Blue Book in a Box

I noticed I got a lot of viewers  on my most recent blogs about the pop up books. Thus I will continue
 more about my handmade book series.This particular image is my blue book in the tarot decorated cigar box. I call it "Blue Book in a Box". But what a special box. I covered an old cigar box in paper decorated with images of tarot cards. Tarot was used as far back as the 14th century by fortunetellers and gypsies to predict the future. I liked the paper, and the concept that this book could be filled with thoughts and words to come. In truth, it is really more difficult to cover an existing box than to start from scratch.Getting the corners to close tightly is not easy. However, I like to recycle, and I like a challenge. 

The book is an open signature design. Signatures are sheets of paper sewn together, often in multiples of four, that form the pages of a book. Those decorated beads in front actually hold them all together. I used a handmade Italian paper, the last  sheet that I had been saving for just  the perfect project. I like to give each book I make its own  "home". Then I feel it is complete. Maybe I could have called this blog " Completion".

Patience

This is a calligraphy card I created  entitled "Patience". It is another of my "ripped torn" collage series, with handmade papers,gold  watercolor, and ink on a white background. 
These aren't my words, but they could be. It makes me smile becasue of the inherent irony in the choice of the words. Patience is a hard one for me.The dictionary defines patient as meaning "capable of tranquilly awaiting results or outcomes". I think it is the tranquil part that often eludes me. I suspect  I go into my head, or into my story, if I do not get a response, engage with the other person, or get my outcome soon. Maybe that is why the wonderful world of texting has become  so popular. We get our answer Now.   
 Art can be  an excellent teacher of patience. It does no good to try and rush the time it takes the ink to dry. If I don't wait, it will smudge, and so I have to put it aside until it is the correct time to continue. I think artists become very good muti taskers, because we learn to do different things while we are waiting for the glue or the paint to dry. Sometimes we can even work on more than one piece at its various stages, really because the materials dictate proceeding to our next step. 
So am  I able to take these lessons and put them into my every day life? I am trying.
 Any helpful hints from my readers?