Archive for the ‘Materials’ Category

Oak Forest Axe Book

Monday, March 20th, 2023

Quote Used–The forest was shrinking but the trees kept voting for the axe. For the axe was clever and convinced the trees that because its handle was wood it was one of them.

When I realized the pages would become a thick book,
Forest Axe Pages

I debated about whether it should be a book or a wallpiece. This would have been the layout if I had decided to make a wallpiece.
Forest Axe Layout

The first sentence is constructed with green paper; the second sentence with kraft paper.

Because the project was always intended to be a book, I decided to emphasize the thickness by adding twigs for the binding. A twig was bound to each page (two pages back to back).

Forest Axe Book

The binding references a stack of logs.
Forest Axe Book

Originally, this was to be the last page. The code is a period, the end. It is appropriately juxtaposed with the acorn, the hopefulness of a new beginning.

Forest Axe Book

Forest Axe Book

Knitted Binding for the Acorn
Forest Axe Book

Words throughout the book are separated by oak twigs.

The Forest
Forest Axe Book

Left Page–Was; Right Page–Shrinking
Forest Axe Book

Left Page–But; Right Page–The Trees
Forest Axe Book

Left Page–Kept; Right Page–Voting
Forest Axe Book

Left Page–For The Axe; Right Page–.
Forest Axe Book


Left Page–For The Axe; Right Page–Was Clever
Forest Axe Book

Open and Flat on Tabletop
Forest Axe Book


Left Page–And; Right Page–Convinced
Forest Axe Book

Left Page–The Trees; Right Page–That
Forest Axe Book

Left Page–Because; Right Page–Its Handle
Forest Axe Book

Left Page–Was Wood; Right Page–It Was One
Forest Axe Book

Left Page–Of Them; Right Page–Note Envelope

Forest Axe Book

Notes–Quote
Forest Axe Book

Materials-paper, tree wrap, roofing felt, oak twigs, oak leaves, an acorn, fiber, and PVA.

Scale
8.5″ X 6.5″ X 8.5″ when bound
8.5″ x 6″ x 6.75″


Old Stories, Old Friends

Thursday, March 9th, 2023

George R R Martin quote-Old Stories are like old friends. You have to visit them from time to time.

Old Stories is the rolled and oxidized piece. The piece next to it is one of my See a Penny pieces.
The rust on the piece did get away from me a bit. Less rust would make for an easier read of the code.

Old Stories

Oxidized clip to hold rolled piece.

Old Stories

Removed clip is tucked into one of the oxidized cotter pins at top of piece.

Old Stories

Piece unrolls to 125″. The piece over the lamp is from the *Eroded Contours series. It is bronze and ceramic.

Old Stories

Used the same fixed up paper to make a matchbook like envelope for the notes on the project.

Old Stories

The note paper had to be folded above tuck for the cover. Made an accordion fold with a tab at the top to easily open the accordion.

Old Stories

When the note paper is unfolded, it tucks into the cotter pin at the top for an easy read.

Old Stories

Materials–Paper, Rust, Sheetrock Tape, Fiber, PVA, Metal, Bamboo

Scale–Rolled 27″ x 3″x 4.5″; Unrolled 125″ x 3″ x .25″

Clip was oxidized in a solution of peroxide, white vinegar, and salt.

Oxidation

Oxidation

*Eroded Contours started with the idea, can fired clay embedded in wax survive the bronze casting process and how would bronze with embedded clay function during the glaze process.


Corruption Book

Friday, March 3rd, 2023

I used a George Orwell quote for the interior of the book. There is no swifter route to the corruption of thought than the corruption of language.

Corruption

Cover Code–Harmful Thoughts Dangerous Words
Corruption

Corruption

Corruption

Code Left Side–the; Right Side–Corruption
Corruption

Corruption

Corruption

Materials–Tree Wrap, Roofing Felt, Cardstock, Plaster Tape, Cotton Fiber, Waxed Linen, Stainless Washers, PVA, CMC.

Scale–4.25″ x 3.25″ x 2.25″.


Texture Plates to Use with a Gel Press

Friday, March 3rd, 2023

I recently ordered a Gel Press. While waiting for it to arrive, I made some texture plates to use with it. I also made wax stick rubbings of letters and numbers.

Tomorrow, the plan is to make china marker code pieces. I think that will be the most promising to use in place of embroidery.

Texture Plates
The materials are mounted on either cardboard or a thin square of wood.

Packing Material
Texture Plate

Cardboard
Texture Plate

Cardboard with Cotton Twine
Texture Plate

Rug Mesh
Texture Plate

Tile Mesh
Texture Plate

Variety of Cardboard
Texture Plate


Simon Hurley Stamping Foam Tests

Friday, March 3rd, 2023

I recently purchased a package of Simon Hurley Stamping Foam. I like the idea that the foam can be reused. Heat the foam, make an impression, heat the foam, impression vanishes, make a new impression.

This is my first attempt using the stamps. It took a couple of goes to figure out hot much heat to use and how much pressure to apply to the objects used for impressions.

Foam Stamp 1

Foam Stamp 2

Foam Stamp 3

Foam Stamp 4A

Curious if I could make an impression on the flipside. Would the original impression would be altered? Seems to work fine.

Foam Stamp 4B

This is the only ink pad I could find in my supplies.

Foam Stamp Ink Pad

Foam Stamp Prints

I think that the stamping foam may have potential for making code. If I could make stamp code components, it would be quite a change from needlework.

Note–the stamps appear slightly damp because I just washed them. Actually, I ran water over them and they basically self-cleaned.


Deceit Images

Thursday, March 2nd, 2023

The code inside the book is–The forest was shrinking but the trees kept voting for the axe. For the axe was clever and convinced the trees that because its handle was wood it was one of them.

Deceit

The code on the front cover is the word Deceit. The band closure is secured with magnets.

Deceit

Deceit

Closure band has pocket for notes on code and materials.

Deceit

The front cover of the book with a book plate made of roofing felt and tree wrap, and attached with fiber.

Deceit

Deceit

Deceit
The book is an accordion with content on both sides.
Deceit

The book is arranged with three pages of tree wrap followed by three pages of roofing felt, then repeated. The code is embroidered in basically three colors–dark green used for forest. Cream was used for important words pertaining to the axe and its action. Light green and tan was used for words like, the, and, was.

Deceit

Deceit

Deceit

Deceit

Materials–Paste paper, rust paper, painters’ paper, roofing felt, tree wrap, magnets, fiber, CMC, PVA.
Scale–5″ x 4.25″ x 1.5″


Bamboozled Piece

Monday, February 27th, 2023

Carl Sagan Quote

One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It’s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we’ve been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back.

The last line is Carl Sagan’s name in code.

Bamboozle

Bamboozle

Code Used
Bamboozle Code

Materials–paper, tree wrap, fiber, wood, canvas, paint, PVA.
14.5″ x 12.75″ x .75″

I made the frame for a different piece. When it came time to assemble, the frame wasn’t quite right. Nice that it found a new home.


Regret Book

Tuesday, February 14th, 2023

Regret quote from the movie, Shadow Recruit.

Regret. It piles up around us like books we never read.

Regret Book

Paste paper with knit closure and stainless washer.

Regret Book

Regret Book

Page 1, Regret

Regret Book

Page 1, Regret detail

Regret Book

Page 2, .

Regret Book

Page 3, It

Regret Book

Page 4, Piles

Regret Book

Page 5, Up

Regret Book

Page 6, Around

Regret Book

Page 7, Us

Regret Book

Page 8, Like

Regret Book

Page 9, Books

Regret Book

Page 10, We

Regret Book

Page 11, Never

Regret Book

Page 12, Read

Regret Book

Page 13,.

Regret Book

Pocket for List

Regret Book

Materials List

Regret Book

Regret Book, back. Paste Paper.

Materials–paste paper, rust paper, school paper, fiber, metal.
Scale–5″ x 3.25″ x .75″.


Forest/Axe Work in Progress

Monday, February 13th, 2023

I recently ran across a quote that definitely seems relavent today.

The quote is–The forest was shrinking but the trees kept voting for the axe. For the axe was clever and convinced the trees that because its handle was wood it was one of them.

I first thought about making a wallpiece using code with oak leaves and twigs. Just the code portion would have been 45″ x 16″, the addition of a border and frame would have made it more of a commitment of materials and time. Instead, I decided to use a book format.

The layout for the code in book format resulted in 21 pages. Each page is a folded sheet of drawing paper with a core support of a paper-covered piece of cardstock. Felt that the addition of twigs needed some extra support.

The first sentence I used tree wrap for the code with a green paper covered piece of cardstock. The second sentence I used roofing felt for the code and brown packing paper covered cardstock.

Forest Axe Pages

We have Coastal Live Oaks in our garden, but I dislike their leaves. They not only prick your skin, they embed and attach to it. I chose to use oak leaves that I purchased from Natures Pressed, an Etsy shop. I used the leaves in several projects; still have a good number left.

Currently the pages are roughly 7″ x 5″ and vary in thickness depending on whether there are twigs attached.

I unfolded the pages and applied CMC. The pages were left to dry overnight.


First Sentence

Forest Axe Page 1

The Forest

Forest Axe Page 2

Was

Forest Axe Page 3

Shrinking

Forest Axe Page 4

But

Forest Axe Page 5

The Trees

Forest Axe Page 6

Kept

Forest Axe Page 7

Voting

Forest Axe Page 8

For The Axe

Forest Axe Page 9

.


Second Sentence

Forest Axe Page 10

For The Axe

Forest Axe Page 11

Was Clever

Forest Axe Page 12

And

Forest Axe Page 13

Convinced

Forest Axe Page 14

The Trees

Forest Axe Page 15

That

Forest Axe Page 16

Because

Forest Axe Page 17

Its Handle

Forest Axe Page 18

Was Wood

Forest Axe Page 19

It Was One

Forest Axe Page 20

Of Them

Forest Axe Page 21

.

Today I used double sided tape, a mix of CMC and PVA to attached the paper covered cardstock inside the pages. The damp of the glue was not a good choice. The last nine pages I switched to using UHU glue. I wrapped each page in wax paper, placed in stacks of three, and placed inside a padded packing envelope. Then weighted with a heavy book.

I am leaning toward an accordion binding with each fold have three pages.


Pages Weighted
Pages Weighted

Forest Axe Brown Pages

Forest Axe Green Pages

Forest Axe Pages


Book–No Regrets

Thursday, February 2nd, 2023

Cover Code–”No” on the left side, “Regrets” on the right side.

Stitched a small magnet into each corner for the wrap around closure.

Book Closed

Book Open

Code on Interior Pages–Don’t let the past take your future.
The quote is from the Joe Coomer book, Beachcombing for a Shipwrecked God. It is one of my favorite books. He also wrote Pocketful of Names, and One Vacant Chair. All have an interesting female character who also happens to be an artist.

Book Open

A single letter is embroidered on each page.
The code for each letter and punctuation is embroidered in grey on cream packing paper with a rust patina and mounted on brown packing paper.

Code is the Letter F
Code for the letter f

Code is a Period
Code for the period

The spacers are embroidered in cream on brown packing paper with a rust patina and mounted on cream packing paper.

A Spacer

Green painters’ paper separates each word and lines the book.

Book From Above

The pocket near the last page contains a note about the work.

Pocket for Notes

The scale is roughly 3.25″ x 4″ x 3.25″.
Materials–Paper, fiber, tree wrap, metal, CMC, PVA, magnets.

The paper used had metal bits placed on and or pierced through the surface. A sodium solution was applied to encourage rust and salt crystals on the surface. A solution of CMC was applied to each page to protect the surfaces.

A few Details–
Detail 1

Detail 2

Detail 3

Detail 4

Detail 5