Canvas to the Imagination

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): “Nature seems to exult in abounding radicality, extremism, anarchy,” wrote Annie Dillard in *Pilgrim at Tinker Creek.* “If we were to judge nature by its common sense or likelihood, we wouldn’t believe the world existed. In nature, improbabilities are the one stock in trade. The whole creation is one lunatic fringe . . . No claims of any and all revelations could be so far-fetched as a single giraffe.” (Dillard’s entire passage is here: http://bit.ly/TinkerCreek.) Reading this passage is a good way for you to prepare for the immediate future, Leo. Why? Because you’ll soon be invited to commune with outlandish glory. You’ll be exposed to stories that burst from the heart of creation. You’ll be prodded to respond to marvelous blips with marvelous blips of your own. But here’s the catch: It may all remain invisible to you if you’re blinded by the false belief that you live a boring, ordinary life. (From Free Will Astrology)

I love this horoscope mostly for the last line, because I have been feeling boring lately. It’s a silly thought because life is what you make it and that includes how you think about your own life. If I think it’s boring then of course it will be, and my life is pretty good despite the bumps.

I love buttons and have a small collection I’ve been holding onto for a long time. Some of these are ones purchased in Toronto years ago, while others come from Dressew and Button Button. A small number were scavenged from my mom’s giant tin of buttons, and a collection of sewing fixings given to me by Boris’ mom Anne.

When I was trying to brainstorm a new altered book I pulled out the buttons, along with other materials, and played around with them as I decided on what I wanted to do. I settled on the buttons because the colours and textures appealed to me and I also thought I’d finally tackle some experimenting with sewing on paper.

The irony of choosing so many buttons to work with in this book is that I hate sewing buttons. It’s one of those small tasks I tend to procrastinate, and it takes me FOREVER to get around to reattaching one when a button has fallen off my clothes

Sewing through the pages working well even though the paper was old and brittle and not as forgiving as fabric. I think layering sewing pattern paper on top of the page helped to reinforce it slightly. The piece of paper I chose happened to explain different symbols found in sewing patterns including that of buttons and other fasteners. I added the red threads as a finishing touch, winding them around the three flower buttons and attaching them to the back of the book.

Material used: book, sewing pattern paper, red cotton thread, fifty buttons made with a variety of materials, glue, and gel medium.

The title is the first line from a song called, “Gee I’m glad I’m no one else but me”. I’ve had it in my head since the fifth grade when I was in the school production of Anne of Green Gables the musical. Blossoms always remind me of this song.