Last page Sketchbook and cover completed

Finally I got myself in gear and produced the very last page in the Sketchbook. I have been thinking about it and designed the entire cover in my mind's eye but today I gave myself a kick up the proverbial and proceeded to make the very last page first and then while on a roll added the cover as well.

Somehow I felt the last page had to be special in some way and that made me worry about it. Only when I accepted that the last page is just another page did I feel free to carry on. As a scavenger I cut up a piece of hand painted and stamped fabric that I made ages ago. I used acrylic paints for this. I added the image of a coyote (definitely a scavenger and scavenged from a vintage book) as well as a clear tape transfer of a crowned skull. Perhaps he had scavenged a bit too much! He too comes from a very peculiar vintage book, bought for 50 pence as it was falling to bits. It's an ultra religious publication and the text as well as the images are a treasure trove! The quotation on this page reads: "So then, draw we to an end; with feeble step and faltering, I follow beauty through the universe". As well as glue I also attached everything by stitching. The final touch for the page were the postage stamps which have become something of an additional theme for my sketchbook.

Then it was on to the cover which is also scavenged. An old quilt top that has been hanging around my studio for ages and which I never wanted to take any further was already cut to bits for various projects such as fabric postcards and ATCs and I found a piece large enough for the cover. This was layered with black wadding and machine quilted. It was then attached to the Sketchbook with double sided tape and also with stitching, of course. On the front the title (made with Dymo tape) was stitched on. I also managed to add an elastic closure as my Sketchbook is very bulky!

On the back of our Sketchbook we were instructed to leave the barcode clear as this will be used once the sketchbooks begin their tour around the US to register everyone who will borrow my sketchbook and whenever this happens I will be notified by e-mail. What fun! By the way I have no idea how I managed to miss that bit of black thread at the top when taking the picture but as soon as I noticed it on the finished photograph I immediately removed it!

And here it is, the finished Sketchbook, filled with lots of scavenged material. I'm going to pack it up tonight and get it in the mail tomorrow so that I can't be tempted to keep it here!!

I really hope there will be another project like this next year as I had a whale of a time working in this one!