book art

There is something about black ink on aged, yellowed book pages that I love. I am inspired by books in many ways, including their use as a canvas or medium for art. One of my all time favorite artists/ concrete poets is Tom Phillips. His work, A Humument, is beautiful, both visually and verbally. (You can see this entire work at http://humument.com/ )I am mesmerized by the artists who use books as the medium for their sculptures. The clean cuts and attention to detail in these works is truly inspiring. This work by Su Blackwell is breathtaking and happens to be inspired by one of my favorite stories:My hand is not quite as steady and trained as needed for the level of detail I dream about in carving my own book sculptures (because, believe me, I wish that it was!!!) but I love incorporating books and book pages into my work in my own way. Other than using old book pages in my jewelry, I dream of a day when I can mass produce jewelry boxes carved out of books as my jewelry packaging. Here is my first attempt at achieving that dream (featured with 2 of my bezel set rings)... practice makes perfect, right?!...