Strategies for a Parallel Universe...work-in-progress

I've been distracted for the last couple weeks, working on several altered book projects, not doing a lot of collage.  But here's a little bit...it's the title page for a little book about the possibilities of alternative universes...

A Brief History of Time

I've been playing with some little (5"x5") zine-style books, using old collages as illustrations.  I print them on my trusty Epson and then staple together (usually crookedly...).  One is called "A Brief History of Time" and here are a couple pages:

Needle & Thread

I like to sew on paper, and frequently use NEEDLES and THREAD in making my collages and artist's books.  If the paper is thin, you can just stab on through the layers, but sometimes you'll need to use a heavier needle or a skinny AWL (there, we now have 3 tools!) to punch your sewing holes prior to sewing.  I usually don't back the paper with anything, just carefully stab the needle and pull the thread, but every once in a while I'll stick a piece of thin tape on the back if the paper wants to tear.  Sometimes the sewing is used to actually attach one piece to the background; other times I'll just sew on one piece and then stick it down the usual way with some kind of glue.  The needles are regular sewing and embroidery needles, but sometimes you'll find a more exotic needle will do the trick--I've used some weird curved needles that are intended for making stuffed animals, and also some loooooong needles that apparently are intended for doll-making.  The thread is usually regular sewing thread or embroidery floss (separated into one, two or three strands).   Here are two pages from a recent collaged artist's book (one page with a lot of sewing, and one in which I used the threads to simply dangle across the page spread).

Page spreads from "A Blue Thread Runs Through It"

My First Pop-up

As many of you know, I spend a lot of time making artist's books, many of which feature collage and other techniques such as sewing, paper-cutting, etc.  I recently made my first "mechanical" book for an exhibition down in Portland Oregon, and it was an interesting experience.  Figuring out exactly how to engineer the pages and make them durable enough to stand up to handling was challenging, and I had to re-do several pages two and even three times to get it right.  I ended up with a smallish (6.5" x 5") 25-page book, and materials included spray paint, magazine and book scraps, thread, plastic strips, ribbon, lace, wire, tissue paper party decorations and confetti stars.  The mechanical features include:  pop-ups, lift-tabs, slide-tabs, hidden doors and a volvelle wheel.  The text focuses on the foibles of modern relationships:  I manipulate you and you manipulate me...can we call it a relationship?

Here are some pages.

How To Handle the Heatwave

(a page from the first altered book I made way back in 2012...)

Tweet, Tweet

This is a page spread from a recently-completed collaborative artist book by Sabine and me called "Double Vision."  Sabine has posted a lovely little video of all of the pages if you're interested, here.