Here's A Charm

Made in the fashion of folk magic;
A passport for the tourism of celebration.
May your quest to enjoy every moment last...
From now on

The chain is made from hand crocheted, corrugated, gold linen thread.

         

The charm is made from an appropriated gem pin, embellished with three feather charms that came from the flea market held at the Florida fair grounds. The necklace is a birthday present.

An Alteration to Create a Safe Place to Store Altars:

This is a small project I took on, to alter a couple things I found, for the daughter of my friend. I was drawn to buy these two things, without a specific purpose for them in mind, and it turns out they complement each other well in the function of leaf collecting. Leaf collecting is the main interest of my friend's daughter. Although without saying too much, I want to add that she is also a keeper of collections, and from what I am told, keeps them in the form of altars. New minds creating their own classification systems inspires me.

The flower press is old school, and probably labor intensive. But I imagine it still takes the moisture from, and flattens drying plants as well as any two other heavy objects. The scrap book has wonderful manila pages, no lines, so the contents are yet to be defined.

I wanted to make something not too gimmicky, or particular, still sophisticated, and hopefully user friendly enough to be functional.

There is a place for a table of contents, and an index. And to keep the end use optional and free, I titled the book, but just as A Collection of Things.

Thank you, dear friend

A package from Haylie to me, while I was in Sydney.

meetings as memory and snow flakes

I played games as a child, where I was moving without touching the ground. We drove around in cars made from the tops of gift boxes, and we built bridges from books so that we could cross the hot lava without losing a limb. I don't know how we rationalized what 'counted' as safe ground, and what didn't. I just know that there was always a we, because these games were not fun without one, and you can't decide what really 'counts' without one. The rules seem permanent when there's a consensus.
I have just been thinking about staying in touch, and the impossibility of truly remaining there. People are splinters, aside from the words we use, and the sentimentality we prescribe to every person we make love to, or eat lunch with.
So here is to a good first impression, repeated like pi, or ground hog's day, to time spent reborn as memory, and to our mind's arbitrary reflexes:




"How many of these exquisitely constructed jewels do we heedlessly crush and shatter unconsciously during a brief walk in the snow and how crude and imperfect seem the productions of human minds and hands when compared to those formed by the blind forces of nature."
-Jean M. Thompson

The Compound Umbel Looks Like a Leaky Umbrella

When the stalks all arise at the same level, the inflorescence is an umbel. An umbel is compound when it is repeatedly branched.

This book is coptic bound, and approximately 4x5". It's a blank book, inside, and was altered from less than one cover of a reader's digest book, some packing materials for a multi-tool, tracing paper, plant diagrams, and stamped text. Happy Birthday to Melinda, a bit late.

Chase Several Hares and You Won't Catch One

Darren Ohl is moving to Eugene, Oregon. I am going to miss him. I hope he keeps being really funny, and a little bit twisted, and somewhat sentimental in a really even, and natural way. I hope he documents some of it in the book I made for him. To Eugene:

This is an old book I found in a vintage store in Orlando called DejaVu.It's a coptic bound book, bound inside out from the cover. The spine is cut as a buttonhole stitch, acting as a window, to a very limited amount of the book's secrets.
There's a ribbon to seal it closed, hopefully just masculine enough. The top of the saddle has leather above it, hopefully just western enough. I hope the composition is balanced. I hope the concept doesn't get stuck in the execution. I hope the execution doesn't end everything in a bloody mess, with too many onlookers. It wouldn't make sense. Not in this day and age.

A Drawing A Day

I hoped to create a good habit, starting
with this book. It's made from an old
book, and uses the buttonhole stitch,
linen thread, and recycled papers, left
over from past books, projects, mail, etc.

Things I Was Missing

My first thimble, and the presence of my friends. I
choose their absence in the place of company less
caring. Gifts from the hands of Haylie (http://www.hayliebird.blogspot.com/)

Rachel says it was part of a locomotive train

but she is famous for making things up out of thin air and stating them in a high, knowing tone


This book was found at an estate sale, for me by an old friend. It was meant to contain birthdays and other such information. It became a gift for a friend, and could not have served any other purpose. The crocheted piece on the cover was made by my grandmother, a long time ago and without this intention, but perhaps with another, of which I am unaware.

February 14, 2007: La Coste, France

Coptic bound. Title: Monsieur Jean (from the French market in Apt, France). Embellished by swan pin from Savannah, GA, hand embellished H for Haylie on spine. A sentimental reconciliation by the divine intervention of a secret Valentine's Day exchange.

The Damsel and the Sage: Coptic Bound

The Damsel and the Sage hails from Asheville, North Carolina. I believe from original form to deconstructed, it is perfectly suited for who it now belongs to.

To: Brittani

Avez-vous un peu de temps libre ce soir?