13 days adrift book collaboration for StencilGirl®

 

Hello everyone, today I am excited share a handmade book I created for the most recent StencilGirl® collaboration hosted by Tina Walker. The concept behind this challenge was fairly simple: each artist would receive a vintage 13 Days Adrift booklet. You would then deconstruct and reconstruct a book/journal with a technique/style of your choosing. You were welcome to use the original book however you chose, as long as it was incorporated into your new book. 

The rules were as follows: pick one shape of stencils to be used throughout your book, the book pages must be created in black and white (and all shades of grey), you can use any mediums (as long as they are black white or any shade of grey), and you can use any theme, structure, or story.

13 Days Adrift tells the story of the survivors of the East Indian, a ship that was sunk by a German U-Boat while out to sea. The book contains illustrations that I knew right away I wanted to incorporate into the new book. After reading the story and considering how I wanted to construct my new book, I wanted to create something that would be as true to the original book as possible. 

The covers of my hand bound book are made from pieces of driftwood. I selected pieces for each cover that were similar in size and that somewhat fit together. The pieces were glued to each other along the edges; a piece of natural twill tape on the inside of each cover serves as additional reinforcement.

The book is comprised of five signatures. Each signature contains pages made of various materials. Marine maps, gel printed original book pages, watercolored illustrations, and handmade papers are collaged, layered, embellished and then sewn together with natural hemp cord. I utilized an exposed binding method that incorporated jute rope, reminiscent of a ship's rigging.

The stencil design I use throughout the book is a circle. Many of the stencils I chose were designed by Seth Apter for StencilGirl®; however, I also used many other designers' stencils, including Mary C. Nasser, Pam Carriker, Traci Bautista, Lauri Mika, and Rae Missigman. 

All of the stencils used are listed below this post. The stencils were used on the gel plate, as well as direct to paper. I used a masking technique for the stencils that contained sections that were not circles. 

When creating my pages, I wanted to achieve a nautical theme. To this effect I must admit I stretched the rules a bit... we were to use only black, white and ANY shade of grey... I chose payne's grey as my primary color, and then added black and white to create different hues. 

The illustrations that I used from the original book were watercolored with payne's grey, white, and black. The main base color used on my gel plate, payne's gray, when layered with white, created a light blueish color. 

After taking the original booklet apart, I removed all of the illustration pages, as well some of the pages that contained phrases I would be cutting out. The remaining pages were gel printed. Within the book I use torn pieces, die cuts and punches of these gel prints.

Many of my favorite pages are displayed within this post; however, I have done a complete flip through of the book on my YouTube channel. You can view the video by clicking the link below. 

I never cease to be amazed by all of the incredible projects that result from these collaborations, each one is completely unique to the artist that created it, even though we all receive the same instructions. I hope that you can take the time to hop over to the StencilGirl® blog and check out all of the different books that were created. (Click here to visit.)

Thank you so much for stopping by, this was a very special project for me. I learned a lot during the process, from paper preservation to color theory and even a new bookbinding technique. Many thanks to Tina Walker for continually inspiring me and challenging me to expand my creativity. 

Wishing you a creative day!  ~Ann 

StencilGirl® stencils used:

ATC Mixup Apter Stencil

ATC Mixup #2 Apter Stencil

Circles Circles Stencil

Color Gradient Swatch Wheel Stencil

Compass Stencil 

Faithful Halo Stencil 

Pilgrimage to the Renaissance Stencil

Spinner Stencil

Techno Insiders Circle Stencil

Urban Insiders Circle Stencil