestiges and remains.

This piece has been coming for some time. I don't mean in how long it has taken to get it done, more in it has been a persistent nagging thing in my head that just demanded to be done. Funny how that happens sometimes.


The piece is about the Anzacs and Gallipoli. For those who don't know, Gallipoli, in Turkey was the scene of a catastophe that resulted in huge loss of life to all participants on both sides during the first world war. For Australians and New Zealanders it forged a bond that remains so strong it has never left us. Anzac is an acronym for the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, but the word has become such a part of our culture and has such significance attached that the acronym was dropped during the war and was awarded status as a word of its own. On April 25th 1915, Australia, New Zealand, England together with it's colonial troops from India and the French attacked Turkey on the beaches of Anzac cove. The next few months saw the cream of the nations young men die in a futile attempt to take possession of a strip of land they would eventually leave a few months later, after the deaths of thousands of men from both sides. Almost 500,00 men from both sides lost their lives in a campaign which ended some 9 months later and resulted in a win for the Ottoman Empire. It changed our nation. Australians entered the war having implicit faith in the dominance of the English Empire. We came out the other side a nation forged in war and have never forgotten the lessons since.

Anzac day is a traditional holiday here. Thousands march each year and even though the numbers of original Anzacs have dwindled to a few old men, their sons and grandsons march for them each year, maintaining their place in the parades. It is a touching sight.


And so onto the piece...


A map dominates the left side of the page...

The piece is a reflection of a number of real men's lives combined into one. In researching the war records of the Anzac soldiers I came accross the military papers of Pte. Francis William Edwards. Pte. Edwards joined the 1st Australian Lighthorse in 1914 at the age of 22. After training young Francis shipped out with his comrades to Egypt then onto Gallipoli. He lost his life there in May of 1915.

I have collected copies of Pte Edwards war records and added some items that would have been typical of a soldiers belongings at the time. Photographs of some of the lighthorse regiment are included, (many thanks to the Australian War Memorial for their pictures which are reproduced under a commons licence), although I can find no pictures of Francis himself anywhere. I have included items to represent those listed in his personal belongings and which would fit into the piece, it is after all a book (which is beginning to bulge out now!).
Also included here a diary I have constructed which reproduces a few entries made by the original soldiers in their own diaries from the war in Gallipoli.




On the opposite page a dedication to those lost Anzac men.

The words are not my own but were reprinted from a newspaper of the times in approx 1917, I think! I can't name the paper it came from as I don't have those details, but I think the words spoken so eloquently then, are just as poignant today.




Under the flap another window which reveals the Ode.

The Ode is recited at every official Anzac memorial service held today.

Opposite the Ode is a fragment, a piece of a letter to represent the thousands sent from home to those boys at the front.



And under that a small piece of our flag.




The remains of a nations beliefs, shaken and reborn.



And a picture of an unknown Australian soldier from the period. This young man lost his life too.
(The picture is courtesy of the Australian War Memorial and is also available under a commons licence.)



A young man chosen to represent many other young men.





I could not resist this young boys eyes. He could be Francis.
At least he is here.


So now the book will be on it's way, winging across the world to Alicia.
I can't wait to see her contribution and those of the others as it travels around. Of course their input will be different again as I haven't constructed a story to this book but instead want it to reflect lots of different fragments of things. When it finally returns home to me, I have reserved a final section in the book to add something else of my own...

but you will have to wait for those remains a little while longer.

Kim's Book- Fragments,Vestiges & Remains

Update #2-Covers Completed -25 October

Well I have finished the covers of the book at last, well at least as much as they will be done before they zoom off to all the other collaborators for their round the globe trip. I have more to add, a collection of brass fittings, but will add none of these items until the book makes it's final return back to me here in the land of tropical paradise. Too much postage weight!


I have added a fragment of book text.




Well I did say a fragment!



Then I filled the niche with the remains of a burned photograph...




and the vestiges of the belt buckle after its transformation...

I add a few other details...




the remnants of some chain...




all that remains of some beads I have particularly liked...




and the covers have come together at last.






So here it is...


'Fragments Vestiges and Remains'



a story about the little pieces...

Update #1 Cover Play - 21 October

Well blog readers, time to progress on.

After all the fun of burning it's time to change the colour of the covers. The deep blue isn't really what I'm after so it's time for some colour fun. After a little contemplation I decided I rather liked the boards and their aged fabric look so why not just give them a small renovation, and update their colour. Bit like one's home really. I decided to add some walnut ink, I love the oldtime feel this ink gives to everything it touches. A third of a bottle and 2 drying days later to make sure the boards and covers are completely dry,
here's the result...



Better I think. As I said it has kept the book covers natural distressed look without changing anything except the colour.

I like it!

I decide to continue with the inking fun and have dyed some fabric remnants to add to the covers.
Gotta keep with the theme here! LOL!

I have kept going with the walnut ink to build on the aged look for the covers, dying the cheese cloth and tulle to match the new colours.

Time to glue them to the book cover.

That done the drying is now underway.

Time to work on some embellishments.
This was originally a very ugly belt buckle, but like everything else it's had a makeover and will go over the burnt hole in the front cover.

Getting there. Now to wait for the drying...

I'm sooo impatient!

Time to Start - 18 October

Okay, so finally I'm on the mend from whatever the latest round of nasty virus is and it's time to blog some art, Yay!
I am so excited to be a part of this collaboration with this talented group of artists! So after much soul searching and internal debate I finally decided on a topic and format for my part in Pulp Redux!

It has a title, or at least it will soon enough, LOL!

How about...

Fragments, Vestiges and Remains!


I rather like bits of things, especially anything that's antiquated, vintage or just plain old and interesting. What can I say, I'm just curious!
I rather expect you can take this theme to include almost anything you like really. Perhaps fragments of art, text, textiles, texture (drool!!!) or something a little more esoteric maybe. A fragment of an interesting person's life, or a period of time!
Anyway you decide, I am sure it will be interesting and hopefully there's lots of scope for all players to find something that interests them within the theme.

It will be a book! I rather mean an already exisiting one rather than a newer construction, which I did consider but then rebuffed as I rather thought the title of the collaboration warranted my finding an already exisiting book and repurposing it.

So here's my book.


It is 10" x 7" so large enough pages for plenty of fun. The book is an old Dutch textbook-'An Introduction to English Art'.


Here's a brief look inside.

Aren't the art pics lovely! Gainsborough Yumm!
Now I have removed approximately a third of the pages to make a little room for lumps and bumps with the intention that I will likely have to rebind the book after it finally makes it's way back to Oz. Sorry girls but the lovely pics constituted the removed pages of the book. I decided they were too good to waste and will keep them for inclusion in other projects, but I rather think one or two may end up in Andrea's book somehow! I decided to keep the book bound this way so participants don't have to pay for the extra weight of bindings in the postage at present and I will just sort it out at the end. The book has been divided into six sections to accommodate everyone which means that after trimming the pages everyone has approximately 15 pages (30 if you count both sides) each to play with. Not too many but the paper is quite a good thickness and sturdy enough for some quality play. This will also stop the postal weight and costs being too prohibitive, at least I hope so!


So now it's time to do something with the books covers!
As you can see it's a board and cloth bound book, navy blue colour.
Might have to change that I think, but first, the heavy duty alterations.

Chop, chop, wow book boards are tough going to cut!!!
A small hole to create a recess in the cover.

And now those of you that know me, know I can't resist a good burning...
so guess what's next...


Burning, yay, (the fire bug's at it again, LOL!).

I have burnt the cover and first few pages to create a shallow niche in the front of the book to create a new title.

Here's how it looked after the burning session.

Getting there! Now maybe it's time to do something about that blue colour...