Waipua Forest

I am working on a book that I came to me on Christmas Day, walking alone in Waipua Forest in Northland among the majestic kauri trees. Just like the bush there are many layers of different textures and shades of green, it is detailed, deep, diverse and chaotic.

I have been making lacey papercuts of foliage which I love partly for the connection with a traditional Jewish art form (using this medium for such uniquely New Zealand images is a blissful expression of the best of my life as a diaspora Jew in New Zealand); and partly because they are just so pretty.

I have found a structure (thanks Dot) which will firstly enable the pages to be flipped like a codex so the reader can move through the different layers of foliage as if walking through the bush; and secondly let the book stand open with all the pages spaciously displayed- perfect for exhibition.

It is fiddly and time-consuming and constantly challenging and it already makes all my other books to date look crude in comparison. I want it to be finished now so I can see it and show it. But I am so busy working, and going to Dunedin this weekend for Liz's wedding, that it will be at least next week before I can complete it.