ORIENTAL STYLE ALBUM PART 1
BREAKING NEWS – UFO crash lands in Shoshi’s Studio! No alien bodies reported found
Great news. One of my longstanding UFOs (UnFinished Objects) is now complete! I began this project in the spring of 2023, with one or two bursts of enthusiasm to work on it further in the intervening period. After that it went fully on the back burner as inspiration fled and I worked on other stuff. However, I was getting totally fed up with the pile of chaos in the corner of my studio which consisted of the papers, embellishments, scraps and other bits and pieces associated with any ongoing project.
I am intending to embark on a major mixed media course soon, and have decided to clear the desk of various UFOs before I start, and this is the first to cross the finishing line.
Background
This is an interactive album on an Oriental theme, mixing Chinese and Japanese motifs throughout, and a few examples of my faux Oriental script (I hope I have not inadvertently written any rude words!). The structure of the album was the result of following a YouTube video by Dawn’s Inspirations: “One-Hour 8×8 Mini Album”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhaatCt3rdQ
There are various things I would do differently these days as the whole thing is a bit floppy, but the pages open flat and it’s a pretty good basis for anything you might want to add to it. Early on I got a bit carried away with too many thick embellishments and had to rein myself in a bit as I progressed, so that the book wouldn’t end up with the dreaded alligator mouth and not close properly.
Preparations
The paper pack I chose for the basis of the album was “The Far East Stack” by Die Cuts with a View (DCWV) from American Crafts, 8 x 8 in, which has now been retired.
I also bought the accompanying embellishments pack, which consists of die cuts of motifs and characters.
The papers are absolutely beautiful and many of them would stand alone with no further embellishment. On some of these I added the minimum of decorations.
I also downloaded some other papers with an Oriental theme, and was able to use some of a small pack of genuine Japanese papers and embellishments that I bought at a craft show once.
In addition, I drew on the collection of decorated card strips which I made some time ago.
Other materials came from Ebay and Amazon, and my stash, including ribbon, lace and bits of fabric. Here is an early photo showing the organisation of papers and embellishments.
This photographic record of the project will have to be broken into more than one part because there’s a lot. Unfortunately photos don’t do the interactive elements justice because pop-ups need to be seen in action, but eventually I shall do a video flip-through. When I began the project I did upload some short videos showing several of the pages but I shall be redoing the whole thing in due course.
The cover
I made a fabric closure resembling an obi, the sash which goes around the traditional Japanese kimono, with its accompanying obijime, the cord which is tied on top. Here are the materials I chose for this.
The dark red fabric is an old bed sheet. The red lace comes from a top from a charity shop which I bought just for the lace, and the purple fabric has been in my stash for a long time. I’ve got a lot of the pink braid which I inherited from someone and which I have never liked as it is, but have used bits and pieces and ended up liking it a lot in association with other materials. I bought the spool of navy braid from a local haberdashery shop which has a big box of remnants and cheap bits and pieces – 50p for quite a lot!
Here is the completed cover of the book with its obi in place.
It is glued in place around the spine and partially over the front and back of the book. It opens at the back with a tie.
The little wooden charms on the navy braid on the front were from the craft show Japanese pack. I glued two back to back, sandwiching the cord.
To allow for the thickness of the cord, I added several layers of card either side, and once the glue was dry, I inked the visible edges to conceal the white of the card.
To make the tassels on the ends of the braid, I did a trial run on another piece. Most cords and braids will fray with a bit of persuasion but this one was pretty stubborn with its two layers wrapped around a core. Then I had one of my non-art think-outside-the-box moments and got my hairbrush cleaning thingy from the bathroom.
This worked an absolute treat! I shall be using it for all cord fraying in future!
Before fraying, I added metal jewellery crimps to the ends of the cords. I got these online only this week.
I also added a detachable dangle to the spine. It is a combination of the piece with the Chinese coins and a key-chain with charms on it. With some difficulty I managed to set an eyelet in the spine and attach this dangle. It has a large lobster clasp which is easy to open and remove.
Here is the book with the obi turned back, ready for the album to be opened.
The cover is embellished with one of my decorated card strips, and a cut-out of one of my faux Oriental characters. The papers used for the front and back covers were some of the plainer ones from the DCWV pack.
In the next episode we shall be opening the book and beginning to explore the contents.
