Book Box no.7 - A Game of Thrones

A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

I must admit, I'm a bit late to the A Song of Ice and Fire party. I've been told many times I would love the books, but I always seemed to pick up something else to read. HBO has me hooked on the story now, and it won't be long before I've devoured each volume of the books. Our house is now filled with George R. R. Martin fans, so I decided it was high time to make a book box for us! Focusing on the first volume, A Game of Thrones, I jumped in with a Stark family dire wolf theme.

I wanted to create a wolf print in snow, so I started by adding the base ground. Using dried tea leaves as dirt and green flock, I created a nice approximation of earth. I added in some finely cut bits of silk floral leaves for grass blades.


Next, I made a mixture of baking soda and elmer's glue for snow, leaving most of the paw uncovered. After the initial paste dried, I went back over all of the snow and area of the paw with a thin layer of glue. On top of this, I poured baking soda, shaking to spread, and pouring out excess. I also had to touch up some of the snow on top of the "earth" with white paint, as the tea leaves ended up staining some of the glue yellow.

I decided to include the family words, "Winter is coming" on a curled ribbon of paper, as if it had been sent via raven. I hand wrote the calligraphy and tea stained the paper. I glued the slip into the box and glued areas of overlap to reinforce the curl.

The outside was painted in progressively lighter shades of gray - the lightest being white - using a sponge, and the page edges were painted in a very bright platinum. Over the page edges, I used a wash of white paint to dull portions of the metallic paint and simulate frost.

Finally, I used dark gray and white to create "cracks" for the front and back images as well as the title on the spine.

Done!

Things to remember:

• Why buy expensive modeling snow mixture? Make it out of baking soda.
• Dried tea leaves do look like dirt, but any media put on top may absorb the color and become tea stained.
  

Book Box No.6 - The Diary of a Young Girl

The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

My niece is in love with history. She loves it all - the good... and the bad. She has an unflinching passion for seeking out the events that shaped our world. The holocaust is one of those events, I must confess, that I can not delve into too deeply. I know my history. I honor those who witnessed and endured such horrors, but I do not have the will to study such times. So, I am very proud of my niece, who does. I knew that I needed to make a piece based on the diary of Anne Frank, and I wanted it to carry the great respect I have for Anne Frank's words.
I knew no one would appreciate the box more than Catherine, so I made it for her.

The concept for the box actually came to me before the title. I decided to make a box with walls that opened out. The resulting space, I realized would be a very claustrophobic one, which reminded me of the confines Anne resided in with her family while in hiding.

First, I planned out the box. Knowing this particular box would be somewhat of a puzzle to fit together, I sketched out the design and used paper templates to determine the fit of the "doors".
After much planning, I cut the doors out of balsa wood. The box and doors were painted with several coats of antique white paint. I then affixed miniature hinges (as for dollhouses) from the local hobby store to the box and doors with a combination of industrial glue and tiny nails that were included.

Balsa strips were used to maintain the proper distance between layers. A simple brass brad was used to keep the doors/walls upright.

The first doors were painted with stripes reminiscent of the striped uniforms of work camp prisoners.

A second layer, a dark wash, was used to illustrate the row of buildings which included the one Anne in which was housed. I wanted to emphasize that outside of the walls of her sanctuary things were bleak and dangerous.


On the last door, I painted a bookcase. It is a direct reference to the bookcase that hid the doorway to the secret hiding place. I glued black ribbons on either side of the bookcase to aid in lifting the last layer.


Lastly, the room itself was painted in warm tones, as it was her home, albeit for a short time, and a place of safety. The floor was painted in several washes of browns and then was painted with darker lines for texture. I included quotes on the walls, and later glued some small pieces of paper with quotes on the floor.


The outside of the box was painted as a faithful representation of her original diary using cream, red, and tan paints.


This project was undertaken with great love and respect for the subject matter. It weighed on my heart until I could complete it.