Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Mail Art: Hollow Books


I am so excited to stop hoarding these painstakingly hollowed books and send them out into the world! 
 This one is for an open mail art show in Sacramento at a new gallery, Milk. It's sealed with glue and it rattles because it is full of little treasures. Revealing all the treasures in a photo seemed wrong so I pried it back open, added a secret treasure, and glued it back together.
This next one-- Let's Eat Right to Keep Fit-- was quality paper, not the lightweight pulp, which meant that it was super hard to hollow.
I have been waiting for an excuse to make this for one of my pen pals, and when she sent me a too awesome collage I seized the opportunity. There's a letter behind the feathers, but I doubt she'll be able to read it.
This one is for my sweetheart. I won't say that he picked his discipline because of Robin Hood, but they go together perfectly.  I have my heart set on using the Love stamps that are getting released on the 14th to send this. I think they will complement the fun printed cover better than any stamps that are out right now. And so, even though I finished this in January, it won't get to its destination until well after Valentines.
 Of course I tucked in a love letter before I sealed it.

Feathers are so frustrating to work with, and there is no substitute. I just love them. I think these cheap feathers look as good as the dyed guinea fowl ones in the Eat Right book, but they were harder to work with. In this packet, about a third of the feathers were unusable, and lots more were sort of chewed up looking, but fine for layering.

These are an absurd kind of decadent, with layers of surprises for the recipient. 

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