I have finally finished my little handmade recycled book. I’ve called it “Journeys, Unknown.” I used a cardboard box for most of the structure of this book. I cut the box into smaller pieces and soaked those pieces in water and removed the brown paper layers and smoothed them out to dry. Once dry, they were very nice flat heavy weight pieces of paper. I saved them in a drawer for about a year, and then had an idea of how to use them! I’ve used scraps of paper left over from other projects, found objects, leaves, twigs, stones, fabric, and broken crockery.
This is the cover. I made it from a piece of cardboard I cut from a box. The little broken ceramic leaf was a small dish my daughter saved for me after one of her dogs swept it from a table and it broke. She knew, as she said, that I would find a use for it!
The back of the front cover. A mushroom print I made on an old book page a few years ago one hot summer when I lived in Bend. Another daughter and I went to the grocery and bought some large mushrooms and put them on pieces of paper, caps down, and left them for a few days. This was the resulting print! My computer is not processing the colors correctly, but you get the idea!
Page 1 – I shared this previously. A little carved rabbit, probably from some cuckoo clock I think.
Page 2.
Page 3 A. A leaf I saved from my garden several summer’s ago. I save them in a big book of Shakespeare. This one was so thin, I tore it a little when I stuck it down.
Page 3 B. A couple of poplar leaves from Shakespeare. Page 4. A Gelatin print I did using a fossil saved from Fogarty Creek beach in Oregon.
Page 5. My favorite place. The sea. “…the sea whispers a cradlesong”
Overlay leaf for page 6A. I bought these years ago at some dollar store. They were intended to us as a liner on plates for placing cheese upon. They don’t glue down very well, and they don’t take printing on – so I glued the edges into a folded piece of brown paper and will sew them through the brown paper when I bind the book.
Page 6 A. A skeleton leaf my daughter sent me when I lived in Bend. My daughters are always saving small things for me to use in my art. The leaf is so delicate its like a fragment of lace.
Pages 6 B Water over stones.
Page 7. Recycled pieces of fabric, buttons and paper. Darning is so beautiful to me in it’s utilitarian form , practical; but as art as well. “Darning our lives together with thread pilfered from our dreams…”
Page 8. Some scraps from leftover painted paper edges, torn into mountains, sky and foreground.
Page 9. Moths knocking against the screen on a summer night. “The moths have come calling, leaving their silver at the door.”
Page 10 and page 11. “And the moth-hour went from the fields…” w b yeats.
Page 12. Seed pods and birds traveling on their unknown journeys.
Another leaf overlay covers page 13.
Page 13 and page 14 A.
Page 14 B.
Page 14 C .
Page 15. A copy of an old sketch I did and printed onto a piece of bright green vellum.
Page 16. These small journeys we travel without knowing where they may lead us; these journeys that connect us to one another, and to the greater mystery of nature.
4 Rooms and the Moon 
The book is absolutely BEAUTIFUL! I love the all the blues and the natural elements. The colors and textures give it such a tranquil feel, soothing feel.
Thank you, Craftymadre, for your comment. I hope you will visit me again!
Seeds to earth…birds to sky…dreams to heaven. The way you express is beautiful. This is how I see this piece. Your story of how pieces come together are like ‘seeds to earth’ . The natural combinations are ‘birds to sky’. Put the whole thing together and it is ‘dreams to heaven’ for creative minds. Thank you for sharing
Thank you, Rosemary! You always understand exactly what I am trying to say – sometimes even better than I do! I appreciate you!
This is such amazing work! Every page a new discovery. Thanks so much for sharing these treasures with us. I keep wanting to say, “I especially like . .” but then I’d be pointing out everything, so I will just say I especially like this whole experience of creativity! I am in awe of your expressive nature!
This was so wonderful to look at! I bet it’s even more amazing in person! Beautiful and inspiring!
I just found your blog. This book is incredibly beautiful. The leaves and moths are gorgeous.
Thank you, Cyndi. I’m glad you found me! Hope you come back again.