Swimming in the Moonlight.
Swimming in the Moonlight is a Lensbaby project that I did a couple of years ago, but I have now rethought the images and created a story using words, images and thread - I have tried to recreate the dreamlike state of mind as we fall asleep and enter the tangled world of our unconscious minds.
The pages have been cut out of mountboard as I wanted a rigid surface. Each lensbaby image has been printed on one of two types of thin rice paper and then ripped. The exposed fibres are wonderful and look like fraying fabric and are a nod to my childhood memory of entering my dreams riding on a magic carpet. The images are sewn onto Khadi paper, an Indian cotton rag which is thick and textural. A spiders web of tangled threads has then been sewn over the images, emphassing the confusion and disjointed stories we experience when we dream.
The boards are held together with Tyvek that I printed with one of the images, much of it is now hidden by the exterior binding, so I think next time I will do an exposed spine. I particularly like the French Link Stitch I think it looks so attractive. The structure of the binding and the exterior articulated spine allow the pages to lie flat which is great for art work as you don’t lose any of your work.
Finally the outside cover was constructed out of board and I used my favourite Lokta paper which I had left over from my Locked Down Journal that I made during our first Covid Lockdown.
