Secret codes and altered matchboxes...

I signed up to play in Bad Penny's altered matchbox swap. The swap has a '12 days of Christmas Theme" and I got "5 Golden Rings."  I did a little research on the net about the origins of this song to see if  I could draw some inspiration from it. Interestingly enough I found out that the whole song is thought to have been a secret code which allowed Christians to talk about the Bible and Christianity in a time where they were persecuted for it. The 5 golden rings is apparently a reference to the first 5 books of the bible. I ended up avoiding any mention of secret codes and persecution and doing my own 'recycled' thing!

Would you believe it but I only found these golden rings at the second hand shop after I signed up? I think they are curtain rings. I've only got one golden ring on each box (as you can see) but each box has 5 elements plus the golden ring.The red mesh (onion bag netting), white beads (from an old necklace), coffee dyed fabric and white fabric scrap and the lace.The boxes are covered in white material which is soft and velvety (and someone's thermal curtain in another life!)

Including something inside the box was optional so I haven't decorated the inside of it. I did include 5 small things inside though...like 4 'eggs' in a nest of course!
Small confession: I only did them like this for the photo. The box wouldn't close with the lace standing up like that. It would been cool to have opened the box up and found my nest though!

And last but not least, some pretty beads and gold thread to help keep all the contents inside the boxes on their journey! This was different but fun. I havn't altered matchboxes in ages! Now I can look forward to my ones arriving in the post:)


Next posting: Blog Giveaway winner! There's still time to sign up if you'd like to own the fabric collage below.
Coming soon...PULPY LOVE! I've been busy working on my next part in Kim's book and there's been some other fantastic pulp posts going on lately too. Watch this space!

Pulped!

Title page and my 1st altered page. The woven page has had moving beads added to it and so has the Labyrinth title page. It's a little more "domino effect' than abacus but it's fun to play around with the beads and really interact with the page. Labyrinth means "maze like, entangled, intricate" and the woven page is a little bit of each definition.

My second page is 'Entanglement' which was quite litteral at times! I've tied on some little Pearl like beads with copper wire to add a bit of interest. The rest of the entanglement will come as this book  nmoves around the globe! My 3 page is "Intricate" (yes it's a nest! what better example of intricate could I have found?)  and I've created a window to sit the lino print behind and then enclosed parts of if with nest like stitching. The string was dyed first with coffee. The beads on the cross over copper wire free flow from top to bottom of the strand and make a lovely little tinkering noise. I am definately going to explore this moving pieces idea further!

My part in my book of this RR is almost done. All I have left to do now is the last signature which I am turning into some sort of niche/folder/accordian thing that will hold some papery bits and random pieces looking to find new homes with the other artists working on this book. We are getting close to our goal posting date now of November 15. Wahoo!

In addition to this book I've also started on another ICE collage and a small piece for an Art Swap. If your interested in playing in this swap (and not already doing it unless you know loads of people!) please leave me a comment and I will forward you the details! Watch this space!