Friday, July 29, 2011

Letting It Rip

It was only this past May that I let myself rip. Literally.
I owe this movement forward to a series of conversations with a painter who also works in the Rare Book Room of The Strand in New York City.

This is a picture of The Strand, taken in May. The Strand has 18 miles of books and is located at the corner of 12th and Broadway in New York City.

Here is my favorite shelf in The Strand. In the Rare Book Room, there is a section just for well-worn books, called Breakers because...well...the books are broken.

And here is my purchase from that day, an 1837 copy of Journal des Demoiselles.
You can see that the book comes with pull-out patterns. There are many of them interspersed throughout the book.
With a book as special to me as this one, prior to May of this year I would have waited for a rainy day, donned my barge-mule hat, and tediously scanned the texts and images that I could see myself using in future works of collage. Out of respect for old books, for the sake of preservation but also as a charm against messups--to put it bluntly, scanner as garlic-bulb necklace.

Enter my painter friend and the aforementioned conversations.

And now I rip.

Here are some altered playing cards in the prep stage, using text snips from Journal des Demoiselles, coated with a wash or two of raw sienna glaze.
I might rip small, but it's a big deal for me. Even though most of the text will probably be covered up as the collages are completed, I will know that the original bits and pieces are under there, and that history goes forward.

Here's a finished altered playing card using Journal des Demoiselles text. The check used at the bottom of the card is also from the original--it would seem that nothing of the paper persuasion is safe from me now.

"Dog Lover," using image transfer from a photo courtesy of the collection of Mrs. Inman

8 comments:

Richard Leach said...

Ripping is right!

Coffee Messiah said...

Indeed, those are the best, especially if there is no musty smell ; )

Cheers!

Laura Tringali Holmes said...

Or ripping is left, Richard--I seem to be an ambidextrous ripper!
Coffee Messiah, good to see you here! I use salt in a bag with the book to get out the musty smell, but there's something about this book that makes me not want to do that. Nor do I want to solar-sterilize it.... I am a bit protective of my new favorite book!

Carole Reid said...

Hello Laura, I have just spent the past 1/2 hr readiing your blog and decided I need to become a follower!
Ripping is good. It's like being in kindergarten again. So much fun. Have a visit at my blog and you'll see I can rip too.

Laura Tringali Holmes said...

Hello, Carole! Thank you! I flew to your blog and am following back. Lovely, lovely work. Looking forward to reading more!

Unknown said...

You will definitely get used to it :)
What a treasure trove you found too!!

Laura Tringali Holmes said...

Kimmie, I am in a ripping frenzy over here! Nothing is safe! Just needed a day or two of cooler weather to get my wripping wrists working!

Seth said...

What a great shelf in the Strand. And in my mind, transforming these well worn pages into another form is a wonderful tribute. Once you start ripping, there is no stopping.

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