Disintegration Collaboration- part 2

For some of us the Dis-Co project is far from over. Seth has announced that there will be a call for artists to 'show and tell' what they did with their bundles on Sept 1. I am posting this now because my Dis-Co project is made up from 3 parts. Part one started and ended with the first bundles reveal (which you can see here.) Part 2 is this post and a definite continuation of part 1. So here goes....

Above: The unfolded and dried out contents of my first bundle.
Below: Yes, I did rip up all those precious pieces of carefully unfolded papers into a thousand tiny pieces. I hesitated for a moment...this was going to be irreversible after all...took a deep breath and started ripping! I really wanted to mesh all those paper goodies into one thing, one new thing that was a direct result of my scraps ending up in a collaboration with Mother Nature.

Yes... I made paper! It wasn't very good paper being my first attempt but my willingness to trust my instincts and rip up the contents of my bundle has opened the floodgates to a whole new path of creativity. Paper making! Although most of you will have seen my more recent attempts here already. I intentionally left little bits of the source papers visible but it did result in weak and sporadically bald paper! I liked being able to see little words here and there (even a complete...nest...wahoo!) but the project didn't seem finished so I.... reserved a few bits and bundled it up again!

Today, June 19 in my part of the globe my bundle went back out to the clothes line. Carefully bound in more handmade paper and tied with cotton to two seedpods my bundle has started part 3 of it's journey. Watch this space...SEPT 1 is the 2nd big reveal by artists all over the globe. The paper making journey is far from over too:)

Disintegration Collaboration- The unveiling

Well today's the day when we finally unwrapped our bundles that we left out in the elements for mother nature to play with and disintegrate, distort and transform at her will. You can see my original bundle here which I hung on my clothes line on Feb 21 and the results after 9 weeks outside are shown here. This great project has been organised by Seth from the Altered Page. Please check out his blog to see his project plus the 'before and afters 'of some of the 120+ artists who took part! You can see a video recording here that my blogging friend Mick Mather made of his project out in the elements. Please go and take a look!

Below: Drying out in the sun! Today's was the first fine, non-windy day in ages and perfect to dry my pile out in!

I think my bundle has survived pretty well! Somethings have changed their texture (like the full magazine page with the wood pigeon) but not really disintegrated and other things like the birds nest photo have had a surprise change- the mullberry paper leaked its dye onto the photo changing the colour. I like this new version better than the original! I didn't expect any thing to survive as well as it did and we've had quite a lot of rain in the last few weeks. I always intended to make a collage with these papers once they'd finished there time out side but looking at them now I think there will be a 'step 2' for some of these items. Watch this space! I am pretty sure Seth has something else up his sleeve too so if your interested in finding out what it is don't forget to bookmark his page while your there!