I decided to alter another book, although this time I am being significantly more influenced and inspired by book sculpture. I came up with the idea of cutting a book into the shape of an egg and then carving a bird fetus inside. I may also weave a nest inspired bag for it to sit in although at this stage I am just going to cover the covers with tissue paper and add paint to it. Time will tell!
As with many of my 'great' ideas it's already proven to be harder than I thought it would be and it took a lot longer to cut the shape than I thought!My husband (who just quietly thinks I am a little mad at times...lol) did try to tell me before hand ofcourse! That said he was very helpful and after teaching me to use his dremel and cutting blades helped me to cut the egg shape. There was so much smoke pouring from the book I was more than a little worried about setting it on fire! Thankfully the fact that it was compressed meant we ended up with just blackened pages:) You can't see the smoke in this photo but at some points it was getting hard to see through it (hence the glasses to protect my eyes) and I had to stop and let the whole thing cool down. I couldn't have done the cover with-out DH's help to get me started but hopefully next time I will be able to do the whole thing myself. I felt like I was cheating a little but I did most of it and a painter dosn't make the canvas they paint on and a collage artist dosn't make all the images...so there's no harm in asking for a little help if it's needed!
The inside will be cut out today by moi with a craft knife and I have several ideas for creating the bird inside... I havn't quite narrowed it down to materials at this stage so watch this space!
3 comments:
The bird fetus gives me the willies, only because I've picked them up from nests that have fallen and it's so hard to look at the real thing.
Do you have a band saw? I have cut books into shapes using one, very slowly and carefully. Much easier than dremel.
Love seeing your process.
Hope the little one is healing okay.
In an effort to ease your mind a bit further, some sculptors will often employ a fabricator to do part or all of the assembly work. See, you're right in tune with contemporary art practices and didn't know it! :D
That's why husbands were created! Tee hee..I know exactly what you mean: isn't great that we have hubbies who contribute to our hobbies :)?
Thank you for taking the time to explain the whole process and like you, I was surprised by the smoke ..although I have never tried altering books.
Keep us posted...
I agree with Andrea..I too had to rescue a few of these babies and some, I couldn't..
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