Thursday, February 11, 2010

My Carnival Entry - Harlequin Box


Here we are finished at last. I posted some close ups of the individual books that make this up previously, but here it is allput together. This was made for the Bookbinding Etsy Street Team's Carnival Challenge. Take a look at the group's blog and feel free to vote for mine! It was just supposed to be one book... but I got a little carried away and started experimenting and ... yup, here it is, sort of over the top.

The theme of the challenge was carnival and I went with a traditional harlequin pattern and colour scheme. The piece is inspired by carnival's anarchy, disguise, mystery, games, and wonder.

The larger structure is based on those cubes they sell in museum shops - you know the ones that open different ways and reveal different paintings depending how you move them. It is made up of 8 smaller cubes that are hinged to open in different ways.

Inside each one is a different type of book. They are all usable, but they are designed to be confusing, clever, and odd. Some are difficult to get into, or out of, or figure out how to put back together!


This view shows (left to right):
1. A book in the round - no covers.
2. A back-and-forwards series of books with a spine the switches to be on all four sides.
3. An accordion book that falls apart and fits in a square and is very strange.


And here you can see:
1. A 'Jacob's Ladder' style series of books with double hinges so the books flip back and forth.
2. A folded maze book that meanders all over.
3. Four small books that look pretty normal until you open them and they become star ornaments.
4. A 'Jack-in-the-box' type book that unwinds. It does come all the way out, but will take some coaxing.

The last cube is empty and just has a lid so things can be kept in there.

The paper is used is both patterned, with a gold coloured print and reminds me of the patterns on Venetian masks, which is why I used it, and plain textured. The white stuff really seems to attract every bit of lint and dust and dirt in the house, though. ugh.

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