In Keep Going Austin Kleon suggests that sometimes you have to make art as a gift (shrugging off the need for every hobby to become a “side hustle” which can take the joy out of it!)
My friend Margaret helped me transform a stray piece of fabric I picked up at St Vincent de Paul into a chic wrap a few weeks ago. So I’m making a few things for her. She’ll get the best one. or the one she likes the best. who knows? But it’s transforming my work to be concentrated on pleasing a single audience member (as well as myself).
This carousel is actually of a carousel!
I found amongst Rina’s hole punches an actual carousel horse, so I knew i had to use it for something.
I also used some of her scrapbooking paper (automatically cut at 30 x 30 which meant 15 x 15cm pages worked beautifully; even so i had to “assort” the colours to get enough to make the carousel.
THEN i figured on a cover, and Rina again had some soft red paper which worked nicely (but i needed to back into make sure that the closures worked – the paper was too floppy. It’s the Art of the Fold Diagonal Pocket.
And the piece de resistance was a contrasting coloured second cover, also a Diagonal Pocket. They are at 90 degrees to each other and anchored together, but the book comes out. When closed it resembles a softish box. When open who cares because you’re looking at the carousel, right?
For the first time I have glued the carousel backs to each other, so it will only open like a book and sit like a carousel when all open. Usually I leave the book more available to pose as a long concertina.
