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This is my latest altered book and it is one with a floral theme. It is filled with original, vintage handwritten pieces, cards, photos, and illustrations from the 19th and early 20th centuries. It is a one-of-a-kind, signed piece. To see a larger version of any layout just click on any image.
The book measures 5″ x 7.5″ (12.5cm x 17.5cm) and has ten unique, hand-collaged layouts.
Cost is $425 USD with free worldwide shipping. To buy, please email me [read more]
This is a handwritten legal document called an acte notaire. It consists of eight pages (16 front and back) of a heavy laid paper that has an almost bluish tinge. It seems to regard some kind of accounting. On the front page it is dated “An 10” which means “Year 10” in French and indicates that it is from 1799, as during the French revolution the calendar was restarted in 1789 as Year 1. Please note it has some damage commiserate with its age: small tears, water spots, and a light fold mark across the back page but overall it is in remarkable shape. Please scroll down for further photos and click on any image to see a larger resolution.
Measures 39cm x 25cm (15″ x 10″). Cost is £45 with worldwide shipping of £11 (approximately $57 + $14 USD but please use this currency converter for exact exchange rate).
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My latest altered book is adorably small but packed with vintage paper ephemera. It started as a book of poetry The New Dawn, from 1936. Inside are original photos, tintypes, cards as well as collage layouts made with original old images. To see a larger view, just click on any image below.
This piece measures 5.5″ x 3.5″ (14.5cm x 9.5cm). Cost is $145 USD with $12 worldwide shipping. To buy, go to my Etsy store here or contact me directly at [read more]
This is an altered book cover. I used original ephemera to make this mixed-media collage using a vintage book cover as the canvas. (Scroll all the way down to see video of the making of this piece.) Elements in include (click on image for full resolution):
The piece measures 8.25″ x 11″ (21cm x 28cm). It can be framed or wired for hanging as is. Cost is £95 GBP with £7 worldwide shipping (this is approximately $128 USD plus $10) but please use this currency converter for exact exchange rate. Please use the Buy It Now button below or contact me at: [read more]
Have you ever thought your story deserves a book but didn’t know where to start? In my latest online course The Book of You you will learn about techniques and strategies for making and keeping a visual diary: a place to illustrate your memories and record your present, making a book that is a witness to you and your life, both the adventurous and the everyday. (Click here to see the course!)
If you have any doubts about whether you need to be making a book of you, imagine if your grandmother had kept a book like this, full of visual notes about her shoes, the food she enjoyed, who she met, her home – its rooms and furniture, where she enjoyed walking and why, the music she liked, adding her to-do lists and her thoughts. Can you imagine what a treasure this would be? Well now you are going to make one for yourself.
Inside this course are ideas, prompts, and practical instruction on how to start your book and make pages that are fun and interesting: a visual library of your experiences and memories. We will cover:
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This art journal is made from mixed pages that are ribbon-bound into a vintage book cover from 1936. The cover boards are marbled and slightly distressed appropriate to its age. The papers are made from a variety of papers with florals, butterflies, vintage handwritten documents, and heavy watercolour paper. They were boiled in a bath of tea, and eco printed with red and yellow onion skins and rust. The binding is a “ring” style, an open spine loosely bound with ribbons made of ivory sari silk. To see a larger version of any photo, scroll down to the image gallery and click on any photo to enlarge. There are 45 pages for 90 sides. It measures 7″ x 5.5″ (18cm x 14cm). This book is very much meant to be worked in. To see a video with ideas of how to work on messy pages follow this link.
Cost is £85 GBP plus £13 worldwide shipping (free UK shipping). This is approximately $114 USD + $17. To buy go to my Etsy shop here or email me at [read more]
For centuries, people went on pilgrimages to holy places. It was often a long, hard, and dangerous journey. If you were wealthy, you might have carried a portable shrine to aid in your on-the-road devotions. This mixed media piece is my homage to those small shrines. It is a mixed media piece inside of a vintage tobacco tin. The tin has been altered with a faux rust finished. Inside is a red velvet plaque honouring Bernadette of Lourdes. On the other side is a French holy card from the 1890s and a tiny key. The cover is embellished with vintage mother of pearl buttons and a distressed rosary pochette. Inside is a vintage dizaine, a kind of mini-rosary, made of milk glass, with a metal crucifix and religious medal of Mary, circa 1930s. (Please note, the leather pocket is delicate and the dizaine should be removed and replaced very gently.) To see a larger version of any image, just click on a photograph below.)
Piece measures 4.25″ x 3.25″ x 1″ (11cm x 8.5 cm x 2.25cm). Cost is £115 GBP with worldwide shipping of £10. This is approximately $153 USD + $13 but please use this currency [read more]
This lovely piece is a large vintage rosary from France. Its hand-cut beads and art nouveau linking charm of typical of rosaries from the 1890s. The linking charm consists of delicately made lilies and a small cross, and has a gold-tone centre. The Christ-figure on the cruficix is silver.
The rosary measures 22″ (56cm) from end to end. The crucifix measures 2.5″ (6cm). While this would make a special devotional object, it can also be treasured as a piece of antique French jewelry to be displayed or worn as a necklace. (To see larger detail, click on any image below.)
Cost is £135 GBP plus £10 worldwide shipping (£2 for the UK). this is approximately $181 USD plus $14 but please use this currency converter for the exact exchange rate. To purchase, please contact me at [read more]
PLEASE NOTE: As of December I am short on some items such as vintage tins and rosaries. If you would like a box please contact me to make sure that I can offer a substitute for you that will make your box special and you happy. Kelly
The last of the 2024 French Ephemera Bundle Boxes are here. Each parcel is filled with vintage French treasure to inspire your art journals, junk journals, collage, altered books, or other mixed-media work. Each box is curated by hand and is filled with hard-to-find handwritten paper, post cards, cabinet photos, and French brocante, all authentic and little pieces of mysteries and unfinished stories that have been waiting to be found. (I also add plenty of English and Welsh pieces, too. Because they are here. And I can.) To see still photos, scroll down.
While every box is different, each contains:
SOLD: This is a one-of-a-kind art journal with mixed pages that have been boiled then steeped in a bath of tea and rust. Many pages have been eco printed with red and yellow onion skins, and there is mark making throughout with rust. The pages have been ribbon-bound into a vintage book cover from 1896 (The Chando Classics: William Cowper) with sari silk ribbon in an oxblood red.
It measures 5″ x 8″ (13cm x 18.5cm) and has 48 pages (96 sides). Cost is £85 plus £10 shipping. (This is approximately $115 USD with $15 shipping but please use this currency converter for exact exchange rate.) To claim, please email me at kelly@bookandpaperarts.com and I will send you an online invoice.
(I get a lot of questions about how to work on these bold, messy, dyed pages. Here’s a video with some [read more]
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