Lately, a self-imposed goal of mine has been to document my custom orders on this blog. This documentation serves two purposes: to show you, the reader, what I've been up to lately with custom orders, and to put into writing my thoughts about the project. Custom orders keep me busy, as each are unique, and I love it when I can accept them. Here's my favorite one to-date for 2014: a custom poem-quote created from a birch slice and vintage book words.
A recent custom order, this quote is borrowed from the eponymous Robert Frost poem, "The Road Not Taken." To create this piece, I hand cut the little printed words directly from my trusty vintage copy of Bronte's Jane Eyre--when whole words that I needed weren't found, I formed them using two-and-three-letter nonsensical syllables cut from various pages; a single letter cut from the book page is occasionally used, too. Yellowed and showing visible wear, these little vintage words are unique, and lightly blend in with the minutely golden areas of the birch wood.
Next, the now-complete words that comprise the quote are carefully arranged in lines on the birch slice for layout purposes, and are then adhered to the slice using archival-quality gel. This is much easier said than done. For instance, like glue, too much adhesive causes a visible ring of the substance to pool around the syllable or word, while too little adhesive doesn't allow for adherence to the wooden slice. Also, keeping the lines straight can be difficult if perspective isn't taken into account--so after adhering every few words, I held the piece away at arm's length to visually gauge line straightness (a necessary step to take for longer quotes like this one). Created by hand, variances occur with line straightness and book page word height.
A stunning family memento for its recipient, this particular poem-quote is 22 normal-sized words long (zoom in to see where I used syllables to form words). I can't wait to ship it out to its recipient once the piece fully dries. Since this piece is DELICATE--both the wood and the adhered words--the lettered slice will be carefully gift-wrapped before being placed in a bubble mailer for shipping.
To see a close-up of the final custom ornament-hang tag, click on the image below:
To order your own custom EmeraldCut birch slice ornament
created from vintage book page words,
see here.
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