Great Quotations

(Above:  Great Quotations: Courtship. Quotation from Dorothy Parker.  Antique or pre-1945 image and letters clipped mostly from vintage magazines and ephemera on a page from Charles Richardson's English Language Dictionary, 1846.  Click on any image to enlarge and read!)

Once upon a time, I bought a two volume dictionary at auction.  I paid six dollars plus 10% buyer's premium.  Both books are in terrible condition.  They date from 1846.  I thought I would cut selected words from them and tag more keys for my installation, The Wall of Keys.  Keys have been an obsession for a long, long time ... but somehow or the other, the way the dictionary words were grouped and written phonetically didn't really appeal after I brought the volumes home.  So they sat around for a couple YEARS.  This was ridiculous.  Part of my New Year's resolution is to USE more of my collected found objects.  Thus, the new "Great Quotations Series" came about.

(Above:  Great Quotations: Artistocracy. Quotation from Tennessee Williams.)

This New Year's plan also meant cutting up a stack of old engravings and photogravures that have been on shelves and boxes for longer than I've had the dictionary set!  None of these engravings had much, if any, value.  Few people are decorating with antiques nowadays.  It was great fun to cut them all up and pair a few with a page from the dictionary.

(Above:  Great Quotations: Sorrow.  Quotation by Lady Gaga.)

Each dictionary page was first fused to fabric using a framing product called Fusion 4000 inside my dry mount press.  In exactly five minutes, the paper adheres to the fabric under the 28 pounds of pressure per square inch and by the totally controlled 180 degree temperature.  I love this stuff!

(Above:  Great Quotations: Love.  Quotation by John Lennon.)

First, I collaged the image to each page using matte medium.  Once dry, I did a little free-motion stitching.  Not until all eighteen of these pieces were stitched did I start looking for an appropriate quotation.  To be honest, I didn't think I'd be able to do anything with a few of these!  Who would have ever believed that the scorpion and camel would find a useable phrase?

(Above:  Great Quotations: All's Well That Ends Well. Quotation by William Shakespeare.)

One by one, I found a great quotation and collaged each one onto the paper.  Each work is signed.  My signature is really small because I didn't want my name to compete with the printed page.  I used a fine tipped Koh-I-Noor Rapidograph pen.  This pen is what I use for French matting.  Sometimes I wrote the name of the person quoted using the Rapidograph too.  Sometimes I cut letters from the dictionary and spelled the name out.

(Above:  Great Quotations: Spine. Quotation by Ayse Aslihan Koksoy.)

Frequently, I altered the heading for the page ... changing the SPI on the page for "spine" to actually say "spine" on one side but "wings" on the other.

(Above:  Great Quotations: Justice. Quotation by Mahatma Gandhi.)

Sometimes the quotation included the word on the dictionary page, but sometimes the quotation just worked with the image or concept behind the word.

(Above:  Great Quotations: Camel. Quotation by Jacqueline Kennedy.)

I have lots and lots more cut images and literally hundreds more dictionary pages.  It's been fun to create "something" from these old, neglected, and semi-forgotten things.  I hope to do more.  After all, it's not every day one can put John Wayne, Coco Chanel, Mark Twain, Lady Gaga, William Shakespeare, Jacqueline Kennedy, Tennessee Williams, Theodore Roosevelt, John Lennon and Mahatma Gandhi together!

(Above:  Great Quotations: Scorpion. Quotation by DeShanne Stokes.)

Each page measures 11" x 8 1/2" and is "top mounted" on mat board.  That means that all the edges show!  A 20" x 16" outer mat surrounds each one.  I've priced them all at $75 each.  Seems fair for so much fun!

(Above:  Great Quotations: Ophelia.  Quotation from William Shakespeare.)

Scroll down to see the rest!

(Above:  Great Quotations: Work. Quotation by Theodore Roosevelt.)

(Above:  Great Quotations: Wild. Quotation by John Wayne.)

(Above:  Great Quotations: Fly. Idiomatic expression from a Biblical adage.)

(Above:  Great Quotations: Pretty is as Pretty Does.  Idiomatic expression just about every mother has said to her daughters.)

(Above:  Great Quotations: Classic.  Quotation by Mark Twain.)

(Above:  Great Quotations: Exotic. Quotation by Erin Van Vuren.)

(Above:  Great Quotations: Fashion.  Quotation by Coco Chanel.)

(Above:  Great Quotations: Scotland. Quotations by Robert Burns.)