Of Elephants and Roses

(The first of many catch-up blogs from the seemingly lightening-fast Spring)

I finished up my book cradle work for the APS exhibition in March. The books in the show are super interesting and it was a blast, though a lot of work, to quickly make cradles for everything. Certain books came from Bibliothèque Nationale de France and other museums and had to be chaperoned by a courier. For those, I would quickly take measurements, okay my plan, make the cradle, then the books would get strapped in and locked into the exhibit cases. Fancy. 

The most challenging books were the GIANT ones that needed wedges to support them instead of cradles. These books are larger than briefcases, and super heavy, fragile and tired. For these I would take measurements, cut pieces out of binder's board, and glue them squarely with weights.

Finished, they're like the monolith from 2001. Lastly, I sand them then cover each with cloth from the installation cases. 

In an effort to work more experimentally and not address only the support of the book, I made this cradle for my last book. It's sleeker and slimmer. If I had had more time, they would all be so classy.

Besides books the exhibit includes prints, "fossilized mastodon teeth sent by Thomas Jefferson from the White House to French scientist Georges Cuvier, the founder of paleontology," a giant stuffed black swan, and "the score for a revolutionary song played for two elephants in the Paris menagerie in an attempt to make them breed." Amazing.

Of Elephants and Roses review on Geekadelphia
Exhibit page at APS