It’s Material

The local Arts Center where I display my books and paper, changes their exhibit about ten times a year. Each exhibit has a theme and artists are invited to submit works centered around the theme. I received the listing for 2013 a few weeks ago and the February exhibit’s theme is “It’s Material”.  I was puzzled how I could make my books reflect the theme.  I was thinking material goods, money, bling, flash – you get the picture.  I finally hit on something and then, after I had started the books, discovered they were featuring textile artists!  Oh, well.  I’m still going with my idea although I have covered books with fabric in the past and may take in those also.

So what was my idea?  Just these.

I’m a collector (that’s a polite word for pack rat) and when I came across these, they clicked with the February theme.

I generally don’t care for embellishments on book covers.  The cute seashells, the fancy ribbons, or little doodads leave me cold.  Besides, it makes it almost impossible to put the book on a shelf without damaging it or its neighbors. My idea with the coins was to inset them into the cover so they would be flush with the boards. To accomplish this, I excavated circles on the covers about the thickness of the coin.

The Eisenhower dollar was about the same thickness as the Davey board, so I backed those covers with a piece of mat board.  The edge-on shot shows the plied covers.

I then added the spines and marbled paper covers in the usual manner and glued the coins into the depressions.  I should have made them a bit deeper to allow for the thickness of the paper and adhesive, but I’m very pleased with the result.  I adhered the coins with PVA, so I don’t know if they will stay.  So far they seem to be holding well, although I’m sure they could be pried off. 

These books were great fun and I’m happy with the results!  What more could I want?

Maybe to get to overmarbling tomorrow?  Stay tuned, it might just happen!