Yesterday, July 4th, we celebrated the United States’ independence by staying inside the air-conditioned house, except for an excursion to Books A Million [discount bookstore], Michaels [craft store], and two discount clothing/housewares stores that I forget because I didn’t get anything there.
We bought decorative playing cards. I bought a Bicycle brand set with a “Stargazer” theme, meaning that all the backs had vaguely galactic swirls on them. The cover is made from one of these cards. The image is a modified version of John William Waterhouse’s “La Fille du Vent.” The author, T. Rimer, is short for Thomas the Rhymer, another name for Tam Lin. The illustrator, M. Carter-Haw, plays on the heroine’s name in some versions being Margaret and her estate being Carterhaugh. I was trying to make a beautifully embellished book, but the rhinestones just make it look messyHere’s a better view of the rear swirl, as well as the neon-like embellishments on the card pips.Inspired by the swirl on the cards, I decided to make a book devoted to the Doctor’s notes on the Time Vortex. Since the Doctor is walking chaos, imperfections, stains, and messiness are features in its design, not bugs.The Doctor’s attempt at fancy writing. Also please note that they think anything can be embellished with rhinestones!While I was making covers like that for Tam Lin, I also wanted to make Alison a copy of her most favoritest book, Alice’s Adventures Under Ground and Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There. I used a John Rackham illustration from Alice’s triumphant “You’re nothing by a pack of cards!” scene. I still need to weather the pages, as she has had this book since childhood and read it many times.
Inspired by natalunasans’ custom bottles of drugs, I purchased a bunch at Michaels and made my own. Also note that another card deck I got from Books A Million can be seen at middle left: a deck replete with film stills from Labyrinth. It’s a pretty damn cool deck. More about it when I have the time for some pictures.Back row, L to R: Essence of Bullshit, Attar of Apathy, Naproxen Sodium, Meteoric Salts, SALT, WISHES, and DREAMS. Front row, L to R: bottle with crescent moon, VELENO, COUGH DROPS, bottle of white glitter, Alicorn Powder, Concentrate of Glamour, and SOLUZIONE SUBLIMATO CORROSIVO. Bottles with glitter came, already filled and labeled, from the section where you purchase shit for fairy houses or gardens. Tall thin bottles and short squat bottles came empty from jewelry/findings/vaguely steampunk doodads area. Remaining bottles with “pills” are 1:12 scale pantry accessories.I filled some of the empty bottles with salt, others with nail art beads of different colors.
