Collaboration Book 3

It's been ages since Susan and I have seen each other  - so it was lovely to spend the day together today catching up, talking, designing and exploring our next collaboration.

A while back Susan had the inspired idea to make a book of envelopes.  My brain was way off track and it took ages for me to grasp how we could do it and then the ah ha moment hit me and I was totally into it!

At our meeting/discussion a month or so ago we decided that we would choose rectangle and square envelopes and we gave ourselves some maximum dimensions. We decided that we would use an earthy palette (no black or white). We decided we would make two of each envelope style so that we each had one. That way we would both start with the exact same base materials and we could take it from there.

Thru the week, we both weakened a wee bit and decided to include black and white as options!  Once we started talking and displaying and sharing the papers we had both collected, our strength returned and we rejected the black and white notion (altho we held onto it for a future something or other; they were too divine).

So here are the rejects...

As we held the various papers and turned them this way and that, we talked about the size and the nature of the envelope each would make. The collaboration was very much in the making - the choosing and the deciding on the structure of the book.  We decided on 11 envelopes and over the course of the day added in another two, because we liked them so much! Flexibility is one of the keys to collaboration I think.

Here is the palette of papers we decided to work with - some of Susan's and some of mine...

With some lovely close-ups...

And the basic template or shape of our envelopes cut.

We agreed which envelopes we would stitch and which we would glue/tape, and we basically prepared them all so that we can take them away and work into them and onto them.

Here I am beginning to think about what I might use for stitching...

Susan had brought a couple of brown craft paper envelopes with her on the first day to show me what had got her started; so we are including one of each of them in the set.

We each have plenty of thinking and work to do - making work to go into each envelope; working out what story we are wanting to tell and how it all holds together.  I expect it will be a fascinating outcome! We have also given ourselves a longer lead time for finishing them as there are probably now 13 little art pieces we need to include.

Here is where we got to today - a stash of hand-made (mostly) envelopes, waiting to tell a story.

So yet again, the process and approach take a different direction with this book. The collaboration is all at the beginning in jointly developing the size, structure and materials for the envelopes.  We will each take the same set and make them our own; no swapping or returning, simply setting the scene in a collaborative manner; and then letting each other take off.

It feels like we have begun a lovely adventure!