Mess project #4 - Break the rules (Lilly)

[Note from Lilly - this post and the last are late due to travelling on my part. Apologies - Mess Project #5 should go up on time this Wednesday]

A blackout poem, by Lilly

Left page: a lot of text is scribbled out using blue marker pen, leaving only the words to a poem showing. Right page:  handwritten text is copied below.

Love is dirt and red.
Walk on your dirt.
Fold down the corners of your friends.
Let a friend write
to cover up.

Hey,
I really enjoyed this assignment.
Break the rules.
I think it's a great one to start with, although I think I still went a bit too structured. In later weeks, I want to break free a bit more - even break free of grammatical convention.
Anyway, I had fun.
Can't wait to see what you do with this page!
<3
Lilly

This is the first page that I actually completed. I had a lot of fun replicating the blackout poetry style of Austin Kleon. It was a great one to start with - I wonder what NHNH did with hir version.

This mess completed in North-West England by Lilly.

Mess Project #3 - Drips and Splotches (Lilly)

[Note from Lilly - this post and the next are late due to travelling on my part. Apologies - Mess Project #5 should go up on time this Wednesday]

Image shows a spattered, dirty page, with text and images from other pages visible through the paper. Text reads "Drop some kind of coloured liquid (ink, tea, coffee) here from a good height (at least 5 feet)". Additional text at the bottom of the page reads "There is much beauty to be found in drips and splotches"

 Drips and splotches. I considered using ink, but I had coffee to hand, and was more willing to waste it. In retrospect, I sort of wish I'd used ink, because coffee doesn't seem to stain all that heavily. I lay the book on the floor of the bathroom to avoid making a mess of the carpet (I do prefer, however ironically, to keep the mess contained to the book where possible) and threw coffee at it from around head height. I'm five feet tall, or thereabouts, so head height was five feet away from the book.

I used the vacuum in a straw to pick up coffee, releasing my finger from the other end only when the straw was over the book. Three large splatters were enough for me. I enjoyed the way that they feathered at the edges, though like NH, I was a little frustrated by how wet the book became. I've left it propped open to dry out a bit.

Image shows the edge of a large coffee splatter on an off-white page. No text or other images are visible on the page.

This Mess completed by Lilly in San Francisco, California.

Mess project #3 - Drips and Splotches (Not Him Not Here)

Drips and splotches, coming right up! This was a rather soggy page of the Mess book, at least once the instructions were carried out. I carefully positioned the book near some stairs, with a rock to hold it open, and asked my flatmate to let fly with some stewed tea from my teapot from about 10 feet. Needless to say, the book's pretty wet. Aiming tea from 10 feet isn't the easiest thing we've ever done.

Image shows a spattered, dirty page, with text and images from other pages visible through the paper. Text reads "Drop some kind of coloured liquid (ink, tea, coffee) here from a good height (at least 5 feet)". Additional text at the bottom of the page reads "There is much beauty to be found in drips and splotches"

I confess, as time goes on, I'm less and less sure on where I can keep this book. It no longer belongs anywhere in a respectable home, and looks like it ought to be put in the doghouse. The entire book is wet and a little muddy from where it has been on the ground and poured tea on it from a height. It has oats falling out of it. How can it get muckier? I suppose it is called Mess for a reason...

I'm actually a little disappointed with this page. I was hoping for drips and splatters, but seem to have achieved soaking. Never mind, roll on next week!

Mess by Not Him.

Mess Project #2 - Something Sticky (Lilly)

Much messier than last week's page, I managed to stay within the rules while breaking them. While NH managed to subvert the rules by using golden syrup and oats, I used some of the materials suggested on the page itself; PVA glue and cocoa powder. I like the rich darkness that the cocoa powder brings, with its contrast highly visible on the opposite page where the cocoa has drifted.

Image shows an open book with cocoa powder all over it. Writing on the page reads "1. Cover this page with something sticky (glue, honey, etc.). 2. Drop a powdery substance onto the page (cocoa, flour, etc.). 3. Blow off excess". There is also a line drawing of a glue pot on the page.

In an effort to keep the mess 'messy', I spread the glue and cocoa with my fingers, then blew off the excess into the sink. I took the book outside to be photographed. As someone who normally likes to keep things perfect and pristine, who doesn't even like to bend the spine of a book, it excites me to have cocoa powder on the cover and down the sides of the pages of this book.

Like my sibling, I have my concerns about this book. Is it okay to have cocoa powder just... hanging out in my book like that? Will it make my room smell of chocolate? Will it make a mess of my other books? I hope not.

This Mess completed in North-West England by Lilly.

Mess Project #2 - Something sticky (Not Him Not here)

The previous page was very good fun, and by it's nature collaborative. This one I decided to keep to myself. The ingredients which came most readily to hand were flapjack ingredients, so here's the result:

Image shows an open book with oats all over it. Writing on the page reads "1. Cover this page with something sticky (glue, honey, etc.). 2. Drop a powdery substance onto the page (cocoa, flour, etc.). 3. Blow off excess". There is also a line drawing of a glue pot on the page.

I took the instruction to cover the page literally enough to justify using a knife to spread my squeezy, blobbed-out golden syrup, and totally ignored the "powdery" requirement - after all, this book is about creativity and breaking rules, so I feel justified in a little creativity around the rules on the page. 

Not to mention, if I had left the golden syrup as it was, it could have bled through to other pages. Not a problem in one direction - that page is done - but in the other direction I could have ended up with great difficulty completing my next task. In hindsight I regret this slightly, as the book is in part about letting go - but I can't and won't go back to try and fix it. I don't make any promises about doing better next week, either.

It's a slightly worrying thing, to have a book with oats and golden syrup in it. What if they get all over my bookshelf/book pile/general bedroom space? If it gets too hot will it run? Will it cook and fill the room with delicious flapjacky odours? Probably not that last one; I think that's my hunger talking, time to go eat.

Mess by Not Him.