Incidents of Travel in Yucatan, J. Stephens

Journals, Lewis and Clark

Travels, Ibn Batuta

First Footsteps in East Africa, Burton

Principall Navigations, Hakluyt

Castaways, de Baca

Expedition Bookcase

Expedition Bookcase

Expedition Bookcase

Expedition Bookcase

It measures about 1 1/2″ x 1 3/4″ x 1 3/4″, without the carrying strap. I’m off now to put it up on the website. It was quite a relief to make something other than Midsummer for the first time in quite a while.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream, in miniature, performed by marionettes, sometime in the 18th century (judging by their dress):

Front

Without Band

Welcome!

Act One, Scene one

Transformation!

Epithalamium

But Wait, There's More!

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Bo Press Miniature Books, Riverside CA  2012

2 1/2″ x 1 3/4″ x 1″, 42 pages, 14 pop-ups

A pop-up version, much reduced, of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, performed by 18th century marionettes. The front matter includes a scene break-down and a cast of characters, and the back endpaper holds the complete script of Pyramis and Thisbe, performed by the marionette mechanicals in the main play.

The book is bound in light green paper marbled with gold, and has a translucent slipband.

Cover

In The Woods

More Confusion

Fairy's Blessing

Oberon's Anger

Pyramus And Thisbe

My biggest problem is that it’s incredibly thick. I’ve substituted some of the cardstock elements with 24lb paper, but I might have to do more, especially since I want to add a cast of characters and other fun stuff. It will have to have some kind of slipcase, too, to keep it from exploding open. But now it’s starting to be fun!

2. Went back and made all the Puck variations smaller, and gave him wings.

3. Eliminated the fold-up Palladian window – I couldn’t get it to deploy properly.

4. Made all the leaf wings and drops lighter and more delicate, and less saturated.

5. Changed the show curtain from red to green.

6. Worried for a long time about the lack of all the cool moveables I’d put in At The Flea Circus. Midsummer is full of transformations, but there doesn’t seem to be much actual movement in it. Perhaps this will evolve as I do the next trial version.

7. Grateful beyond belief that the characters in Midsummer only have two legs, unlike Flea Circus. Much easier to cut out!

8. Had a giant crisis of conscience about using images of old marionettes for the characters rather than doing my own. I’m that saddest of all artists: an artist who can’t draw. I had just enough to get by in costume design, but I haven’t put pencil to paper in five years. I felt awful, but I had a dish of ice cream and the feeling passed.

9. Still worried about the colors being too loud for a miniature books. Dollhouses are that way, too, I think. Colors have to be toned WAY down.

10. . . . and tomorrow is another day.

(PS: I’ve decided to go to the Miniature Books Society Conclave in Asheville, NC this fall!)

Ii

Ii Unfolded

I know it looks pretty goony now, but just wait! I love it that the Palladian window flips up.

And so while I wait for the strength to continue with Midsummer Night’s Dream, I made this:

Medieval Traveler's Bookcase

Medieval Traveler's Bookcase

Medieval Traveler's Bookcase

Medieval Traveler's Bookcase

A fold-down lectern-like shelf.

Medieval Traveler's Bookcase

I haven’t decided yet if I’ll put ye olde anciennte labels on the books. One of the neatest things about the kid gloves I’m using to bind these books (thanks, Prue!) is that when they’re moistened, they take on a wonderful yellowish vellum look. I might distress them a bit more, too. Maybe some metal  corners and stuff. It depends on how anxious I am to get back to Midsummer.

Scene One

At Theseus’ court, Demetrius and Hermia quarrel.

Scene Two

The workmen prepare ‘Pyramus and Thysbe’.

Scene Three

Puck and the Fairies in the woods.

I’m using an old wing-and-drop set, and the accompanying text from the play will scroll at the bottom, as in the Punch And Judy Dictionary. I’ll devise some sort of ornate frame, although I’m running out of room. I can hardly wait to see what kind in action these puppets get up to.

I called a pal of mine who knows more about miniature books than anybody, and we tossed ideas around till she mentioned A Midsummer Night’s Dream as a pop-up book. Brilliant! It would want it to be of a piece stylistically with At The Flea Circus: theatrical in a small and cheesy way. Marionettes, maybe? So I started thinking about it, and her’s what I’ve come up with so far:

Forest Set

Oberon

Titania

The costumes seem to be vaguely 18th century, and I have a pretty good idea what the lovers and mechanicals look like. And the fairies can have wings!

Chained Library Stall

Chained Library Stall

Chained Library Stall

It’s up on the website now here. This was my first open book, and it was harder than it looked. The “Black Hours” (Bruges c.1470. It’s in the Morgan Library) are illuminated on black-stained vellum, which I thought was appropriate for a black-stained lectern.My favorite part are the little chained weights that hold the pages of the book open. Evidently they had the same problem with lively pages then that I do today.