Janet Frame Fan Box Set

 

Halfway through glueing

Aaaaargh! A bad start, with 2 misprints. Ok, actually not too fussed about this.

Alan and Janet Box Sets

Obverse

Side view 1

Side View 2

Alan's books - faded except for behind the box set cover

Hi

A few weeks ago, I came across a Paladin edition of part 3 of Janet Frame's autobiography called "The Envoy from Mirror City at a free book library, and re-read it, then later came across part 1 (To the Is-Lands) in the  same edition and read that too. At about this stage I decided to lean in to these findings and bought part 2 (An Angel at my Table) through ebay. 

I really like Janet's autobiographies, especially The Envoy from Mirror City in which Janet, in her early 30's finally breaks strings tying her to New Zealand and heads to Europe to finally be herself, be something new and escape her previous life. I had something similar happen to me - I spent a year overseas in my mid 20's which shaped my life - I am reminded of the McGarrigal's song "Talk to me of Mendocino" with the line "In New York state I came of age, when first I started out from home"

Anyway, the ebay book arrived, and then I decided to really lean in, and started to make a "Fan box set" out of the 3 books. The idea and template for this was the Alan Marshall autobiography box set from Cheshire which was lurking on my shelf - covers faded and slightly battered. I copied the style of the box set cover which is slightly quirky. 

I didn't go too far with all the details but made the cover from old manilla folders which I pre-cut to A4 size before printing. The yellow part needed to be printed 3 times - on the first print there were a few typos, the second ended up on the same side as the first, and the 3rd - voila I finally got it right, and the misprints are a feature, not a detraction. The slightly remedial printing from my old laser printer looks good too.

 It all came together quite well in the end. I quite like this sort of art, which is a sort of punk, with no need for technical perfection when there is a bit of originality.

Regards Steve Nurse