At the stroke of midnight...





It is so hard for me to believe that at the stroke of midnight tonight, my gorgeous little pirate will turn 18.


The day I had him is just so vivid in my mind. I am so fortunate for he is just an unbelievable son. I won't go into all the gushy mushy stuff here as most of you who read my blog do not know him. In this day and age where alot of kids can go off the rails, get into bad company and do the drug scene etc, I am blessed that I have such a level headed, sensitive, intelligent and well grounded individual. All who know him and have watched him grow into the fine young man he is today will agree. And NO I don't have my blinkers on.


My ex - Bob and I decided very early on after we seperated, many many years ago, to place the kids before any issues we had between us. As hard as that was and naturally sometimes we faltered, we upheld our agreement and our son is testimony to successful parenting even if divorced.


My gorgeous boy, now man, was a pillar of strength for me during many hard years. As I have told him so many times throughout his life - he is my rock. Much the same as my twin brother is. In fact they look and act - so - very alike that sometimes it is scarey. Today still he is my pillar of strength when needed. What more could a mother ask for?


Anyway, later tonight you will find me "shouting from the rooftop" and thanking G-d and the Universe for blessing me with the gift that is my son Ari.

xox

7 DAYS

A week can go by sooooo slowly sometimes, yet at other times it can fly.

This last week the time just flew by so quickly.

Michael and I had such a lovely week.

It was relatively quiet - which is what we chose it to be. Our time at this stage is so limited together but so full of quality - I guess one cannot ask for more.

My friend Ingrid who photographs my artwork is a most extraordinary photographer.

My experience in doing books for people on their life stories has revealed that we often only seem to take special photo's of our loved ones on special occasions. As I often document the lives of Holocaust Survivors, photo's of loved ones are rare. Sometimes they have just one torn and tattered photo that somehow survived with them.

It only takes one photo to keep a memory alive.

It has been a good reminder to document those times and people that are important to us.

Whether we like it or not our memories do fade.

So yesterday when the opportunity came, Ingrid, Michael and I went off to, off all places a heliport near Botany Bay. She told us it would be a perfect location to shoot some photo's as there were rusty doors and windows amidst graffiti in a disued area on the site. She took some beautiful photo's of us and I am so glad we did. I have only seen a few, so I thought I would share a couple with you.

They make me smile.

I am so glad we made the time to do it.

Thanks Ingrid!!!

And thanks Christine for helping Michael to "seize the day", you know what I mean...

I am so blessed to have Michael in my life.

He is the gentle soul who has brought happiness back into my life in so many ways.

xox

New Banner - Prize on offer:

I have been playing around with photoshop and finally produced my banner - which, mind you, I am very proud of. Naturally, there are numerous hidden meanings and symbols within it.

I have decided to give away a prize to the person who tells me what the symbols are and why you think they are there. The person who gets the most correct wins.

The prize which will be made up of a huge packet of COLLAGE-SSEMBLAGE (Term, trade-mark, Michael de Meng - he made me write it - lol)

You have 2 weeks from today.

Good luck!


Look what I got!



I recieved this gorgeous necklace from Ro recently. It's even nicer in reality. I so love the way she specially put the red velvet in it for me. I had to laugh when I saw it though. We both used the same copper hose holders, Ro for this and me within the Elephant book. I was about to post the book so i did not let on until Ro noticed it in the book. Ah yes, as they say, great minds think alike... yes i do know the other one about never differing.

Thanks Ro.


Look what I got too!



My wonderful blogging mate Ruth sent me this stunning ATC. Look how many layers there is too it and like Ro's piece, it looks so much better in real life. I love the red string and the Hebrew text.

Along with that came some of her resin and other papers from a really really old Jewish book. The funny thing is that the text she sent related, in fact, to her namesake Ruth from the bible. I won't go into the whole explanation, lets just say that there is just so much serendipity between Ruth and I, we are having a great time, saying "oh my G-d" to each other very very often.

Stop by and check out her latest shrine-like fabric art piece. It is AWESOME!

Thanks Ruth.


Michael's here playing again!



Michael and I are having such a nice time and as usual the time has flown by, hence my lack of posting, sorry but I know you will all understand. Yes he is working away on a piece at the moment. actually it's for Bob, my ex. He is using some of the pieces from the treasures that Bob brought him.

Ciao for now.

Thanks in the mist.

A hearfelt thanks.






What can I but a huge thanks to everyone who posted here about my book, "Of elephants and dreams". The response was so amazing and wonderful for the soul. I so appreciate the time eveyone took to let me know how they felt.


When I started to post, I never really intended it to be such a long blurb, it seemed that to post the photo's without some explaination to the why's and how's and for what purpose would have made the book less significant. It was certainly a journey for me. I am so ecstatic that for those who commented and sent me emails, that we enjoyed the journey together.


In the mist.





I got to the airport at 6.00am this morning. at times it was scarey driving. As I got closer and closer to the airport, the fog got thicker and thicker. I parked my car only to find out that flights had just been diverted to other ports. Michael's plane was now due to arrive at 9.00 so I went back home did a few things and went for coffee.





Just to give you a sort-of idea of what you are supposed to see...





You would normally see all the trees and houses leading up to South Head. Not today.
Anyway at 10.00am Michael finally arrived here - YAAH!


He was pretty exausted, especially coming off the back of the Art and Soul and Random Arts teaching circuit.


Almost exactly this time last year I headed to Cortona, Itlay to do both Michael's and Sally-Jean's workshops. There I made some amazing friends. Michael caught up with them at Art and Soul.





Here is Michael, Joy, Gerri, Karen and Katherine (red shirt).

I sooooo wanted to be there, I miss them all, they are talented ladies and gorgeous friends to have. Joy often spends time scouring the New York Garment district and sending me unbelievable packages of velvet ribbon and just about anything I want - amazing! They get together as a group from time to time and art away the day -so nice. All of them made and gave me such nice pressies when I was in new York at Christmas time. Today I recieved some stunning hand-dyed lace and (oops, cant quite post the last item) from Karen and Gerri.

Going on a 5 day workshop together in another country is a very wonderful and enriching experience. We all created a lovely bond. As I am writing this I am just cracking up laughing because there were so so so many classic and memorable moments that I will never forget. I just look at Gerri and I am practically on the floor.

Gerri, remember:


In the back of the car,
After the final dinner,
The bag over the head,
You saying, Oh no dear don't put the plastic bag over the head!!!
And the rest.
Miss you all.
See you all next year (hopefully) in Cortona!!!


Kristine!!!!
Thanks so much for your comment. Come to Cortona. Please email me your details. I want to talk to you. I miss you. Michael said it was so nice to see you at Art and Soul. Amazing what happens in a year, but you knew all of that already - somehow, back then.



At present I am trying to finish off a blank book for an Altered Book Round Robin. I am so excited about this. I am nearly finished.



I recieved two delightful pressies recently. I will photograph them hopefully tomorrow and try and post.



Thanks again everyone.
xox


P.S. Whats with blogger lately, nothing seems to be formatting well?

Part 4: “Of elephants and dreams”, The finale.

A little blurb before the blurb:

So many amazing comments and encouraging words from so many people. I am so touched by your responses and interest in the piece. I feel humbled, overwhelmed and excited all at that same time. So big hugs to you all even the anonymous people – I do not know who you are but thanks. Thanks to Anne who has made a number of comments, I wish I knew who you were too.

To my gorgeous Michael who is away teaching first at Art and Soul and then the last couple of days at Random Arts in North Carolina at the moment. Michael only saw this book when I posted it here. He had met Karen and Gina whilst he was here so he was happy that they were happy.
I loved and appreciated your comment and that you posted pictures of the book on your blog was so nice. Not sure what was nicer, my photo's or the crumbs of the scone lerftovers.
Thanks bebe, it meant so much to me, as you know.
The countdown is on... just 5 days to go till you land here.


Today I felt like “Grasshopper”!

When I awoke and went on my blog comments today I saw a comment from Nina, the artist who had so much influence on this piece. And what a beautiful comment it was. It’s hard to express how I feel that Nina took the time to publicly comment. It means the world to me.

And yes I cannot wait to spend 5 days with her next year. I will try to soak up everything she has to teach. Her techniques are so clever, well most of you reading this will know. I will be grateful to not zip through a one day workshop trying to remember it all. I am not a jeweller but those Nina knots got me stumped many a time until Ro came to the rescue.

Next year it's 5 days to see the world through Nina’s eyes. You know how she writes, how she views nature and then applies that into her works of art. I cannot wait. You know when every now and then someone comes into your life that has a significant impact on you and even changes your perspective on things.
Well such was Nina’s impact on me.
I mean who would have ever thought I would be foraging the harbours and beaches of this beautiful city for beach glass and rocks that look like hearts.
Nina, what have you done to me??? LOL, I am loving it. Thanks for opening my eyes to nature.

So why the photo and reference to Grasshopper and the series Kung Fu - (Gosh I am showing my age here). Well, Kwai Chang Caine (David Carradine) was trained mostly by Master Kan and Master Po at the Shaolin Temple in China.

The first meeting between the young Caine and Master Po contains the following:

"Of all things, to live in darkness must be the worst." -young Caine

"Fear is the only darkness." -Master Po

"Never assume that because a man has no eyes, he cannot see." -Po

'Close your eyes. What do you hear?' -Po

'I hear the water. I hear the birds.' -young Caine

'Do you hear your own heartbeat?' 'No.'

'Do you hear the grasshopper which at your feet?'

Caine opens his eyes and looks down at his feet to see a grasshopper there.

'Old Man, how is it that you hear these things?'

"Young Man, how is it that you do not?'"

So Master Nina, thanks from Grasshopper!!!

The finale - here we go!

This one is quite difficult to see. When Michael was here we found this large stained glass window made up of lots of smaller sections. So I used one piece, covered it in aged copper tape and put a photo of Karen behind it. The book cover is a multi layer collage done in beeswax. Collaged into it is part of a brochure on the Daily Job Description for the Water Buffaloes that are there too – it is hilarious – and I am glad I put it in cos Karen loved the description too. And the 50 is there for obvious reasons.

This was such an amazing photo and I use what’s called the lomo technique to accentuate the amazing colours that Thailand’s nature has to offer. Look at the colour of the water.
A quote from Kipling’s story, "The elephants child", was placed at the bottom of the photo.

“Then Kolokolo Bird said, with a mournful cry,
'Go to the banks ofthe great grey-green, greasy Limpopo River,

all set about with fever-trees, and find out.”

The signature has the bird here for that reason.

To the right of this photo you can see a bee’s waxed page that has jump ring on it. There were 4 element/pages linked together with jump rings. On page had the encyclopedic definition of elephants, one had the same for Thailand. Then I used those tissue paper patterns I scored from Spotlight – remember that – lol. For some reason I have forgotten to photograph the last section of it which said I love Harry’s-that’s what Karen has called elephants since she was a wee lass. Those interlinking pieces of paper covered the photo above.

"The Elephants Right of Way"

Well i think if an elephant was in my path I would give him/her the right of way too!

More on the use of this book below a bit.

Regarding the photo below,

can’t you just see the love and excitement in Karen’s eyes and smile?

So a heart rock we had to find.

I dragged 2 of my kids down to a local park with a stream through it and we went a-hunting. Jackpot.

I adore vintage lenses and this was one that I felt would go well here to focus on Karen utter joy, riding Yuki. The pocket that is beside it had another photo and held 2 caricatures of Yuki and Boon-mar that Gina and Karen received, so now it was safely tucked away in the book.

I saw Nina use a glove in one of the magazine articles – ingenious. As Gina wanted to insert the Agenda that was given to them, I thought the glove idea would be great. I transferred the elephant image on the paper next to the glove and placed the following Dr. Seuss quote:

“I meant what I said and I said what I meant,

an elephant’s word is one hundred percent”.

Why, pray tell, did I put that in here, I hear you asking?
Because it is Karen 100%.

She is Honest thru and thru and her word is 100% (as is Gina’s - mind you) so it seemed fitting.

My all time favourite photo.

I just love how I managed to pull this one off, even if I do say so myself. To Photoshop this to where I wanted it took me 4 hours. So many layers and to get the photo to grade so Karen’s image was highlighted within the circle as well – I was thrilled with the end result. So thrilled that I felt the photo, placed on a simple vintage black book cover would almost suffice.

Remember the post about the soldering problems – the microscope slide piece was this piece. I used part of their uniform in here too – “the birthday gift” – a little reminder of what this trip was from Gina to Karen. The other side said, “the elephants did this trek” – which was from a story within this book. More on that in a second.

On this the final page of the inside back cover is a photo placed in a niche of an encyclopedic definition of “Ride”. Here I placed a piece of… yes; you guessed it…beach glass. I added the words, ‘tales of big game adventures to the glass”. Mica is then placed on top and screwed into the 10 pages that were stacked on top of one another to house the photo. I stitched the top with wire – no easy feat, but it looked more effective than floss.

To this, the back cover.

I found myself wondering what I was going to do with this page.

A very dimensional element would not allow the book to sit correctly.

So I collaged the transparency photo on top of the following… a very old ephemera piece that I just loved. It is an architectural type element of an elephant – like a building, here is the image behind Karen’s photo.

I felt this page had to sum up the book a bit.

As such there is a photo of Gina riding.

I found an old piece of ephemera (bottom right corner) that was from a chewing gum packet. It was an ad for Elephant finger puppet chewing gum. I noticed at the bottom that it was manufactured in New York and I was kind-of hoping Karen would recognize it from her childhood – wild guess and hope.

Eureka!!!

She had some vague recollection of it. (I think Eureka is an Aussie term, it means, I hit the jackpot).

One day I felt I needed just one more book or story about elephants for this book. I looked in 3 bookshops that had vintage books till I found an old childrens annual that had this story in it. Bits and pieces of this story have been featured in this book.

“The elephants right of way” was the name of the story.

The really funny thing about this story which I did not read until I got home was that the main character was a girl named Judy.

Well, how bl—dy perfect was that.

So I placed the title page in the back page collage, right next to Karen to represent that I too became entwined in this journey of journeys.

Details, details, details.

I hope you have enjoyed coming along this journey with me. Every Visual Anthology I do has this amount of symbolism in it. I immerse myself in the books which is why sometimes I go off-line and cannot post for a few days at a time. It takes an enormous amount of my energy. When it is finished it is very nerve wracking until my clients receive it. I usually only get a small 20 minute brief or so then they hand it over to me.

Most of my other books/albums are 60 to 80 pages long.

They take a month of production time. But as I have said once before, it’s all worth it when that phone call comes in from the recipient. Then I can breathe again.

Yes sometimes it can be hard to hand them over but I know that they are treasured and loved by entire families.

A very special thanks to Karen and Gina who have afforded me the opportunity to show my work here. It is frustrating not to have been able to do so before. Can't wait to see what you do for Gina's 50th Karen.

Happy Mother's Day to one and all. I hope you get the appreciation you all deserve and breakfast in bed.

xox

Part 3 "Of elephants and dreams"...

Blue Bazaar:

I received a nice surprise today via email. Blue Bazaar’s newsletter arrived and I am humbled and honoured to say that I was the Blue Bazaar Gallery Spotlight this week.
I put some of the images of the Elephant Book in the BB gallery. I wasn’t quite sure if it would go down well there but it did so it was such a lovely surprise. Thanks Lu.

By the way Blue Bazaar is a great place to shop for product locally and their site, administrator, forum, design team and everyone there are all so lovely. Ev and Marie are members there too and Coby, is a big contributor/design team member if I am not mistaken. BB, as it is known, whilst mainly a scrapbooking site has a very artistic bent which is why I like it.

Ok so here we go with round 3.

The page below is when Karen and Gina are on the boat going to their destination. Not sure that the photo shows up that well as the mica reflects from the camera. I decided to do the page somewhat like a wall-hanging and cut through the fabric, inserting a very very very old and rusty (isn’t it amazing) hand-made nail through it.

So Gina explained to me that in their hut, they had a wall-hanging with a similar nail-like object, rusted and all. Can you believe it? The three beads or what looks like teeth are there to represent the elephants tusks.

But why did I put three?

Well quite apart from the aesthetic rule of 3’s, in Judaism if one does or says anything 3 times, then it means it is a fact, or true.
So 3 for the truth that Gina organized the trip for Karen’s pleasure.
3 for the fact that their love for one another is true.
3 for the fact that Karen is one of the most truthful people I know – she tells it like it is – I love that in a person.
See 3 things related to the number 3.

Yuki was Karen's Elephant

and...

Boon-mar was Gina's.

"And her dream did come true."

That was Karen's dream... to ride an elephant - how great is it when we can actually fulfill our dreams.

This photo is backed on a frame made from oxidised copper mesh - its a little hard to see here. The transparency which was also soldered is backed by a postcard.

Some of the book covers are so thick sometimes and attaching them to the signatures can be difficult too. But praise be Nina because she taught us how to make tabs out of copper mesh - wow are they strong, they hold almost anything but with some flexability, thanks Nina -you are such a genius, you know (she probably has no idea I am writing about her so much - hehehehehe).

Ok, the page below became the largest of the pages.

This transparency is placed on top of a map of where the elephant camp was. The old quill pen and other objects just seemed to fit the bill. There were lots of lush green trees as they travelled along their journey hence the skeleton leaf and appropriate button.

Again the photo on the left was matted on an oxidised copper mesh frame which has handmade marbled paper behind it (from Volcano Arts). Hidden from view here is the copper basket to mimick the one in the photo – you can see it in the original post photo. As I didn’t have any copper jump rings, which seem to be a rarity, I made and smashed my own – can’t really believe I did that. Just love this photo. What is written is part of the Rudyard Kipling story explained a bit further down. (Gosh this is so exhausting).

To the right of this photo is the elephant fabric (I ended up driving for an hour just to get this fabric) which is actually a pocket. It houses the name place-cards from Karen’s party before they left for Thailand. A girls gotta have lots of places in a book like this to house all the memorabilia.

The metal piece above the elephant is something I found when we went “junking” in Cortona Italy almost this time last year. It’s so funny when you find all these bits and pieces or treasures – one never knows just when and how they will be used. It just seemed to be appropriate for this page and I left it as is because I felt it was so beautiful in its own right.

These are the 6 elephants that are part of the place where they did the trek. Again I did not know there were only six. There goes that instinct again.

Ok, now smell !!! MMMMMMMMM

This page was collaged with beeswax.
Smells very yummy.

The Thai writing on the back comes from the brochure explaining how the elephants came to be in the possession of the owners who run the trek and their history – sometimes very sad – but now they are much loved and better off. The background paper, Gina gave me from the trip. The page is done on a vintage book cover as are lots of the pages.

"Just So Stories" by Rudyard Kipling is the base of this and the following page. In it, is the story called the elephants child and it is the story of just how the elephant got his long trunk. Michael put me on to it ( he is such a sweetie) and you will see in a few pages where I have put some text pertinent to photo’s.

The photo of Karen was a soft-gel medium transfer – it took forever to get all the paper of it once transferred - but the results were pleasing. The bit of material hanging from the top right-hand corner has five antique silver heishi's – Gina told me this is one of Karen’s lucky numbers.

So Gina got eight silver heishi's attached to her page.

Well there is not much more to go but really this is quite an exhaustive process. The next post will have the last of the pages in it.

Just to answer one of the comments. Yep, Karen has recieved this already, that is why I am posting this. I would never post before the recipient recieves it.

Gosh all of your commetns are so good for the ego. I really cannot express adequately how much it means to me that you guys let me know what you think, really!

So kisses and hugs to you all.

xox

P.S. Something is up with this blogger cos the spacing is all crazy - sorry, but it's out of my hands.

PART 2 - HERE WE GO

"Of elephants and dreams" Part 2:

First of all, thanks to all of you who commented and sent me emails about the book. It means so much to me that you all took the time to let me know what you thought. I really appreciate it and I am so glad and grateful to be able to share it with you-my friends.

So, remember how Karen recieved the itinerary at the zoo in the piece of bamboo (great idea Gina - we should all be so lucky to have such a caring and very thoughtful partner - good on you) well the photo below is of Karen as a little girl. Isn't she beautiful!!! Anyway the photo which is actually a transparency placed over a photo is framed by that very bamboo. Yes the colour has now changed and I had to slice it down.

Other significant bits and pieces are the text I chose. It is from "A tale of two cities". I chose that texts amongst hundreds because Gina is an Aussie from Sydney and Karen is from New York.

Secondly if you look carefully at the bottom under the buttons it says, "Oh Solomon, dear Solomon!" Gina's surname is Solomon.

Everything I put in these books has a reason for being there. I do go to great lengths to make the books extra significant, love it when the clients realize and find the extra symbolic things. I guess that's why it takes me so long to finish a book but everyone loves that extra attention to the detail that I try to put in. Hope I don't sound like a "wanker" here - it's just what I do.

It is hard to see but depending on the angle at which you view the photo, as it is a transparency - you kind of get a double image.

Regarding all the photo's in the book, they were all standard colour photo's. However I decided I would give them a vintage feel as you will see throughout. Gina did want to keep most of the photo's in colour so I had to learn lots of new photoshop techniques to make them look like polaroids, through the viewfinder-type and dualflex - which basically means a really dusty old camera lens. each photo took a couple of hours to get to where I wanted them to be - alot harder than just making them Sepia toned.

Here is Karen recieving the bamboo and I blurred out the guy cos he was a bit of a distraction in the photo. To the right of the photo is a vintage leather eyeglass holder that I used as a pocket to hold the itinerary in. The flap at the top is there to protect the photo from scratching which is what happens when the bamboo piece sits on it.

I really should show you what this fabric looked like new, ink, paint and the heat gun did a great job of ageing it. At one point it started to shrink and burn which was great - and yes i took precautions not to burn another hole in my carpet like i did when Michael was here. Inside the bottle marked with 50 is bits of the paper that Gina used to make the name-place settings for the dinner before they left for Thailand.

Then you open up that image and...

You see this - a photo of Karen and her brother - gorgeous looking as well.

This image above has to be one of my favourite pages. I love the old ephemera image of the elephant and the door knob frame. The frame took me two hours to refine so it looked perfectly straight - well as straight as I could get it. Then I gave a deMeng wash of paint, it was already a gorgoues old brass so it didn't need much. I put the feet of the elephant at the bottom of it, my little attempt to be a bit artistic. But I do like the mica sandwiched between the photo (that was inked and aged at the top & bottom) and the frame - in the shape of a heart. Bottom left of that is the xox handsewn. Yummy, just loved how this turned out.

This is a pocket that I cut off from the uniform that karen and Gina wore whilst riding the elephants. I attached the instructions/words for the elephant commands to the rod above it and stuck it inside the pocket. What I did not know until they picked up the book was that that is how they wore the commands, around the neck and tucked into the pocket. Apparently the key was similar to the one that they had for opening the door to their hut. Funny how that happens.

The triangle around the words is kind of obvious.

When I am doing these albums I really do go into a kind of meditative state, trying to focus on the clients experience and or life moment. I play appropriate music and in the end, apparently, I do things instinctively that are correct for the message that is needed to evoke the story behind the photo. It's hard to explain - not sure if I am explaining it correctly.

There's more to come but gotta go to my eldest son Ari's very last parent teacher evening. I can't quite believe it's the last one before HSC ( for any of my American friends visiting this post, it's the final mammoth exams before our kids complete High School).

So sorry but to be continued..

Finally... revealing part of a Visual Anthology!

"Of elephants and dreams"



This is how I titled the book I have just completed.

Gina, a friend of mine who I have known since early childhood, commissioned the book for her partner Karen. To celebrate Karen turning 50 (sorry Karen, but you don't look a day over 30) Gina arranged to go to the Zoo in Sydney. There, an elephant presented Karen, via it's trunk, a huge bamboo cylinder. Inside the cylinder was the itinerary for the surprise trip. The book I just finished was about their elelphant trek through Thailand's Golden Triangle. Karen has loved elephants since she was a child so imagine the surprise when she recieved the itinerary from one.

Fortunately, I am able to share this Visual Anthology with you.





I feel it is befitting to state that having done one of Nina's classes at Artisitic Journey , it certainly influenced this book. So thankfully some of the techniques I learned, whilst rushed, as they are in a one day workshop, were honed well here. Nina is an not only an artist whom I greatly admire but has become a lovely friend as well. If I could only produce as well as Nina does - we all live and dream.

I would like to make special mention of Christine Cox from Volcano Arts. I have been a customer of Volcano for some-time now. I emplore those who do book arts and any artisitic endeavour to look at what Christine has to offer. She has an abundance of helpful information on her site too in "The Muse". Her service is amazing, fast, efficient and very personal when needed. I do not know too many people in the industry who answers calls at all hours - and rushes to the post office whilst trying to teach workshops and run a shop - for someone desperate for product from the other side of the world. Chrisitine does and did - so thanks, you are a life saver. I could not have finished it without your amazing products.

Befitting an elephant story, the book took on mammoth proportions. I had to bind the front and back last as I was not sure just how big it would be. When I first saw all of the pages stacked up, one on top of the other, I nearly collapsed from worry - what if I could not bind it all so it would sit correctly?
How was I going to stitch the signatures in?
Do I start from front to back or visa versa?
I took a mega logical approach and worked through it bit by bit until it worked.
It was so wonderful to work in unlimited dimensions. Being a perfectionist, whilst I ummmed and ahhhed over how the signatures of the book would fit to the binding and whilst it was a struggle, the struggle was indeed worth it.
Working in these dimensions and being able to adapt any part of the book myself was sooooo liberating.




Alot of the treasures within the book came from the haul Michael and I received from my ex Bob (see earlier post). The metal piece on the top of the front cover looked to me like an elephants trunk, a perfect embellishment to adorn the front of the book, I thought.





Ah yes! I went through copious amounts of Liquid nails. My dremel and soldering iron got a good workout. And it was only on the very last of hundreds of setting of eyelets did I manage to smash my index fingernail which is now an unsightly blue! I managed to go through an eyelet setter and the punch because the vintage book covers used were sooooo thick. Liver of sulphur stunk the house out for 2 days as well. i almost went through an entire stamp re-inker of walnut ink - and that was alchohol ink which goes really far - so you can imagine just how much I went through.




As with all my Visual Anthologies a hand is always featured - usually on the first or introductory page. Why a hand?
In Judaic and Middle Eastern customs, the hand or "Chamsah", as it is known, is the symbol that wards off the evil eye. It is a protective amulet, as it were. My VA's usually tell a story of someone's life and involves a celebration of some-sort. The books are usually seen by many people and I put the Chamsah in so as to protect my client from any jealous eyes.



The hinged frame, when opened, reveals the Chamsah. Under this one I have featured an elephant's trunk and leg. I symbollically wanted to protect not only Karen but the elephants she holds dear. As we all know, elephants are poached for their ivory and are taken from their environments/habitats for a number of reasons - so I felt to combine the hand with the image would be befitting.


Thanks for looking.

To be continued...


Thinking Blogger.

On that Thinking Blogger thing that is whizzing around blogs at present I have recieved three.

Not sure why really and I have been avoiding it but thanks to Ruth Rae for the latest one. At least I think it was on of those... Ruth and I have indeed become good blog mates. I absolutely adore her art. Her fibre works are soooo inspiring and so much thought goes into each piece. She is such a deep and spiritual person - something that I very much appreciate in her and her work. I was initially attracted to her work as I stumbled upon her blog and noticed that the background was opaqued out Hebrew Text. I became curious and more and more of her art was revealing the use of Hebrew texts - which I do as well. So one day I just had to ask her why she used them. I am such a busy-body sometimes. Anyway, so started a lovely link between us, her love of the look of the hebrew letters and my knowledge of all the texts she was putting in her art. I am so grateful to have found Ruth and hope to meet her one day, maybe at Artfest next March.

Then there was the nomination from Ro Bruhn - thanks Ro you were the first of two in one day. It was so nice of you to nominate me - as stated previously, not really sure why as I do not really reveal, or so I thought, the thinking side of me on this blog. But alas maybe I do without even realising it. Anyway Ro and I met at the Artistic Journey retreat earlier this year. What a giving person, what a great blogger and a very very talented artist. Lately we have been doing lots of shopping for each other and I even recieved a magnificent piece of Ro's art, a gorgeous necklace, which I will take a photo of soon and post. Ro even incorporated Red Velvet into it - How nice was that - my favourite. You are such a darling Ro, so thanks.

I happened to be checking out what Fibre Artist Extraordinaore Barbe Saint John was up to and there I was, listed on her Thinking Blogger list. It happened to be on the same day as Ro and I thought what is happening here. Anyway I met the ever so lovely Barbe when I was in the USA last year. She is a great friend of Michaels and he really wanted me to meet up with her so we did. Barbe is a great girl, "shoots from the hip" and that's what I love about her, my kinda woman. Yes she is another of the talented bunch I have met and, boy, does "she spin a good yarn"- lol. Well actually, go check out her blog, she really does spin her own yarn - delicious stuff. Anyway, thanks Barbe, hope we can catch up soon.

Sooooo, not sure about the 5 links I am supposed to forward on... still thinking... will let you know.

Shared Images

I am working like mad to finish the album I spoke about, so there is not a great deal to report. Whilst looking for Elephant ephemera I stumbled on lots of interesting bits of ephemera and images. So this post is not really a post but sharing very different images with y'all!!! The resolution on most should be high enough for you to use.

Please enjoy!

Weirdo image below, the gears are cool...

For the "Alice" fans...

And for the birdy fans...

I think Marie should like this one...

For bag-pipe lovers - another etching from that book I previously posted...

For fans of "Victoriana"...

Nice vintage book cover...

Cute...

Have fun.

Hopefully I will have some art to share really soon, it's taking much longer than I thought to finish the Elephant Journey one. I am about to put the album together and make all the signatures tomorrow. It is sooooo dimensional that I am worried it may have to go to two books - which seems to happen with me and my other Visual Anthologies - it's hard for me not to get carried away as I really want the books to be so special for those recieving them - probably to my demise.

Ciao for now.