Duende

A project inspired by this recent estate sale find:



Who is Mrs. Murphy, I wonder. No matter. I hollowed out the novel because I want to turn it into a shrine.



I want the shrine to retain as much of its bookness as possible, so I glued the hollowed out portion but left the page edges unglued so you can still rifle the edges if you want.



Then using the paper I cut from the center and a sketch I made of the Virgin of Guadalupe reading a book, I started constructing the inside.



The Virgin is a bit cartoonish, but no matter. She's got her reading glasses on and she's enjoying a good book. (Not The good book; I imagine she's caught up in a text on molecular spectroscopy. (Which I only say because I have been perusing a text about molecular spectroscopy and I was thrilled to read about the conditions under which some molecules can be made to phosphoresce.)

Here's a closer view after I assembled her and added some gold paper.



I also used the pages I cut out of the book to make these paper roses.



With any luck, all the currently glued pieces should be dry by tomorrow. Then I can assemble my altar'd book.