Day 6

Prompt #6:

Select something at least a little uncharacteristic of your tastes/aesthetic range BUT it really appeals to you at the blink/visual level.

Find a place in your booklet/build a stand-alone piece where this focal image can make a unique statement.

The above rough layout is my second attempt.  The first was a visual nightmare and an interpretive epic fail.  There are pics but I'm not subjecting anyone's eyes to them.  Above I chose somewhat arbitrarily to begin afresh by working on the back inside cover of my booklet.   Once I made that choice I took a look at some of Liz's book cover slices.  Their plasticized nature makes them an excellent support bolster - especially for covers that have a bit of a flop factor.

I love architecture and wood interiors and wood carving and ornate over the top home furnishings of yore.  But not like this!  This is something too muchly much in all the layers of carving for me to feel truly comfortable with it.  And yet I like it that all-important blink level.  The layers of geometric lines and spaces is very nice and I also like the three colors showing through the elaborate  vesica picis balcony carvings.  

Once that choice solidified I struggled to find a suitable pairing.  Something that could hold its own weight in relation to the busy (and somewhat relentless) detailed nature of the ornate stairs.  None of my usual tricks involved with focusing on color pairings worked.  Might have made a fun little fast-speed video to include if that was my thing.

The ultra clashy collaged border pieces rose to the surface of paper-churning mayhem that's becoming a fixture off to one side of my work desk.   These ultra-busy scraps really work for me for reasons I can't explain any more than I can explain too much else about how I decide such things. They're also a riff on the actual prompt - something I didn't realize at the time I took the picture.  When I first started the collage lab I made up a few sample border templates that I could use for publicity posters throughout the months.  Something that would stick out on the crowded bulletin boards in a few local libraries and high traffic town gathering spots.  It didn't matter what the papers I used in the collage looked like together color-wise because the master template would be switched-back visually to black and white.   That gave me super high contrast for the neon hued cardstock I knew I'd be using for the individual month's publicity.

The border pieces above were my favorite but J. didn't like that particular border at all.  He made a suggestion that proved itself the base for the final (and finally successful) template I created.  I squirreled these pieces away and now having suddenly come upon them here at last they - being very much "like" me and yet nothing I would ever really put together (unless it was only going to 'show' in b/w) - actually have a place to live.

Comments

[Liz A]

I learned the hard way that it's near-impossible to tear that plasticized book jacket paper (unless you clip a small starter tear in the edge) ... and that the torn edges expose paper, which absorbs water-based adhesives and then curls like the dickens

All that by way of saying thank you for suggesting YES Paste last month when I hit that particular creative impasse ... it's amazing stuff and I highly recommend it to any other new-to-collage folks out there. And as I am a messy gluer, but hate sticky fingers, I note that the YES paste washes off so very well!!

[Grace Maestas]

How many pages is the booklet
"Supposed" be?

[Acey]

Liz - am glad the YES paste suggestion made such a positive difference for you. It's nowhere near as wet a consistency and also I love that it dries crystal clear and, in that condition, is shiny and easy to see. Easy to peel or chip off, too, without damaging whatever is beneath it.

Glad you offered the heads up about the book covers, too. So far I'm just been cutting them. But at least got over my initial reflex certainty they were "too good" and special for me to risk actually using them. Love using them in this particular project too, since you're part of it and this wouldn't even be happening - this challenge - if you hadn't wist so potently that we could somehow join for just this sort of activity.

[Acey]

Grace - I had advised sewing five folios including the cover. That means you'd have 20 pages. Unfortunately I did not put it together this would leave you short if you did a page a day. Looks like you used one of the booklets I made. Simply start working in another one as if it was the same volume. If it makes it easier or more meaningful to you - simply glue tape the back cover of the first book to the front cover of the second book. (probably since you'll go on working in it, I'd advise using both glue (on both sides to be fused) AND some tape, maybe.

For future personal bookmaking endeavors - each folio yield four pages. If you're planning folio numbers based on the final number of work-space options, you need to remember that covers are included in this basic math. Remember to always add an extra folio to replace the cover if you don't want front or back of that to be part of the inner content's narrative.

[grace Maestas]

ok. yes. ok....i understand now. And no...i am using the drawing paper you sent me. I will need a couple more pages. I can get these at the Copy Place or i can take pages from one of the many drawing books here. My confusion was that i thought i was supposed to stitch the pages together FIRST. Now i know NOT. This is just GREAT and perfect! All is well!!!! lovelove

[grace Maestas]

(i hadn't stitched. As before said, i didn't have any idea about the sequence so i just didn't, even tho
i thought i should have)