5 paise

I 'saw' the cover of this book in my mind's eye as I was walking up on the flat roof of our house one evening: 5-paise coins in a harlequin pattern. My late, thrifty mother-in-law left a bag of coins behind. The smallest denominations have all been demonetised now, as inflation has taken their value away. But I like their varied shapes.


Making a little book like this -- 4.5" x 6.5" -- doesn't take much time, but I like to think lazily about how it should be, and how to go about it; to anticipate.


I cut the covers from an old book, and folded the pages. I used various inkjet papers in white and neutral colours. There are six sections/signatures. I painted, collaged and numbered the first page of each one. The third signature has an Urdu number 3, just to give the person turning the pages a little surprise, and a photograph I took of Badshahi masjid in Lahore. The Urdu text is a recipe for egg-and-tomato pulau, because I didn't want to tear a page out of a book of poetry.


I measured and punched holes, put eyelets in the covers, washed the coins and glued them on. Then I kept everything ready in a small basket -- covers, paper, curved needle, waxed linen thread.


Sewing the book took about 15 minutes. And now... what? It waits.



8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wonderful!
A NY follower on twitter.

Anonymous said...

Best entry.

The details, the absolute absorption in the making of the book from inception to completion, almost a palpable connect with all the objects involved ...
Truly awesome
and peace giving.

PS i have some 3 np coins somewhere
:)

Kate (Cathy Johnson) said...

What a wonderful inspiration, Nancy--I love the coins, too.

Krista/Ruca said...

Very nice! Now what? Fill it with drawings or poetry!

Anonymous said...

Nancy,

Very original.

I like it.

Charu

riotthill said...

Lovely, reminds us why we love paper books over digital.

Anonymous said...

Now i see it... will try one too. each a unique page with a story of its own

angelee said...

very beautiful idea thank you for sharing Nancy love and peace in 2015
angelee