Collage Boxes: Scraps of My Life

Another recent obsession, inspired by the mini assemblages I saw by matjames metson: collage boxes in my own voice. Each is built like a regular box base. I started by covering the bases with book cloth, then I made a folded platform inside that I covered with scraps of painted paper. (To see how to make a box base, see page 226 of Making Handmade Books: 100+ Bindings, Structures & Forms). These measure 3" x 4" (8 cm x 10 cm). I started with color, but wasn't getting anywhere, so I chose some words. That helped. When I got stuck again, not sure if I wanted to "use up" a postage stamp, I happened to read a post by collage artist Kelly Kilmer. Being "in the now" was what I needed. I cut up the stamp and was able to finish. By listing their contents, below, I realize how the boxes connect to my life, are part of my life.

collage boxes, 2012

forget-me-not

 a label from the colored raffia
I have used for wrapping gifts for years, 

a found bookplate taken from an old book cover
of one of many covers my friend gave me to use for art,
a hole punch of cork book cloth that I used for Jury Box, 

a photo I took of the swallowtail 

that emerged in my yard in 2008 
(the first I'd ever seen metamorphose)

lost

 a piece of an airmail envelope,

 a piece of a parking pass from when I guest lectured
in 1998 at UCBerkeley in my friend's class,

gold thread,

part of a linoleum cut illustration I made,
thinking of my late son, that I intended to use
in Critical Opalescence (but didn't),
a piece from a CCA library discarded card catalogue card,

a handmade stencil of a crow on brown paper

ok to ship

 an old watercolor I did,

pieces of postage stamps,

a fragment from a receipt leftover
from Oquaga Press, from where I bought
a huge batch of used metal type in the late 1980s,

a phrase from an art postcard for Ray Johnson at BAM

two punched holes of painted paper

peace, peace, peace

 letterpress printed words from Crows at Home,

a piece of a postage stamp,

a fragment of an old watercolor I did,

a piece of colored raffia,

a phrase from a discarded card catalogue card,

other painted paper

sweetened

fragments from a milk label (milk used for lime pie),

two jump rings from my random box,

waxed linen thread,

a piece of map of the Bay Area,

a piece of wrapping paper given by a close friend:
(sign language letter U),

a fragment of an old watercolor I did,
black raffia,

a dried rose saved from when Carl Dern died (2009)

Update 3/20/15: Four of these are available from Etsy here.