Thursday 6 October 2011

Experiment wildly. Have fun.

I received in the mail this week *drumroll please* a handwritten letter from the always-fabulous, Lady Demelza. I shall proceed to copy it out word-for-word, so that the world might bask in her words of wisdom. And people interested in the world of Altered Books might benefit.

Lady Demelza’s hints, tips, thoughts, suggestions, ideas for encouraging a child with an Altered Book

(Mostly in general, some are more specifically Littletree-oriented)

  • The most basic tools are scissors and a glue stick. Both are small fiddly things likely to be lost in black holes or become damaged. I find it’s best to have lots of extra spares all over the house. Cheapest, good quality glue sticks are to found in bulk packs at Officeworks.
  • Whenever there is something happening involving an interesting piece of paper or similar glueable object, suggest it could be stuck in The Book.
  • If she’s complaining that she’s bored, or wants ‘something to do’, put the book and/or magazines and/or papers in front of her. Small starting suggestions -
    - find a picture, shape, colour or word you would like in a magazine and cut it out. Can always be saved to continue with At a Later Time…
    - prepare a page by covering it with a blank or patterned piece of paper, or by painting it or colouring it in, for future work.
  • Print out photos for her to include in the Book – favourite pictures, photos of friends and family – to really personalise it. Maybe photos of people cooking or in the kitchen to go with the cook-book theme?…
  • Encourage writing out favourite household recipes into the book. It doesn’t have to be a ‘recipe’ as such, it could be a description of the cooking process more generally. Include accompanying photos??
  • Her science experiments could be documented. Write up the hypothesis or idea, take photos to document her carrying out the experiment, write up the results. Draw a picture of the results.
  • How about a record of the weekend market bakery business? Note recipe used, take photos of finished product or process, record profits. Write down costs of ingredients, etc. to work out accurate profits!
  • Learn about the structure of books. Maybe you’ll find an old hardcover book with a missing spine and let her see the stitches holding the book together and deconstruct it. Discuss types of paper and covers, styles of bookmaking over time. Discuss what makes a book suitable to become and Altered Book; the strength of the spine/ pages, how likely it is to last a long time or fall apart quickly.
    eg – stick pages together to make a heavier base for heavier stuck-in things. Cut a niche in the pages to allow for 3-D stuck-in objects.
    - different kinds of glue and paint used with different kinds of paper – how does the paper or insert hold up?
  • Cut out shapes from scraps of fabric as well as paper. Check how glues hold up with different fabrics. Small bits of fabric usually go well in Altered Books.
  • You may want to find a kind of tray-shaped box or basket that the Book can go in, along with a manageable quantity of materials, to travel around to different parts of the house, be used and tidied away.
  • If she produces a page that she’s not happy with, there are a few options.
    - Continue altering the page until it becomes something different.
    - Remove the page.
    Stick it to the next page to make a stronger, double-thick page for more sturdy embellishments.
    - Stick a piece of plain or patterned paper or a picture over the whole thing.
    This is meant to make it feel safe to experiment wildly.
  • Keep an eye out for second-hand magazines with good colours and visual style in the photography and advertising (if not content!)
    A quick trip to the oppy would quickly provide enough variety to give her something to get going on… you don’t need a big pile of magazines, but a variety of styles is good. New ones coming in now and ten are exciting and inspiring. Throw out the old ones if they’ve been hanging around a while
  • Experiment wildly. Have fun.

12 comments:

  1. ZOMG. I MUST do this with my son! He's 3 and I know he would love it (as would I)!

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  2. Aaaww shucks. If I'd known you were going to do that I would have gone through it and made the grammar consistent. But then again, consistent grammar is often not compatible with Wild Experimentation...
    Christy, I am so excited for you and your son. Altered Books really changed my creative life.

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  3. "consistent grammar is often not compatible with Wild Experimentation..." Now one of my favourite quotes.

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  4. "Experiment wildly. Have fun." Sounds like a good outlook for life not just altered books :)

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  5. I LURRRVE LADY DEMELZA!!

    She needs to start a blog for her adoring fans to worship her at.

    Micheala

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  6. anonymous, we all lurrrrve Lady Demelza. I've been trying to hassle her to start a blog too.

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  7. Dear adoring fans,
    I fully intend to start a blog, just as soon as I arrive in the 21st century.
    Seriously, I'm typing to you now on a 1999 iMac, and my camera has a film in it.
    Still living largely analogue,
    Lady Demelza xxx

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  8. aw Lady Demelza, we'll get you into the 21stC. it's not that bad up here, honest!

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  9. I just wanted to say thanks for this. I showed Audrey some of Littletree's work and she loved the idea, so we've been making altered books too. Lots of fun! xx

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Thanks for your lovely words, witty banter and entertaining discussion :)