Wednesday, September 23, 2015

The largest city in Brazil (in my 7 Continents AB)


This is another scheduled post because I'm still helping my friend Sally.  Her friend had to change his flight plans and will be here tomorrow (Thursday).  Today, however, is the big push to do a bit more organizing and straightening at her house.  So I'll be there from dawn to dusk like I was yesterday.

I finished this spread yesterday evening, but have another spread I hope to create tomorrow as we travel to São Paulo which is south of Rio, but still on the coast.

Our next stop in Brazil is São Paulo.

According to Lonely Planet:
São Paulo is a monster. Enormous, intimidating and, at first glance at least, no great beauty. It's a difficult city for the traveler to master and one that may not seem worth the sweat. Even the most partisan paulistano – resident of São Paulo city – will rail about the smog, the traffic, the crumbling sidewalks and the gaping divide between poor and rich.
I made a packing tape transfer from a magazine image and overlaid it with a picture from a travel magazine that had nothing to do with São Paulo.  It's supposed to show how different and diverse the city is.

The information on the left was taken from my 1937 Encyclopedia, while the photo and reference to the coffee museum on the right

were from two different travel magazines.

The information above is quite old, but even older is information I found stating that between 1901 and 1910, coffee made up 51% of São Paulo's total exports, which greatly exceeded exports of rubber, sugar, and cotton.

Another interesting fact is today there are, according to various internet sites, sizable German, Japanese, Arabian, Italian, Chinese, Armenian, Lithuanian, Greek, Syrian, Korean, Polish and Hungarian communities in São Paulo.  São Paulo also has the largest openly gay community in Latin America.  An estimated 20 million people live in greater São Paulo, making it the third-largest metropolis on earth.  This city offers much.

There are many staggering statistics associated with São Paulo.

According to Brazil.org:
São Paulo is the richest and most populous state in Brazil and its capital city, bearing the same name, is the largest city in all of South America. As such, São Paulo is one of the country’s and, indeed, the continent’s most significant areas. In fact, it contributes over a third of Brazil’s GDP (Gross Domestic Product).
Although tourism is important to São Paulo, tourists often shun the city, preferring Rio and Salvador instead.

Then there's the negatives, according to Al Jazeera:
Brazil has the highest number of murders in the world, with more than 50,000 in 2013. But just eight percent of cases are ever solved, compared to about 65 percent in the US and 80 percent in the UK.
You can see how large São Paulo is.  In case you can't read it, São Paulo is the largest city in Brazil, in the Americas, the southern hemisphere, and the western hemisphere.

My third page honoring São Paulo is quite simple.

These Havaianas are sold at all the beach shops in São Paulo.  Tourists are told to buy them when they get to Brazil, rather than bringing them.

As I created the page, I decided to drag out one of my decorative edge scissors that hadn't seen the light of day for at least four years.  Please tell me I'm not the only one who bought at least a dozen different decorative edge scissors, then only used them once or twice!

What happens when you want to create the words São Paulo, but don't have enough letters to complete the words?  You dip into your stash of various stickers, because sometimes unmatched letters can add charm to a page.  And sometimes they are a distraction, so I had to choose ones that seemed to go with my page.  I added three buttons for my only embellishment.

São Paulo may not be the most beautiful city, but it is vibrant and alive.  If you prefer hip, alive, and active, São Paulo might be the place to visit. 

To recap my three pages I created for São Paulo, here they are again.

A final look shows this background was scraped with two colors of acrylics, to which I added a packing tape transfer, images from travel magazines, the Brazilian flag, and contents found in a 1937 Encyclopedia.

For this side, I created the same background, then added a map of South America, computer generated statistics found on the internet, and a Brazilian flag.

I began with another paint scraped page, added stickers, three buttons, computer generated text I cut using decorative edge scissors, and images found in two different travel brochures.

And finally, my friend Dianne asked in a comment several days ago about how fat the 7 continents altered book has gotten.  Since many of you are new friends, followers, and readers since I started this book back in late 2004, it began as a Physician's Desk Reference.  There are thousands and thousands of pages, or at least that's how it seemed.

To start at the beginning, I began saving images from around the world right after I got interested in altered books back in late 2002.  I knew I wanted to make an altered book of some sort as soon as I knew a bit more about ABs.  In late 2004 I felt confident enough and hosted what I called the 7 continent swap.  At that time, 14 other players signed up to make tip-ins and the swap took nearly a year to complete.  All went well as I began by creating sign-in pages.

Each participant chose something (or just a place) from each continent and created a tip-in, along with a sign-in tag that was due during their assigned month.  As the host, I requested each tip-in be as alike or similar as possible, because I don't want to determine who gets a "better" tip-in than someone else.  With only a slight delay due to some swappers not able to complete their pages on time, the swap was completed in late 2005.

Next, I began tipping in the beautiful art I had received.  I separated each country and added a header of some type that distinguished each continent from the next.  Each continent was designated with a given number of pages that I could then create, as well as the ones I had received.  Again, all went well until I dropped the book.  It was SUPER heavy, and I mean HEAVY.  When I did, it split in several places, and I had no way to repair it.  Even though it was a sewn book, it didn't survive a drop down several steps.

Fast forward to 2007, and I asked my friend Kathy's husband to let me use his drill press, because I was tired of using my 3 hole punch to punch holes in the undecorated, as well as the decorated pages.  I had decided to use a HUGE (approximately 3 1/2 inches) 3-ring binder and knew the pages would fit in it.

After I spent all that time drilling holes in the sections, I decided I was tired of gluing several pages together to make one sturdy enough to create my entry.  It was at that time I discovered how much abuse a used file folder could take, but I still wasn't happy because I had accumulated so much "stuff," it was hard to focus on one entry or one continent.  So, I started skipping around, putting a page or two together based on whatever I found at the moment, or pulled out of my pile.

Fast forward to 2014, when I decided to get serious about finishing this AB.  It was at that time, I took the time to sort each continent, and that is where we are today.  Some of you may know that I spent nearly eight months in Argentina, making art in the AB as time and other challenges permitted.

I realize that's a LONG and convoluted answer to Dianne's comment, but that's where I am today.  As I create a page, I place it in the appropriate section (continent) in my 3-ring binder.  At the moment, the binder cover is bare and dark green.  I never complete my cover until I finish a book, so this binder has a long way to go before it is finished.

I hope this answered some questions you might have about what I call my longest UFAB (unfinished altered book).  It was great to have you join me again on this imaginary journey to Brazil.  I learned a lot, as I'm sure some of you did, too.  Thanks for visiting and thanks for your questions and comments.


14 thoughtful remarks:

froebelsternchen said...

Wonderful pages about Soa Paulo Elizabeth!
An amazing work and project at all is this...
Thank you for answering all the questions!
oxo
Susi

Valerie-Jael said...

Very interesting page about Sao Paulo, I think you must need weeks or even years to find your way around there. Thanks for telling us the story behind your books too. Great that you are helping Sally again, too! Hugs, Valerie

Caterina Giglio said...

very interesting, yes indeed, loved your inclusion of Haviana's ... wore out my first pair here the first year! x

pearshapedcrafting said...

Once again Elizabeth I have enjoyed my geography lesson! I don't know much about South America at all and finding out through your pages is wonderful! What a project this has been for you - so pleased you have continued with it! BTW - I'm all for a decorative edged scissor revival!!
Hope your day with Sally goes well!!
Now to answer some of your questions - The Elephant house cafe is indeed where the earlier Harry Potter books were written and it is not far away from Greyfriars Bobby's statue in the old part of Edinburgh. The hotel in the last TIFT post is an Art Deco building on Morcambe's seafront that was left to rot for ages until it was refurbished in the same style as the original.The whole area around it had a facelift too, Morecambe Bay is famous for it's birds and there is lots of art around to reflect that- hmm, note to self, must take photos!! I have shown the interior several times too, will send you the links if you wish.
Finally the photo type stamp I used the other week - as with several of my larger stamps is inked and then the paper or card is pressed on top of the stamp and rubbed lightly with my fingertips (as opposed to stamping down onto substrate) Gosh! What a ramble, sorry!! Hugs, Chrisx

Anonymous said...

Wow, never knew it was that big. Again, learning something every time from this journal. I am not sure I would want to try and navigate that place. 300 miles of coastline is pretty impressive. Not sure how much Maine has but it's alot, but as an example NH has only 7 miles of actual coastline, and a city has 300. That's a whopper. xox

Karla B said...

São Paulo is a melting pot and It is not so far from Rio. It breathes culture and everything that is modern you find there. But you find more beaches here than in São Paulo.We -cariocas -people who are born in Rio make fun of the people of São Paulo and vice-versa specially because of our different accents.There is a competition between us but we love each other.

Rita said...

A lot of interesting facts! I'd love to see the coffee museum. This AB has turned in to a bigger and bigger project. :)

I hope you recover from helping Sally. Whew! That's the biggest project of all!!! ;)

Sami said...

Thanks for your explanation about the Altered Books - I didn't know much about it until I started following your blog.
I see it involves a lot of work and preparation before you actually finish it.
I've been to Sao Paulo before, I have family living there - my Maternal Grandfather had 4 sisters who all moved there, and he was the only one that went to Mozambique (Africa) at the same time. Then he went back to Portugal, while the sister's and their offspring stayed in Brazil. I still maintain contact with my cousins.

johanna said...

i read the Story of your UFAB and you have my admiration that you kept up that Long anyway... and sometimes (at least for some regions) i think These researches about the countries might be even better than visiting them in Person. there are definitely parts in the world i will never travel (and the lack of Money is only one reason), but These inquiries you make are teaching you a lot!

My name is Erika. said...

Love the story about your book (along with your new pages too). I love the idea that you have this book to work on as you get to it all these years. What will you do when it is done? You might miss it-like losing an old friend- or perhaps you will be glad to finish it. Hope you finish up your cleaning in time for your friend's visitors arrival.

Craftymoose Crafts said...

What a journey this AB has had! Sorry I've been missing T Day, and the upcoming one is when we leave so it is doubtful I'll have time to schedule anything. I am knee deep in suitcases right now & DD needs a quick trip to the dr for a minor ailment. Why do these things always happen just before vacation?

Just wanted you to know I am thinking of you and lurking here even if I don't get to post.

Dianne said...

Beautiful pages dear E...and great/fascinating info about each! love those colors together too. quite an interesting story about the evolution of this AB...as I remember from my university bookstore days, the PDR is not only large and heavy, but the pages are kind of thin...so yes, I can imagine you were gluing several together to make a substantial substrate! So...this has actually evolved from an AB to an Art Journal!! ;) wink, grin!* Bravo you...that you didn't give up the project, and you made it work!! when it's not fun any more, change it up. as you obviously have. thanks for answering my question, it's a great story and will be an inspiration to other artists too, I'm sure. hugs ♥ good luck with the Sally Project!

Sharon Madson said...

Love your art journal! Please come by and see me. I think we are close. :)

Sharon Madson said...

Love your art journal! Please come by and see me. I think we are close. :)