Don’t get Jittery On Me—Part 6, or “A Narcissistic Family Intervention”

In art as in life, physical boundaries are sometimes necessary when emotional and mental screens aren’t up to doing the job. Sometimes an extra layer of corporeal protection is required. Today I returned to a gate I had cut during Part 3 of this altered-book exercise in order to add just such a physical barrier to protect my book’s heroine. I found that the whole mess with the bevy of big black birds behind the gate needed to be encapsulated, restrained, before I could continue my storyline of the little girl’s epiphany and redemption. Today’s work was about making darn sure that the birds wouldn't be able to fly over the gate and peck their sharp beaks into our heroine’s eyes once she escapes. Hence the birdproofing.

 

Putting the cart before the horse as usual, this is where I ended up. Satisfactorily birdproofed.

I started by collaging the front of the gate, using paper from my treasured 1964 Official Guide to the New York World’s Fair.

This is how the gate looked when last we left it in Step 3 of this altered book process. You can read about that here: (http://lauratringaliholmes.blogspot.com/2013/03/dont-get-jittery-on-me-part-3-or-im.html)

Since I appear to be developing a child theme in this book, I was happy to find a page in the Guide featuring Walt Disney's “It’s a Small World” attraction. If you are not familiar with the Disney parks, this is an amusement that, according to Wikipedia, “features over 300 brightly costumed audio-animatronic dolls in the style of children of the world, frolicking in a spirit of international unity, and singing the attraction's title song, which has a theme of global peace.” Frolicking. Peace. Yup. Global or personal peace.  I’m down with all of that, even if I find the theme song of the ride just a tiny bit crazy-making.

 

This is the "It's A Small Word" advertisement page that I decided to collage onto the gate I had constructed in a previous stage of  my altered book.

Here’s how the paper looked collaged onto the gate.

Note that the colors of the advertisement work with the protruding tab of the garish greeting card, which you can see sticking out of the book at the right, and which is described here: (http://lauratringaliholmes.blogspot.com/2013/04/dont-get-jittery-on-me-part-4-or-big.html). It's no accident that this happened. As much as I liked the content of the ad, had it not worked with the garish tab, it would not have made the cut.

Next, I further attached a text snip of editorial comment to the page, as shown below, to push forward my book’s storyline. In the miniature sociological experiment that is a family run by a narcissistic father, it is well known that, because there is very little regard for the children, a daughter in such a situation will have lifelong chronic issues with self-worth. The little girl in my story is going to need a bit of help to effect her emancipation from the interior critical voice that was embedded by her family. This text snip establishes the baseline, and, not only that, interacts with the text that is already on the 1964  advertisement in a most serendipitious way. The advertisement text refers to the dolls in the attraction as  “…amazingly lifelike figures—the children.” What a wonderful description of what it is like to be the daughter of a narcissistic father. On the exterior, one appears amazingly lifelike indeed. On the inside, well, that’s another story.

 

Spoiler alert: The little girl will triumph in this story, have no fear.

 

The next step was to select the protective barrier, the birdproofing.   Because I collect paper, I was fortunate to have three gauges of mesh in my paper box from which to choose. As I weighed the pros and cons of each, I felt a bit like Goldilocks test-driving the Three Bears’ Chairs. It did occur to me at this point that my inner child is definitely influencing some of what’s happening in this altered book. Believe it or not, this was not apparent to me at the outset. Oh, muse of the  subconscious, I tip my hat to thy courage and perseverance.

I started with the smallest-gauge mesh. It kind of looks like window screen. “Not strong enough,” was my first reaction. Those birds could beat their wings right through it. My heroine deserves better.

This is a look at the smallest paper mesh. I am unimpressed.

 

The second paper mesh definitely felt more substantial. I consider it a bonus that I’m grooving on how the texture interacts with the blackness of the birds. This option has a fair chance of a possible maybe.  

 

The mid-gauge paper mesh might just be strong enough without being overwhelming.

 

The sheer weight of the third mesh attracts me at first, but then I realize the bigger mesh is not necessarily stronger. Those spaces are too wide open. Stuff could get through there. This will not give our heroine the security she craves. Out it goes. In a decidedly un-Goldilocks manner, I decide on the middle-gauge mesh.

 

Yikes! This is some honking big mesh!

 

Here is how the middle-gauge paper mesh looks in place on the page.

To finish off the edge of the page, and to keep going with a theme that I had introduced earlier, I wrapped the bottom edge of the page in one of my limited washi tape options, which you can see in the photo at the very top of this post as well as the photo that follows.

 

And here is what the page looks like turned. The black works well with the illustration of the birds and little girl as well as with the vintage paper of the book itself.

 

 

"Up went my feet, out went my arms, and PLOP!"

 

More to follow. Stay tuned. And thanks for following along. If you want to see the other parts in the series, just check out the archive bar at the left on the blog. It’s all there. Have you been inspired to alter a book by reading this blog? If so, please give me a head's up and let me know.

Interested in Part 7: You will find it here: http://lauratringaliholmes.blogspot.com/2013/06/dont-get-jittery-on-me-part-7-or-rage.html