Tree Book All Put Together

My tree book which I have mentioned in previous blog posts is now all complete and put together. I have included a range of material inside and it holds a range of deep memories.

Above, I drew out the inside of a tree, where there are many lines that show the age of the tree and once I had done so, I started to write a range of different memories on the lines, sort of acting like a 'family tree' and I really love the way that it has turned out. The above image is the finished version and I had added different branches coming off it, extending my family tree and my memories. 

I covered the front cover with a range of different images that start from when I was younger and continue up until present, which is what my project is all about, like I have my oil painting of a picture of myself when I was a baby and my final piece features an oil painting which is a recent image.

The above image was a piece that I produced in photoshop, which is an image of me that I have manipulated to express a range of different emotions, especially frustration, which can be shown within a lot of memories that you have. Around this image, I have included different branches which highlight a range of emotions which my memories include, giving the page an extremely personal touch. 

The above image shows a range of different pictures, which I have described using three different quotes.

The above images are of a painting that I produced to portray the style of paintings/drawings that we used to create in primary school and we would dream of what our houses would look like in the future and I would always draw this style of house, with a garden and a path. As I recently got engaged, I thought I would again bring up the old and show my memories to the new, which is now that my dreams are coming true and this will hopefully be a house which we move in too soon. "...And they lived happily ever after" signifies my dreams of settling down with a partner and finding a house, so I felt like this was an appropriate quote for the page. The date which is on the page is the day that I got engaged. 

The quote above is absolutely beautiful and really captures the meaning of my tree book that I have produced, as it is true. The memories that are inside the book really do come alive from the pictures and quotes which I have used.

The above images show the tree book hanging from a tree, waiting for someone to come and read about my memories. I captured some people coming to read this, along with capturing their emotions. Here are some videos showing this:

Video 1

Video 2

Video 3

Love Locks

Whilst I was in London, I saw some 'love locks' that had been placed on a bridge near Blackfriars and it was kind of like a replica of Paris' bridge:

There was quite a few locks dotted along the bridge which was quite amazing really, just to see the different messages that were on each padlock.

I thought that this concept links in with my project extremely well as it is 'locking' a memory away forever, which is what my project is all about and the sole message of it is to "capture your memories and remember them forever".  

Continuing to Stick Down Tiles and Cementing

I am now continuing to stick down more tiles after my other batch has come out of the kiln. It isn't taking too long to stick them down and the tile adhesive and drying quickly which I great. This is what it is looking like so far:

I placed some tiles that hadn't get been fired around the tiles that were already stuck down to see how much space was left for my oil painting, seeing whether I needed to stick the painting down before I added the second strip of tiles, which I found that I did, as the second column on tiles slightly overlapped the painting.

As you can see, I have now stuck down my oil painting before adding my second column of tiles.

I have covered my oil painting with tracing paper so that it can be protected whilst I add the remainder of my tiles onto the board and also when I start to cement the gaps in between the tiles.

I have also made some more tiles, as a few have cracked in the kiln so I wanted to be safe and make more, rather than having less.

The last space that is left at the bottom of the board is for my 'mum' tile, as that is currently being fired in the kiln.

Below, you can see that I have started to add the cement in between the gaps of the tiles and it working well. I squeezed some cement into the gap and using a wet finger, I smoothed the cement out to create a neat line in between the tiles, giving it a better finish. 

Below you can see that I have started to wipe away the excess cement on top of the tiles so that I am ready to lift the tracing paper and start assembling my final piece all together.