Fast Updates:
I have added the MightyCon event MILWAUKEE COMIC CON below!
Copy editing of Endow is scheduled to be completed on June 9th. Book layout and proofreading to begin soon!
Onesketchman ( Hanson Suhendra) has created an amazing drawing for my upcoming short story collection “The Warning Signs” and I have added it to the Illustrations page.
Also:
readersfavorite.com will have “Rise“ listed as an available prize in the monthly book giveaway. If your interested in winning some amazing books by great authors you can check out the monthly giveaway here: https://readersfavorite.com book giveaway
Upcoming Event Reminders:
2020
Porter Comic Con has been postponed
Concealed Realms will be participating in Porter County Comic Con. The Porter County Mighty Con event takes place Saturday, June 13th from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at The Porter County Expo Center, 215 E Division Rd, Valparaiso, IN.
We will be returning to The Madison Comic Con! This event takes place Sunday, July 12th from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the Monona Terrace Exhibit Hall, 1 John Nolan Drive, Madison WI.
Concealed Realms will be at the ST. Louis Mighty Con! This Mighty Con event will take place July 18th and July 19th at the St. Charles Convention Center.
We will be participating in The Milwaukee Comic Con! This MightyCon event takes place at the Wisconsin State Fairgrounds Products Pavillion located at 640 S 84th St., West Allis, WI 53214 on September 12th.
Concealed Realms will be at Quad Con Iowa City on September 26th. This event takes place at the Coralville Marriott Conference Center.
We will be participating in Oddmall: Hallowondrous on October 16-17, 2020. The event takes place at Lakewood Masonic Temple – 15300 Detroit Ave. Lakewood, Ohio 44107.
Concealed Realms will be at Oddmall: Chrishanukwanzmadan, December 4-6, 2020. The event takes place at the Cultural Center for the Arts – 1001 Market Avenue, Canton OH 44702.
Dupage ComicCon Event Postponed – MightyCon Facebook
Concealed Realms will be participating in the Dupage Mighty Con. This event takes place at the Dupage County Fairgrounds, 2015 Manchester Rd, Wheaton, IL on Saturday May 23rd from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Creative Quotes
“The creative adult is the child who survived.” – Ursula Leguin
“You can’t use up creativity. The more you use the more you have.” – Maya Angelou
“Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes, and having fun.” – Mary Lou Cook
“Creativity doesn’t wait for that perfect moment. It fashions its own perfect moments out of ordinary ones.” – Bruce Garrabrandt
“The desire to create is one of the deepest yearnings of the human soul.” – Dieter F. Uchtdorf
“Everything you can imagine is real.” – Pablo Picasso
“If you’re not doing some things that are crazy, then you’re doing the wrong things.” – Larry Page
“The works must be conceived with fire in the soul but executed with clinical coolness.” – Joan Miró
“The most talented, thought-provoking, game-changing people are never normal.” – Richard Branson
“The chief enemy of creativity is good sense.” – Pablo Picasso
Definition of Imagination:
Dictionary.com
noun
- “the faculty of imagining, or of forming mental images or concepts of what is not actually present to the senses.”
noun
“the act or power of forming a mental image of something not present to the senses or never before wholly perceived in reality“– merriamwebster.com
Creating a book nook
Due to the stay at home order, I needed a new project for my creativity post. One that I could keep simple because I wanted to be able to use things that I already had around the house. So I searched for creative outlet design ideas that I hoped would allow me to mainly use items that were left over from other projects.
My idea: I decided to make a book nook. Inside the nook, I wanted it to give the impression that the fictional place had once been full of brick buildings and people, but had become overgrown and wild… without any clear explanation on why, in order to let the imagination run free.
What is a book nook?
If you haven’t seen or heard of a book nook before, it’s a little shelf insert that goes between books. The element usually looks like a tiny entryway into a fantastic place or depicts unique sights. Here is a link to some very impressive and creative examples: www.boredpanda.com
Book Nook Creation:
I tried to use things that I had around the house from previous projects. There was quite a bit of paint left from the staff and the Halloween decorations. For the missing colors, I mixed white paint with some food coloring from a kit I had on hand.
But I did end up ordering a few things online from a hobby store…
The start:
It appears that many book nook shelf inserts are made from wood, but I didn’t have the tools for that available, so I decided to use very durable cardboard for the frame. The cardboard box I chose had once housed Christmas greeting cards.
I decided that the height should be about nine inches, and I wanted the length to be around seven. The finished interior width of the creation would be about five inches.
Since the box was red and gold, after I cut it in the right proportions to create my book nook, I painted the inside with sand textured paint and the outside black.
Once the paint dried on both sides of the cardboard, I covered the exterior side with faux moss ribbon. I used hot glue for the adhesive.
I used paper clay, leftover from the staff project to make some scene setting pieces for the interior. After they dried I covered them with multiple layers of paint.
For the side and bottom parts, I used hot glue to lay down my paper clay brick chunks and surrounded them with the all purpose moss, before adding bits of the moss mix pieces in for variation. After some consideration, I decided to add the all purpose moss mix to the interior top as well.
After adhering the clay door, some of the broken sidewalk, and stones I made, I added the tricycle and attempted to make it look as though it was overgrown with plants. (I also realized that I made way to many pieces than I was going to be able to use.) Then, I attached the bottom to the “spine”.
After that, I attached one side and allowed it to dry completly before attaching the other.
Changes in plans:
I origionally planned on keeping the design pretty simple, but I was talked into adding some fairy lights. Since it wasn’t part of the original project, I had to adapt my nook book to hold the battery pack in a way that would be not only allow the for the on/off switch to be accesible but to also make it simple to change the batteries with ease when necessary.
I grabbed a felt scrap and created a small pouch with the help of a needle and some thread.
I then added more of the moss ribbon to one side before I attached it to the back of the nook book with hot glue. I also reinforced the edges with more of the adhesive all purpose moss.
The large battery pack fit snugly into the pouch but is easily removed when needed.
I attached the lights around what would be the inside of the top of the finished nook book. Then I added more moss elements to the underside as well, in order to camoflauge them a bit.
After I fitted the top on and added a few more detail elements to the interior, such as the mini books, I hot glued it into place and added some more adhesive moss mat around any edges that didn’t seem to be sealed tightly.
In the end, I had quite few leftover pieces. I did not feel that I had room for several of the clay creations that I made, but I am sure they will come in handy for a future project.
The finished nook book:
I had planned on incorporating a miniature stone fountain structure, more damaged concrete, and even a mini wash basin. Luckily, I realized early on that I had envisioned an image that would need much more space than the book shaped display I had planned would provide.
Even though the original concept needed to be scaled down and it didn’t turn out exactly as I imagined, it was a fun project to work on. I think that I would like to make another book nook design in the future. I would prefer to try making a frame from wood and would want to incorporate a lot more detail.
Here is a final image, after I slide it into place on one of my bookshelves:
Learn more about the creative process:
creativityatwork.com,psychologytoday.com, apartmenttherapy.com
Check out these sites:
Jackydahlhaus.com
Follafiction.com
janetims.com
SusanLeist
annabelletroy
amwillisjournal
dreadpoetssobriety
ankandas
DirtySciFiBuddha
Reedsy
Allianceindependentauthors
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