[68] p.
5.5 in x 5.5 in
Black and White interior, Color exterior
Hand-bound in an edition of 50
$20 Hardcover, $15 Softcover
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AUTOPSY OF THE SEWING MACHINE
Part sewing manual, part spell book, Autopsy of the Sewing Machine is a hand-bound art book that spins antique sewing ephemera into narrative. A series of linked prose poems and diagrams instruct the midcentury housewife to create a mysterious pleasure tool out of domestic objects. This project was completed in conjunction with the 2019 Prose Certificate Program at the Independent Publishing Resource Center in Portland, OR.
TO APPROACH THE MACHINE
Rise and dress at dawn. Scent throat and wrists. Crush nerve pill into coffee. Remove Husband and children out of doors. Count to one hundred before proceeding. Knock three times on a west-facing wall. A draft raises your skirts around your knees. A violent stirring issues from the sewing cabinet. You may now uncover the machine.
TO CATCH THE BOBBIN
Seize the needle thread and rotate the wheel toward you until the needle sinks under the feed dogs. Pull the needle thread and a small, golden nugget will pop out of the bed slide. Plant the nugget under the mulberry bush in the garden. Water it with the urine of your children. When the crows arrive to mate in the mulberry bush, it is time. Dig up the nugget, and with it you will unearth the sweet-smelling pate of your true love’s head.