BirchBarkMosaics

…or none of the above?

Book binding “repair” isn’t quite an accurate description of my latest Birch Bark Mosaics endeavor, although I have used it to affix a book spine hanging by mere threads from its front and back covers. It feels more like I am building a library that speaks to the other birch-barked objects throughout my house. (Could be that’s just me…)

While I have decorated countless items with the rustic homespun colors of birch, most have been given away to friends and family. Of the few pieces I have kept for myself — either rough endeavors from early attempts, charming only to me, or my proudest pieces I couldn’t part with — the birch-bound books are something I’m treasuring. Not just because I’m an English lit major and books are a cultural currency but I’ve noticed how utterly transformed the scruffy items became. (Probably just me, again.)

For years, many of these books sat unnoticed on my living room built-in shelves. After their birch transformations, people now cross the room to look more closely at them. They cradle one gingerly and open the pages and read a bit aloud. Suddenly these books are alive again, breathing and inspiring. It feels like book rescue more than book repair.

My first birched-book (beyond the many blank journal covers I’ve decorated for myself and fellow writers) was “The Blue Fairy” that I found in a neighborhood Free Library, well loved and falling to pieces. The glossed, finely detailed color-illustrations announced that this was a treasure, even without its cover, and I was tempted to take it apart to frame the art. Instead I tried my hand at a stylized repair job using nature’s early form of paper: birch bark.

I’ve begun asking at the used book stores what happens to the loved-beyond-repair books? Many get tossed, or passed along to another charity. Hopefully I can step in and rescue a few more along the way? (Definitely not just me?)