I'm done.....



outside front cover



I have struggled and sworn my way through today as the machines decided not to play.I've swopped them over,played around and eventually several broken needles later I have acheived what I think is my finished piece.In truth I have had enough ,I could probably fiddle and play about but without creating anything better ,so time to call a halt.

 Sometimes having a break from a piece can be beneficial but in this instance it hasn't been.





outside front covers



This shows the complete cover made from different sections of paper covered scrim with areas of hand and machine stitching and applied letters.



back part of front cover

 This on its own was delicate to handle but the fun really started when trying to put front and back parts together.

inside concertina

To stiffen the structure, so that it would stand, I used pelmet vilene which worked a treat.However as the concertina and letter pages had to be attached first it made for awkward handling in attaching the outside cover.It was too thick with the paper layers and vilene for the heat of the iron to penetrate to activate the bondaweb on the back of the outside cover so it had to be stitched! Have you ever tried putting pins in pelmet vilene?

outside front cover

This is not a very good photo I'm afraid but I hope you can see the vaguely "handwriting"stitching along the edge to hold the layers together.I also used some stuffed viscose ribbon along the top corner to denote the front edge.
















looking down on structure

 This view shows how the different parts of the structure relate to each other.









I did consider how to close the covers and went as far as making beads and cords to use but on reflection decided against as I think it would flatten the concertina pages ,they are already battered enough.I also said I would add seeds to the outside covers and I may well still do that ,I have some already painted with irridescent interference colour.
  Am I satisfied with the result and does it come up to expectations I have to be honest and say no,not really.I like the colours and I like parts of it ,such as the ouside covers , but not the whole.