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Diana Porteus

Ariel's Song: Where the Bee Sucks

This book opens up like a three dimensional flower.  The words of the song (like Shakespeare's tiny Ariel himself) are tucked away inside the flower.  When the petals are gently parted, the text is revealed on three flower-shaped double-spreads.  I wanted the writing to look like part of the flower's structure – stamens perhaps or markings on the petals.

The book-structure appears complicated but is based on a simple form where three squares of paper are folded in half across and down and once diagonally, then pasted together so that their centres meet at a corner "spine".  After a “Making Little Books” workshop with Viva Lloyd, I experimented with many variants of that form before arriving at this version.  The biggest challenge was to attach a cover which would surround the structure and accommodate the bulk at its centre when closed, but would also lie flat when opened.