A written & illustrated soft-bound, multi-medium book.

This project was born from a drawing in a 2023 sketchbook; a portrait of the self, birds circling the head, an empty nest in the chest cavity.

Fabricated from feelings of grief, guilt, and shame, the writing below the portrait was a memory from the beach I sat upon while drawing it. A memory of a sliver of love found within an all enveloping awe. An enchanting seaside forest, a clearing cradling a herd of elk, the Pacific lapping at the shore behind them.

The story faces loss, self betrayal, and a final return home- the soul to the body. Charcoal illustrations accompany the story, depicting images of the memory as if through a fogged glass, a distant recollection.

a vellum text strip hinges on the center linen thread- advancing the story but not the page.

Materials used: Cotton Canvas, Momigami paper, Cotton laid paper, Mulberry paper, Vellum, Linen thread, Charcoal, Jade, Photographic slide, Sea glass

The book wraps around the book block in several layers. The intimate story inside is secured softly by canvas, then a delicately fibered Japanese paper.

The momigami paper hugs the book block, secured primarily to the canvas spine and fully encompassing the signatures when clasped shut.

Green cotton paper folds over the single page signature of the text block, securing it to the spine.

The charcoal drawings are pigment printed on mulberry paper, pasted to the folded vellum signatures and creating a water stained texture in the entirety of the book.

The vellum allows for the prints of the charcoal drawings to be seen behind the text blocks.

The components of the front cover are sewn in place; a piece of sea glass found at the site of the story, and a photographic slide frame that holds a fragment of a photo of the beach.

The inside of the back cover features the rest of that photo, captioned with its whereabouts, secured by a pasted strip of mulberry paper.

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