Thursday, July 10, 2008

beautiful book



the cover of this beautiful old book will be the container for my new journal... it truly is a gem. the title is 'wild flowers of california', written by mary elizabeth parsons and illustrated by margaret warriner buck. women writing and illustrating a book in the early 1900s... yes, i love that.





(maybe) my favorite thing about it is that its previous owner was an artist. there are images drawn and painted throughout...



and copious notes... it's filled with notes about the medicinal properties of the flowers.



i carefully removed the pages-- with a few snips all of the pages came out, still more or less bound together. the thread in the binding is the most fragile part, the pages are not brittle-- you can bend them and they don't break or crack.

after a couple of tries making a pocket to hold my old daily book (below), i decided that i needed to somehow 'attach' it to the inside of the front cover. here's the progress that i've made toward that so far. well actually, as i sit here typing i've made further progress. the buttons have been sewn on the muslin and most of the velcro has been glued down. once that's finished i'll put the book in a safe place to live until the rest of the contents are ready to move in.



tiny creek pebbles... this is the first summer i've really studied them. my plan is to make a vellum envelope for them so they can live in the new journal.



we're having a heat wave so i'm spending a lot of time in the creek with pebbles and rocks!

and finally, i talked to a friend yesterday who's had to evacuate her home near paradise, CA because of the fires. i'm sending All The Big Love out to everyone everywhere who's had to leave their home because of floods or fires or tornadoes or...

9 comments:

  1. What a find the old book is! I gotta say I'm more than a little freaked that the previous owner would consider eating tumbleweeds (no matter how shoot-like) or greasewood beans in cream sauce. Double Yuck City!

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  2. hey jan!

    lol! well i have no experience with the tender new growth of tumbleweed... maybe it really is tender and shoot-like. : ) and alright now, seriously, did you really read something about greasewood beans in there?!

    the book... was given to me along with a few other book gems last fall.

    xxxooo

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  3. Hey Lynne! :-D
    I think she's writing about greasewood beans in the paragraph just below the one about young shoots of tumbleweed (yum!). Let's see... I think it says "Greasewood. Sarcobatus vermiculatus. 3-4' tall usually but reaches 6-8'. Numerous young branches are gray or white. Narrow fleshy beads are flat above rounded beneath. The tender twigs are boiled served in cream sauce."

    Begging your pardon, I was wrong. You eat the tender twigs in cream sauce. It's wonderful with sauted creek pebbles in a reduction of raspberry with joy rain lotus shoots!

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  4. What a great find! And if that incredible picture of what you have put together so far is an indication...this is going to be such a treasure!

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  5. jan,

    well damn, ANYthing sauteed with fresh creek pebbles and served with joy rain lotus shoots is gonna be tasty-- if not downright enlightening! ; )

    thanks seth... yeah, this is the way it looks. so far...

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  6. Lynne: Could you email me (address is on my blog). I need to have your email adress to send you something. Thanks! Seth

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  7. I am really enjoying your blog, your artwork and collages are wonderful. I especially love the importance nature plays in your work! Thanks for sharing...Roxanne

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  8. thank you, roxanne! your artwork and blog are wondrous gems that *i* admire!

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  9. Lovely old book! I love the way you are journaling....the layers, the watercolours and the attaching of treasures.

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