Altered Book Club

Old Lace and Anything Old was the theme of the round robin book I had to do a spread for this month.  I was at a loss for what to do until I saw some words on the white board we use for words that have given my youngest some trouble spelling-wise.  They were "bomb", "seamstress", "famous", "themselves".

As I showed my two girls these words, randomly accumulated on the white board over a week or two and now serendipitously grouped together, we thought as one:  a mysterious message with a steampunk edge. Words written in pencil on a torn shred of paper, crumpled and stained, blowing across the sidewalk.  What could it mean?   Who is the seamstress?  Where is the bomb?

I found an image of a woman.  Is she the seamstress?  the bomber?  someone famous?  At the top it says, "Did she fall or was she pushed?" (the actual title of the part of the book that is the base of these pages).  At the bottom it says "Time's up".

On the left page, a vintage image of two children wearing pith helmets and "going on adventure" attire.  Across the top a brown strip repeating "tick tock" multiple times, and then strips of old notebook paper with the four evocative words written in pencil.  Across the bottom of both pages a strip of old upholstery rickrack stuff.

It's interesting how sometimes these altered book pages are exercises in composition and technique, or making use of whatever images or materials one has, and other times -- a self contained world appears, with setting, characters, conflict and plot.

Linked to Masterpiece Monday at Boogie Board Cottage