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Process of the altered book:
The book I chose to alter was If You Give a Pig a Party. I chose this book because when my younger sister was first learning how to read we would read this book over and over because she loved it so much. I also included pieces from one of my favorite books growing up, The Cat in the Hat. The process I went through to was very interesting. I did not have that much of an idea of what the final outcome of the book should be so I went through the list of art activities and just started applying them to my book. The main activities I did were: ripping, cutting, gluing, burning, and waxing.
First I started by going through The Cat in the Hat and cutting out some of my favorite pictures and lines. I randomly glued these throughout If You Give a Pig a Party. Although these books aren’t very similar in style or appearance, it was still amusing to combine my sister and I’s favorite childhood books.
Then I decided to do some destroying. I randomly crumbled and ripped out pieces of pages of the book. I also ripped one page into strips which reminded me of streamers used for the party in the book. I also took a lighter and burned many of the pages. The pages in the book burned a lot faster and easier than the hard cover of the book. When the book had burned enough I threw it into the snow, since there was plenty right outside my door. Lastly, I took white and green candle wax and dripped it throughout the book. I liked the color and dimensions it gave the pages.
Although I was not sure how the book was supposed to look at the end or what exactly I was doing, I definitely succeeded in altering the book and making it look nothing like it had before I started. What I took away most from this project is how easy it is to destroy paper and how fragile it is. It does not take much effort to rip, burn or alter a page.
Reflection on the readings:
Before enrolling in this class I had absolutely no knowledge about how paper was made, so I learned a lot from the readings. First, I learned The Chinese were the first to make paper and made it from the inner bark of trees and old cloth and fish nets (Basbanes 10). In Europe when paper was first created in was made from old rags and rope. Paper mills were usually located near towns because it took so many rags to create paper (Lebvre p34). Additionally, parchment and paper are not the same thing. Parchment is not considered paper because it is made from the skins of animals (Hunter p6).
Another interesting fact that I learned was the relationship between paper and religion. When paper was first used in Europe it was distrusted by the Christians because it was associated with the Jews and Arabs. The Church in Western Europe even went so far as to ban paper because they believed animal parchment was the only thing “holy” enough to use (Hunter p61).
Overall the reading brought together the importance of paper. The creation of books through paper allows for the communication of culture, politics, religion and traditions. Paper is one of the very first technologies we as humans have and it is a detrimental part of our lives and society.
I think Valarie was very creative in combining two books that had special meaning to her through both her and her sister’s childhoods. While the styles of the two books were very different, it is interesting to see how she combined the two, or wonder how it might have turned out if the books were different. I was happy to see how well it came out by putting the artwork of one into the other. On the other hand, she also did other things I would not have expected, such as dripping wax on the pages and even throwing it in the snow! I appreciate that she was willing to experiment with so many different creative alteration methods. I also agree with how she connected paper with its importance to world religion. While it had a lot of importance in the Jewish and Arab world, as she mentioned from the Hunter reading, it also had a significant impact in the Japanese culture through shrines and the use of paper. The pure white paper they created is used to decorate their shrines, among other many uses. If it weren’t for paper and the way it came about, several religions may not be the same today.
ReplyDeleteValarie, I appreciated that you were able to use a book that meant something to you and your sister and also incorporate pieces from another one of your favorite books. Combining you favorite book and your sister’s favorite book, even though they don’t go well together, was a great creative idea to make a super book that both you and your sister would like. It also gives both of you something else to bond over. It was awesome to read that you got to destroy your book as well, after hearing about the wax, I do want to try that. I also was able to burn my book, which I thought was the best part of altering my book, and I also threw it in the snow to put out the fire. It is cool to see from the readings that different cultures used different materials to make paper. And that paper also can only be made out of certain materials because parchment doesn't count. Even with the great invention of paper it did take a while for it to spread and grow as a commodity, but once it did, it was very valuable. Paper is a great technology that has lasted a long time in a technology driven world, where many technologies have died.
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ReplyDeleteValerie, I like how creative you were able to be with your book(s). I love the idea you had about incorporating not only your favorite book growing up, but also your sister's. The idea of combining those two books together seems to have worked out wonderfully. Although I've never heard of the book You Give a Pig a Party, I loved reading the Cat in the Hat and the movie growing up. So because of this I love your final product of the two books combined, great work! In regards to the readings and a reflection, I like how you took the time to combine the books by trying out different ways because that is exactly what people in the past had to do to create paper, use multiple mediums until they found the one that works. And now we are able to have paper mass produced and used so commonly that nobody stops to think twice about it.
ReplyDeleteValerie, I like how you picked a book that reminds you of your sister. I think that helped a lot in sparking your creative thinking. It was really cool to see you add some parts of the Cat in the Hat, as this book is important to you. Dr. Suess has such a unique and special style and I think it was a great idea to paste parts of his book in. I don’t think anyone really knew how the book was supposed to look after the altering. There would be no way for someone to tell you what the “proper” way to go about it either. I think your project was great because the books you used mean a lot to you, and you were able to create something novel to yourself. It’s amazing how much time used to go into making a single sheet of paper, and how quickly that sheet can be destroyed as you mentioned. I think these readings made us appreciate paper much more, and made us much more mindful of how easy we can destroy something that took so much effort and resource to make back in the day. This was a humbling experience for me, as it most definitely reinforced the importance of paper in everyday life.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree more with Valarie when she talks about not knowing what the final outcome should look like so she started to perform the types of alterations that we talked about in class. I was in the same boat as her and did the same exact process. I really like how Valarie used the Cat in the Hat book to cut parts out and use it inside her altered book. The fact that they are both Children’s books makes it a great fit. I also liked how Valarie decided to burn her book and then throw it in the snow in order to slow down the burning. This gives the burning effect as well as a wet water stain effect which I think was a great idea. I also took away from this exercise that paper was extremely fragile and easy to destroy as Valarie mentions. In the readings, Valarie mentions how she wasn’t familiar with the process of paper creation and from the readings gained a deeper understanding and appreciation for it. I couldn't agree more with that as many of us take this for granted. Valarie also mentions how she was surprised by the connection between paper and religion and I couldn't agree more. I feel as if the relationship between paper and religion shouldn't be brought out and told to all.
ReplyDeleteValarie, I also found it fascinating how much paper influenced religion. I found reading the second reading assignment of Hunters paper interesting, especially when he mentioned that the Empress Shotoku dharani ordered and distributed one million Pagodas to various temples (Hunter 68). Imagine the impact it would have had on history if she never distributed the Pagodas to the temples. It was even more interesting that this was the first example of mass production. We as a society don’t appreciate things that are mass produced. We don’t understand that before machinery everything was made by hand and took countless hours to produce. Even after reading the articles it is hard for me to comprehend how long it use to take to make a single piece of paper when it is produced rapidly today. That is why I like your altered book so much. You took two books that are widely mass produced and combined them into something special. A one of a kind creation that has a lot of meaning to you and your sister. Just like the paper makers who took pride in the quality of the paper they were making and the hard work they put into making a mini masterpiece.
ReplyDeleteValarie’s uses of two different books for alterations, both with a special place in her heart, was very creative. Random posting of her images, brings a whole different experience when reading If You Give a Pig a Party. I find it interesting that her altered book was the one she read with her sister, almost as if it was easier than using a book from her own childhood. While the book had sentimental value, she chose to add The Cat in the Hat into the other book. My housemate Danah burnt a book and threw it into the snow to contain it. I’m glad all this snow can be used more effectively, instead of just making parking atrocious. The use of wax was interesting and I admit I was too afraid that a fire alarm would go off if I attempted the same thing. I think the best part of these posts is the modern take to older paper methods. I think that the knowledge of how paper is made makes these alterations even more important. The alterations forces the artist to acknowledge paper and its creation. It was not too surprising to me that paper is closely tied to religion. Especially in the “Road Trip” by Basbanes with the Quran, how there were designated people to memorize so it could be written accurately on paper. Paper allowed religion to be spread amongst the followers far quicker than verbal recounts could.
ReplyDeleteValarie, I went through a similar process altering my book. I looked at the list of art actions and determined how many of them I could integrate into my book. I tried to do as many as I could. I did not really have a set process for altering my book. I did whatever came to mind. I liked how you were able to combine you and your sister’s favorite books into one. I had so much fun destroying my book. I also crumpled, ripped, and burned my book. I also threw my book into the snow after burning it. I found that my pages were a little bit harder to burn because they had previously soaked in water and were still a little bit damp. I was not really sure what I was doing with my book the whole time but I was happy with the end result. I learned a lot about paper in doing this assignment. Before doing the readings, I had always thought the Egyptians were the first ones to invent paper using papyrus. I remember reading about paper as it relates to religion as well. The Koran was transcribed onto paper. Paper was also utilized for other important government documents. I never really realized how important and how valuable paper really is. We should appreciate it and not take it for granted.
ReplyDeleteI really like how Valarie combined If You Give a Pig a Party with The Cat in the Hat, combining one of her younger sister’s favorite books with one of her own favorite books. It shows how much her sister means to her and I like how she found amusement in combining the books even though they were not similar in style or appearance. I think that one of the best parts of altering a book is that you don’t know how you are going to feel or how it is going to turn out until you are immersed in the process and actually completing the task step by step. I like how when she ripped one page into strips it reminded her of streamers that were used for the party in the book itself. The addition of the candle wax dripping throughout the book is a nice touch to add some aesthetic interest and dimension to the pages. Again, like Valarie, I didn’t know anything about how paper was made before I did the readings myself, such as the fact that the Chinese made paper first from the inner bark of trees and old cloth. I also did not previously know that parchment was not considered paper because it is actually made from the skins of animals. Overall, I like how Valarie approached this project and I definitely agree with her that I learned a lot from the readings.
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