Book Arts: Nag Hammadi

The Nag Hammadi books were the first codex style books and are from the 4th century. We learned how to make a book in this style...it felt like a big jump from the simple little books we started off the semester making. This ended up one of my favorite books I have made so far. Part of that reason is that I felt like I was able to really grasp concept with this one. Our concept was site/sight/cite.  Marci's suggestion was to go to a place we spend a lot of time but don't normally give much thought to. Go there every day for a week and write down your observations. And this is what I came up with. A book about my minivan.

For this book I also ventured into writing poetry. (Text to follow)  The piece of leather I found inspired me as well, with those holes and being a nice soft leather and very much shammy-like.  I used my die cut machine at home with an embossing plate for metal gears to peak through the holes. Inside is canvas (remnants from cutting canvases at the art supply store) that I tea stained and did transfer prints of images I found online (and my keys) and my poem. I really do like this book.

Text of poem:
A place of solitude and quiet mediation.
A time to listen and bond
to pay attention.
An opportunity to observe and parent,
to teach and build.
A view that is ever changing,
inspiring and beautiful.
A labor of love.
A chance to serve and to help.
A worth well beyond its worldly value.

The number of times I wrote and rewrote that last line. Wow.  Anywho, here is my book: