Precious Little Birdy: Paper Clay Book

This book was about 4 years in the making, not because it was hard work but because I made the pages in paper clay first and had no idea how to bind them. The pages were made on a paper clay workshop during my MA at UWE, Bristol in 2002. I wasn't what sure to do on the workshop so I decided to make pages for a book. There was a punch there so I made the holes ready for binding. I added the text using some lettering that was there. The text takes words from a line from a Chinese film - In The Mood For Love - "you can see the past but you can't touch it".

I have no idea why I chose the book format for paper clay and initially thought this is going to be one of those things that never gets finished. The pages lay tucked away in bubble wrap for about 4 years. I did my first Bookbinding workshop in 2006 and some time after this I got the brainwave to try a coptic binding for my paper clay pages. It wasn't easy to do but it worked. I used a strong linen thread which went really nicely with the paper clay (top picture).

All the discussions on Book Art Object and especially this one by Abigail Thomas reminded me of the book again and also Gortys in Crete where I saw the Law Code inscribed on the wall. Which is a coincidence because Anna Mavromatis' work for the Book Art Object Project II is influenced by the Gortyn Code.