The Key Book by Mo 15
embellishing a vintage Chinese accordion book
Liz Ackert’s rust dyed key cloth
and 60 count hand weave linen, lichen and yellow onion skin dyed
stitched with red silk, white silk wrapped steel over passionfruit vine tendril, black linen & Silkworm threads, clay beads, hemp string border
sketch of Zig Zag aka Acacia merinthopora
drawing helps me understand the world
stitched Acacia merinthopora
a couple of red x-es
and then I spilt the vase of Zig-Zag Acacia into the book… after swearing quite loudly at 2am (hoping I didn’t disturb the neighbours) I dried the book under weights and played around with some roots and lichens stitched to bookbinders mull (RHS below) & had a go at carving the negative space into the paper without enough thought and then tried to heal it with red felt and tiny stab stitches (LHS below)… it’s so strange, perhaps it needs a little lace curtain like a modesty panel
as a wise glass artist said at Pilchuck Glass School back in 1989
“the fun is in the process, the outcome is just debris”
working so intently adding snippets of vintage lace to the canopy of the red thing I didn’t even notice the that my fingertips were flinging drops of blood
so I drew around the edges of the blood and have put the key book safely away for a little while
the key book
Posted: May 18, 2015 by Mo Crow in It's Crow TimeTags: bookbinding, Key Book, thread, works on paper
Comments
It's Crow Time 
Simple, beautiful . . . simply beautiful.
I have never had an accordion sketch book, it will be interesting to see where it goes over the next few months
Love this one, Mo.
so do I excepting my scatty attempts at doing even little stab stitches on the key!
Oh I love that I am looking at tomorrow (5/18) from today (5/17) … and how you conjure the most amazing effects with your stitches and layers.
I look at your beautiful weaving set into the front of the book and am astounded, it is the inspiration for trying to make properly even stab stitches… I want to make a pair of very fine leather fingerless gloves, the stitches will have to be perfect for the gloves to fit well and look “right”.
Drawing helps me understand the world. Too true. Beautiful and inspiring images as usual thank you.
I read a line that gave me pause for thought about why we make things today in ‘Moral Disorder’ by Margaret Atwood today.
in the story a young girl is knitting her soon to be born little sister (or brother) a layette
“…But white was best: after it was known whether it was a boy or a girl I could add the ribbons, blue or pink. I had a vision of how the entire set would look finished – pristine, gleaming, admirable, a tribute to my own goodwill and kindness. I hadn’t yet realized it might also be a substitute for them.”
lovely
thanks for the encouragement Jane, rust is tricky to stitch!
i really like this mo . you have combined the vintage and the newer elements well here to make a very fine book . oh and i love the lichens from last post , refreshed by the rain !
am having fun with this book will play with these pages ’til the weekend when the Crow Book comes home all edited and I can get going on the final draft!
I am in love with all of the little “x”‘s…your latest posts remind me of this book “Art Forms in Nature: The Prints of Ernst Haeckel”, I love how you see and reflect the spirit of things.
gosh thanks Cindy, I wish… Haeckel’s observations are superb!
This post draws me back in … and I find the Acacia stitched down looks like the map of a neighborhood, the x’s marking treasure, the finely drawn lines like tributaries leading to a watershed beyond. Shape-shifting magic …
don’t know where this little book is going but i am enjoying the journey!
This is just superbly striking Mo… your creativity amazes me!
thanks Sharmon there is so many possibilities with an accordion book the back is doing things too and I need to cut out some lace like pages today…
PS oops no I won’t… the little book is drying under weights after spilling the vase of Acacia on it… it’s all in the process!
you are luring me into book mode
oh I hope so!!!
The adventures of a little book! I hope it dries out well, be pleased it’s not red wine. Though no doubt you would make some magic out of that, too.
it’s been an odd day!
Oh, I love watching your creative adventures, so beautiful Mo. ox
hoping I can work with the strange direction it took yesterday!
Oh my Mo, this is really something special. I am loving where the journey has travelled so far, enjoy the ongoing time with it.
thanks Fiona, still not sure about that stitching into the red felt but it feels good!
the book is More than just what it appears to be?
well, every book is a journey & so far it’s just observations made with marks on paper & stitch but this week it has taken me into some wild spaces both physically & metaphorically with these bleeding fingertips!
It’s strange, but I initially hesitated sending the square of lichen-dyed linen … at the time it looked to me like a small bit of gauze bandage with blood on it. But I loved the scent of it and let it go to you … now this. Hmmm … interesting.
curiouser and curiouser, every preconception is getting turned on it’s head, it’s a wild thing!
Finally caught up with you….This one’s potent, and the blood pages most provocative indeed. made even more so by the explanation.
Hi Michelle, what a wild week, time to give this one a break to get into the third and final draft for ‘The Illustrated lyrics of Old Man Crow’ our friend Richard who is an editor just brought it back with lots of good suggestions, have talked to the printers and will be getting some test prints back early in the week, the gallery is confirmed for the launch in September 2016, it’s all getting very real!
lots of emotions and serendipity if my spelling is correct ( mo , due to bounce back mails??? i see i lost a lot of comments here too…but i was and followed all magic here!
love
Hi Yvette, good to see you, this little book is certainly taking me for a ride into new places but the next few months will be very quiet here in It’s Crow Time to get all the fine details sorted for the crow book, it’s almost too exciting!
This is really beautiful and
i need to start drawing again for better understanding…………….everything!
I love how no matter what sort of day it is, be it bold & wild, timid & trembling, sadly happy or madly bad there is always a mark than can be made to record it
amazing, beautiful, rich, exquisite
thanks Saskia, this little book is taking me on a journey!
Oh, Mo, it is fabulous. I love how you respond to each event that happens, planned or otherwise – working intuitively at its finest.
the structure of the accordion book lends itself to exploring front to back up and down above and beneath and in between, look forward to arriving at the end of this little book & turning it over and seeing what happened on the reverse !
So many wonderful things, Mo. All of it. I especially love the wispiness of your lines in the drawings.
deep bow Susan, you have the most beautiful sense of line !
Catching up here, missed a lot! This, of course, is exquisite. I think what I love the most is the incredible contrast between the delicate, fine lines, and the bold lacy red. Bleeding seems the right response to such a contrast… I will think of this approach of incorporation next time I prick myself!
have stitched in twigs, lichen and string into the red thing and cut out some of the red as well as drawing more about lace forms found in nature… will post more about this soon!
Mo – this is extraordinary – wow!
thanks for the good words Elizabeth!