The found object as a starting point

I thought some of you might be interested in the journey between my finding objects and a finished piece of work.  Sometimes I pick up an item immediately knowing how I can use it, but, more often than not, the idea develops over time.

On each of my last two walks at Church Norton, I found a small plastic square inscribed “P.W.C” – 6 days apart and on different ends of the beach.  I believe P.W.C stands for Portsmouth Water Company.

I had no definite idea when I found the first, but when I found the second, I immediately knew how I was going to use these rigid plastic squares.  The uniform shape and size and the rigidity brought to mind covers for a small book!  Next, I started to think about what form the book would take, how I would hold the pages in place and how I would secure the finished article – it seemed an obvious choice to try and use the drilled holes.

After some experimentation, I decided that rather than have conventional flat pages, I would consider some sort of Origami form.  Using the squares as inspiration, I created the inside pages and found a format that I liked and that suited the “covers”.  Here is the outcome:

I have a few mobile phone parts with which I may be able to construct something similar   so I’m off now to have a play!