Mystorian Book: still a work in progress.

This is the front cover of the book that I started at the workshop in Asilomar. I have decided that it's finished. That sounds like a simple statement but it's hard to know when to stop adding things and say to yourself "Enough." The front cover is a piece of metal that was tarnish in liver of sulphur (nasty stuff, but it gives metal an interesting finish.) Then I glued an old piece of lacework to it . On top of that I glued a piece of bark, a metal dragonfly and two metal flowers, some pieces of agate(from the Oregon Coast) and a piece of wire with pearl beads (as a kind of imaginary tail on the dragonfly). There are two odd shaped pearls tucked in too. I had sanded the three metal pieces to tone down the gold tone so I covered them with a coat of matte Mod Podge to protect the metal and give it a bit of a shine. The collage is not centered because there will be fabric attached in the left side to form the spine of the book after I get all the pages done. What do you think?

I'm not sure this is done yet. It's an old photo frame that Nina Bagley (our instructor at the workshop) gave to me. I took out the old mean looking lady photo and inserted a copy of a photo that I took at my house. I stamped some leaves around the picture and stamped "Dog Farm" on the left side, "Sanctuary" on the top (It's kind of pale and hard to see). The top is a piece of lace and two pieces of the frame that I had cut off for a border. Then I pasted an old picture of a woman with 3 dogs on the right, colored them with pencils and glued some driftwood over it. On the left is an almost dry helleborus flower and a couple of small rocks. On top I glued two cabochons( flat backed, polished stones ) and a couple of old jewelry pieces. Everything got a coat of Mod Podge to hold it in place and protect everything except the center of the flower (it wasn't completely dry and I didn't want it to mold) and the cabochons.
Seems like I need to do something with the slot on the left side, but I'm not sure what.

This is about Creativity and the month of June. I accidentally covered the word "June" with lace, but I will pull the lace down a bit and secure it with a little "something" so the word can be seen. The metal flower and hummingbird were applied the same way as the other pages, then I took very thin pieces of mica and glued them all around the backing. Sometimes you learn by doing things and making mistakes. I should have done the mica first. It would have been easier than trying to fit the pieces around the bird and flower. Oh.., and before I had anything on the mat board I glued a "month of June" piece of clip art on and stamped a large green flower in the middle. Then I added the fabric and lace. The hummingbird is wired on at the top so I didn't have to glue it too much and it gives the bird more of a look of movement. I only used Mod Podge on the metal pieces . I wanted the mica to shine on it's own and the fabric to stay soft.

I have three more pages almost finished. I will show them to you very soon. I LOVE DOING THIS ..., it's so creative, but it's time consuming and takes up the whole kitchen table. I make a big creative mess everyday. Every night I have to clear it off for dinner. I'm lusting after the work spaces I have seen in a magazine called Where Woman Create and a workshop I saw recently of a lady artist here in our county. I NEED MORE SPACE.

The gourd art is on hold until I finish this book.