mixed media monday - the memory of a dance
the memory of a dance - mixed media brooch by Kaija Rantakari / paperiaarre.com
The memory of a dance. Do you have a specific memory of one specific dance? Tell me a nice story if you have a moment - I'd love to read it! All my own specific dance related memories are really awkward ones I'd rather forget. The unspecific dance memories are good ones, but so blurred into one another that there really isn't a story to tell. Maybe those dances were good ones exactly because there was nothing special about them, just hours of dancing.
the memory of a dance - mixed media brooch by Kaija Rantakari / paperiaarre.com
This dangly brooch has a tiny collage sandwiched between clear and compressed sheets of mica. It looks opaque, but when held to the light it has a slightly translucent warm silver tone. The hanger part of the brooch is made of linen and embellished with sew-on rhinestones.
the memory of a dance - mixed media brooch by Kaija Rantakari / paperiaarre.com
(vintage dictionary text, vintage encyclopedia illustration, mica, vintage coin holder, linen, vintage sew-on rhinestones, card, thread, brooch pin)
3,9x8cm / 1.5"x3.1"
the memory of a dance - mixed media brooch by Kaija Rantakari / paperiaarre.com
I've been thinking about taking more of a collection approach to creating these mixed media pieces, especially the jewelry. It'd be nice to have a changing theme as well as a more varied selection of brooches and necklaces (perhaps also earrings and bracelets) a few times a year. I'm still not interested in creating anything but one of a kind pieces, but I think creating a collection is still a different type of creative process, and I'd love to explore it a bit.
Creating bullet journals for my shop has been a change from my usual process of creating just unique books in very limited small lots. These dotted grid journals I'm now working on are still made in relatively small and limited lots, and with some variation between each lot I make, but it's still a job a little less creative than my regular bookbinding. And I'm not complaining - quite the opposite - I like the possibility to make books somewhat mindlessly, enjoy the meditative nature of repetition on a larger scale for a change. Less measuring, more time. And during all that time I get to plan all the one of a kind books I'll make once I've finished this current lot of bullet journals.