A disastrous or rapidly developing situation likened to the melting of a
nuclear reactor core
or in my case
An emotional breakdown
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What's on my desk?
A confession of death and destruction....
melodrama and woe....
::sigh::
( brave face )
....Happy WOYWW!
I'm not even sure if anyone remembers the Mermaid Altered Book I had diligently been working on through Elizabeth's class over at Altered Book Lover. I had been having problems since the very first lesson, which was finding a sewn book. My eyesight isn't the best and I thought I had found one but I had not; I discovered after a few lessons. I never complained and mustered on but I have been having pages crack and separate from day 1. So my meltdown had been slowly but surely evolving.
So here we go...I got to Lesson 10, was having fun, cutting images from magazines that were not mermaids and making them into a pretty swanky art deco mermaid lounging on the sea floor and was trying to figure out the next step which was making a frame, while playing with gesso, dropping alcohol inks...
Discovered the alcohol inks had seeped through to the next page....
::held breath while I had a whole 30 seconds of panic asking myself...
did it seep through the previous page? ::
I was afraid to look!
OH MY GOD.................NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO...................It had.
I had ruined one of my "most hard to complete" pages.
I was devastated. I was pissed.
MAJOR meltdown occurred.
I took my exacto knife out and cut out every page.
So now I have this, which remains of my temper tantrum:
Which I stuffed back into my book like so:
and propped my fan on it like this....which is where it has sat for the last month.
Now what?...I lay the future of my book at your feet.
::hangs head and skulks off::
35 comments:
Ohhhh No!!!
That's terrible...just send it up to me...I will dry it in seconds flat in this heat wave.
34 degree outside and 3o degrees inside the house is degrees Celsius
30 is around 86 degrees Farenheit.
Ugggh is akk I can say!
Hi Sandee, now come on girl - you are no quitter! You can put this right, easy peasy for a girl of your talents. As a great blog friend says - adapt and overcome - she also says, pull up those big girl knickers, put a smile on your face and move on!
Little voice now - sorry it has gone wrong........crafty hugs, Anne x
looks very cool!
Oh dear! I'm not sure as to the way forward, but I didn't have a 'proper' sewn book either. I cut out my pages first then inked and work on them and then stuck them back in, Zoe-style. It wasn't correct, it wasn't perfect but with much glue and weird positioning of things to hold it all, it worked and I have a AB. So go forth and do it Sandee-style! Take care & enjoy snooping this week. Zo xx 77
Oh Sandee - I feel for you. I bought the wrong type of book at first, and agree it is so difficult to see which is which as they disguise the glued ones so well these days.
I've had the seeping through melarky too, in fact the gesso just seemed to whiten the previous page. Also the paint from one page got on a previous one (had to redo some of my Queen pictures) Got brown permanent ink on my niche page boo hoo :(
My pages are a sort of sugar paper and quite brittle and when I was smoothing a paper ontop I scored the spine part with my nail which is why I had to use my tissue tape to reinforce the join.
So - look at it this way - this is a course, we are learning as we go along and mistakes will happen and we will learn more as a result.
take on board Tim Holtz's phrase, "Embrace the Imperfection" I know it is difficult as I am a perfectionist but I don't think you'd realise now - LOL.
I'm guessing the pages you have cut out are double sided else I'd have suggested getting a new book and sticking them in there.
Don't give up sweetie, where there is a will there is a way.
HUGS - BJ#19
sigh...#106
Oh sandee, this kind of stuff happens to me all the time with my mini books, not sure what to say with the pages all apart now, but don't give up or get rid of it--something will strike you eventually!
:)trisha, #113 this week with a quilted inchie
What a shame. Thanks for sharing your workspace. Hope you have a good week. Hazel WOYWW #99 x
Since it's confession time, I have one for you. Why do you think I started a new AB (the techniques) in my AB class when I had a perfectly acceptable Rocking Horse theme? Well, because I swear that book was sewn, not glued. And of course, I KNOW what to look for. But it didn't take long, in fact right after I made the niche, that this book started pulling apart. I have tried to fix it with tape, etc., but it just isn't working. And the more spreads I tried to add to it, the worse it got. So don't feel bad.
I suggest you find a book, glue the two pages together (because I know most of your spreads are double pages) and tip them into a book, OR bind them in some way. To confess, I couldn't see the problems with your color wheel, I guess because the pale blue in the background looked like water the fish were swimming in. I would never have known had I not been looking high and low for it.
So, did you ever find the button tut?
Don't give up... in art nothing is a disaster it just leads down a different path. The pages your have completed will always stick into another book and only you will know what happened.
Pop over to mine for a bit of fun and blog candy, might cheer you up to have a laugh.
Love JoZarty x
While I don[t do papercrafts, I have done my fair share of putting fabric in the wrong way round, ripping out seams, twisting handles etc etc. I have stood in my craftroom and stamped my feet at times so I share your frustration..... I can't offer you any help however, sorry cos I don't know what you can do to rescue the situation. I hope you can though...
Hugs, LLJ #13 xx
Sandee,
Your book is still gorgeous. The page with the fishies and the color wheel is just fine. The colors that leaked through are ocean colors so don't sweat it. I don't have experience with altered books, but the ONE page that I did do I gessoed several pages together (so the page I worked on was actually three pages thick). That might help with the bleeding issue.
It's my one year anniversary today. Blog candy will be announced soon. I'm taking a poll so please stop by and put your two cents in!
Happy WOYWW
Hugs,
Kay #96
I've never done an AB, but I do feel your pain. Is it permissable to put your pages in a three-ring binder? Poor love, this too shall pass. If I could, I would pop over and commiserate with you over a cold tiddly! Chin up and carry on! Darnell #102
I'm sorry that this happened. That is so frustrating, and I totally know the feeling. I usually put all of the project pieces together so nothing gets lost, and then leave it alone and work on other things until I'm inspired to make it work.
OMG Sandee, you poor love. I can imagine you frustration and upset at this happening but please please don't give up. Advice wise (lol, for what my inexperienced advice may be worth!!) I would definitely echo the sage advice already given but also add in what I would do in this situation - gather up all the gorgeous pages you have already completed and bind them together whichever way you feel best (I would either be pulling my bind-it-all out at this stage and having fun making some covers or I would be punching holes and using book rings), I would then be heading for the closest charity/thrift shop and having a 'cheer me up' root around for a new suitable book to carry on with. My lovely, I have one here that would be perfect (def sewn binding) and I would be more than happy to post it over for you??
Big big hugs x x x x
I know this must be sooooo frustrating Sandee... But I know you will come up with a way to overcome this.. You create the most AmAzing projects Sandy.. there is no mistakes in art.. go with it.. my friend... Hugs May x x x#40..
You should have left it! the work on the next page adds to the page before!
Oh dear, I hate it when that happens. I fell by the way side ages ago (time issue).
in art nothing is ever wasted... just re do it.get another book
janet #120
Hello my dear friend! I see you had a meltdown but why??? Don't you know the rule of all rules - there is never a mistake in art! One page is nothing in compare with all the beautiful stuff you made! So get back to making more beautiful stuff pronto!!!! :-)
Lots of hugs coming to you all the way from Slovenia!
Cardarian
I am so sorry. But is it wrong of me too say I enjoyed your post and photos? You can make this work girl. This is ART. It had evolved into a place you didn't put in your GPS when you started your adventure, but never the less, you are here. Work it, girl.
Well you still have 50% of you pages still good right? Keep on going, I see you had some wonderful suggestions. Good luck girly!
Sue Kment
108
Hi Sandee, Please don't despair! I'm absolutely positive you will come up with a solution for the book problem. Perhaps you can just put it all aside for a while until you come across the right "fix". And I'm sure you will. The pages look great anyway!
Sometimes the best fixes only come out of the worst disasters. I've seen it time and again while teaching classes... the solution to an unexpected problem turned out a project many times better than originally anticipated.
Persevere. From what I've seen you do already, IT WILL BE FANTASTIC in the end.
Hugs, and Happy Woyww!
Sandy #115
In art the only things that are mistakes/disasters are the ones you allow to remain so. Fix it and give it to your mermaid friend aka me. Notice how there's no question mark at the end of that last sentence ;)
Oh Sandee we have a saying in my house 'there is s stuff up on every page you just have to know where it is' good things come out of disasters and can be righted. Pick yourself up, brush off the dust and get back into it girl, YOUR CAN DO IT YES YOU CAN......
Stick the pages into another book..
Eliza #30 who really isn't much help after all.
What about losing a page or two and gluing two together (if you get my drift) and then you carry on. Don't give up, too much precious work inside for that.
Hugs, Neet #36
What a shame. Hope you can come up with a solution you're happy with.
Hi, Sandee, thanks for popping over to "see" me already. So sorry you've had a frustrating time with your altered book project. It's soooo hard to see something as a learning experience when you've spent hours of time and truly fallen in love with parts of it. To me, the fish page looks fine -- I agree with whomever already said that the ink colors are colors you would see in water. But I commiserate with your disappointment. ~ Laura #131
I feel your pain, so sorry, but I know you will press on and make something equally fantastic!
Happy Woyww, well a late one anyway ;) lots of lovely things going on on your blog.
thanks for the visit, the shops in Vegas are massive and fine, well apart from the stamp shop, that was very tight, they definitely make the most of their space lol
mark x
Awww poor Sandee! I suppose we all get projects like that, that fight us all the way. I'd just pull the whole thing apart and make beautiful projects out of each and every page, and find yourself a proper book that won't fall apart, and start again!! Everything can be recycled into something else and you might be delighted with the results. It deserves a better second chance than a fan support lol!!
You are SUCH a sweetie. There was me moaning on about not winning anything in blog candy give-aways, and you picked up Shoshi being sorry for herself!! Addy being emailed - you are sooo kind! Made my day! Thank you!
Happy belated WOYWW,
Shoshi #50
Oh you poor thing, nothing worse than losing something great. Give it a day or two, take a deep breath and I'm sure you will see it in a new light. The pages you have shown are gorgeous, so I'm sure you can make something of them. I often throw my canvasses in between my filing cabinets and don't look at them for years, then I get the urge and redo them. I know you can make it beautiful again.
Have a great week.
Von #17
Terrible, no good, very bad, misbehaving book that was! If it has been under the fan for a month it has probably been punished sufficiently, yah? Come on, let it back out to play. You know its really sorry for letting the inks play on pages other than the ones they were supposed to play on. Its time to forgive. The book and yourself. ;)
My only thought was that you could put the pages in those clear page protector sheet thingies, that let you see both sides of a page, you know? Maybe turn it into a scrapbook like thing? Or buy a scrapbook and then alter the tar out of it and stick your pages in it and see...its still an altered book right? :)
But if you are still mad at your book go ahead and stick it in the corner for awhile under something else heavy and utilitarian. That'll show it. Promise, I won't tell anyone. ;)
Your pages are gorgeous though. That mermaid is really fantastic!!!
Thanks for visiting me already this week and the congrats...I did e-mail you...hope you have a wonderful weekend dear!
Deeyll #125
Ah Sandee. I totally and utterly know how you feel. and I totally and utterly love all the work you've done..these pages are sublime. Hey, better people than me will know exactly how best to bind/display them....my advice is this.....
Keep doing it. you were really enjoying it. so what if it's not Lund, it's yours and it gave you a lot of pleasure.
It is so frustrating when something like that happens. However, I always tell my students, daughters, and myself that mistakes are great opportunities for innovation. You are very creative, so I'm sure you'll come up with a solution. I can't wait to see it. Blessings!
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