The Elemental Forest from Academe Obscure

This last weekend was the opening reception of Academe Obscure: A Library Beyond Description at the Tacoma Arts Center. I've contributed a number of books to this show, each one with its own unique style and concept so I'd like to take some time to show them one by one and tell their stories.

The first book that I want to feature is The Elemental Forest which was made possible through the help of several different contributing artists.

The concept behind the Elemental Forest was to create a stylized journal-book that follows the journey of our main character Knight Academic Toric Roem. This book is contains his various journal entries as he ventures forth into the Elemental Forest on a quest to document never before seen creatures that live within. I've interspersed the journal entries with plenty of blank, hand stained pages for one's own writing.

The book itself is completely handbound with a nice brown and gold velvet and a leather trimmed spine with raised cording. It is trimmed with fine satin ribbon and the corners are capped with fancy gold edges. The journal latches closed with a buckle.

Inside the book is the story of our Knight Academic as he seeks to add to the world of knowledge. Of the many creatures that he finds within the forest, several of them were inspired by sculptures or plushies that I've purchased along the way from various fellow artisans. Each of them graciously gave me permission to make up 'scholarly descriptions' and photograph their creations for this book. I set each one up in its own diorama, took pictures and then edited them for use in the publishing and printing of the book, which I also did myself.

The various creatures described throughout the book are:

Grubs the Gobbler (officially known as the Nose Goblin): This adorable guy came to me at the Faerie Winter Masquerade last year courtesy of Goblin Road. He was designed by Robert and Rebecca Turk who make all sorts of them each with their own characteristics :)

The Pebbleonian: This rocky little buddy was sculpted by Angela at Elemental Dragons. I was just surfing Artfire one day looking for something unique to buy and when I saw him I knew he'd make perfect friends with my Yibbits, Buttfreckles, Gargoyles, Gobbler and other creatures around my house! She has some awesome zany sculptings :)

The Takobus: This cephalopod is a smallish sculpting by Ann Koi of Catalyst Studios. He was discovered in her art room after a romping afternoon at Faeries and Berries and I decided to adopt him to join my other strange creatures.

The Bogfog: More famously known as the London Fog Buttfreckle, I have a whole horde of these and they live in Buttfrecklesylvakia, right next to the Yibbitonia, where all my Yibbits live. Normally I take a buttfreckle with me everywhere I go and take pictures of them abroad but this grey guy wanted his picture in a BOOK so here he is :)

The Bark Butterfly: This magical creature is something of a mystery. It simply appeared on my car one day at Faerieworlds 2008 and so I took it home with me. When looking for which creatures to add, I knew that this must be one of them.

The Snowbird: Another of my own creations, the Snowbird is a beautiful wingéd creature that I've been collecting feathers from for some time to make magical quills from. It is most elusive!

Together, all these creatures comprise the newly discovered inhabitants of the Elemental Forest as depicted in the book :)