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. ;)

Lisa's Labyrinth Book

Update 7, Nov 2.
Well here they are, 2 completed spreads in my book. I am not planning on doing any more than that or there won't be room for you guys! lol. I still have to do my last signature which will hold some swap pieces.In between each signature is a piece of paper which I have glued in which will act as each persons VD page/Notes/Sign area or what ever else you want to use it for. Also, just because I have done a page to interpate the definition of Labyrinth dosn't mean you have too...just what ever comes to mind when you think of Labyrinth!

Update 6. October 27.

My finished cover. Its not perfect but over all I am happy with the result. I used wax to fill the niche and set the circuit board into it. It's settled a bit flatter than what it looks here. Sure hope my book dosn't encounter any hot places on it's way around the globe though!

Update 5
Ok, so here's the cover nearly finished. The foam board was covered with pva glue and gold tissue paper and then it underwent a treatment of indian ink and watered down gesso until I was happy with the look. The copper foil was eventually found and bought and as you can see it looks great around the niche! Great advice:) The book cover itself was red so I rubbed indian ink onto it using make-up pads. I still need to stick the circuit board in proparly...

The pic above makes my book look reallly fat and I am only posting it here because I love it:)

The photo below shows how the foam has gone and bowed on me BUT I think I've taken care of that with a liberal does of glue and the use of my flower press! (Bottom pic.)

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Update 4
Ok, so here's what I am playing with at the moment. My son is a 'pull it apart to see what it's inside' kinda boy. He's after the motors and lights from things and I occasionally inherit bits of copper wire and circuit boards. I stopped getting them from him because I wasn't using them, I just like them coz the look pretty! Anyway, today one of them got put to good use and I cut a niche from foam board to put it in for my books cover. Isn't it beautiful and jewel like? and the maze pattern is just perfect for labyrinth! As you can see I've cut the niche a bit crooked (!!) so I will need to figure out how to fix that...maybe I am going to have to cut the whole thing bigger now and then some how fill in the 3mm gap I will have? Doh!
Also, I am going to fix this foam board to the cover of my book, am thinking of using PVA but not sure if it is durable enough? Any suggestions of what glue to use? I have also done a bit more inside my book but that will be another post as the kids need to be picked up from school very soon!

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Post 3.
This book is in my mind, thoughts and dreams 24/7 lately so I am so pleased to have had 3 whole hours to play today and an hour yesterday! I am loving the way it's coming out so far. I've done most of my 'title' page too (not photographed yet) and you can see a teeny peak of it in the top photo. The weaving thing had the last minute addition of the beads which slide along the cotton a bit like a abacus but in a different direction. I love the rythmn of them as you slide them along. The word 'entanglement' became quite literal at several points today but this has been such a labour of love it's hard to put down! I am sure you all know the feeling!

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Post 2.
I am being bad,very bad. I should not be here doing this post or playing with books but the urge was to strong...I just finished tying the last kebab stick to my page, they will form the framework for a weaving of threads and papery things. The back of it is the photo below. I left the thread tails long so they'd tangle but I may tie things on to them as well...my thoughts are still thinking!

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Post 1

It's not much compared to the trillion and one ideas I have for this book in my head but here's a sneak peek at my books begininngs! My theme is Labyrinth. Not as in David Bowie Labyrinth but as in the dictionary definition of the word "intricate and tangled, windings, entanglement" which to me describes anything from a nest (suprise! suprise!) to intiricate celtic work and old vintage letters....in the days of sloped and curly handwriting not computer fonts!Anything that is interwoven, bound or maze like... I look forward to seeing how everyone else translates it when this book moves around each player!

What you see here is my book (an old novel) divded into signatures for each player (my husband is drilling the cover for me later so I can add another) and a sneaky glimps of 2 of my bound pages.