shirt-to-dirt gallery

Starting to feel like autumn is blowing in. Consistently having drizzly cool mornings a few day a week. Definitely cooler in the am and still warm in the afternoon. Snow peas are popping up around the dig sight.

Very little decomposition. Slight breakdown on edge of wrap.

It hasn't rained much and has been pretty hot here. The book is definitely more stiff and fragile. I am going to replant it in the ground and leave it there to fully decompose now!

Dry dry dry. No rain since last digging up of my book 2 weeks ago. Not much life in the dried out soil. Both front & back covers separated from the book, and in tatters. The rest is pretty well intact, with interesting patterns from plant material I tucked inside and from deterioration of fabric. The threads themselves held up well, and the indigo-dyed fabric is most intact.

Completely gone but for the small piece I found. Lots of worms in the area, rain the last few days as well.

As I suspected - all fibers and threads have disintegrated. Happily I was able to locate the stick that was used as my locator.

Quite fragile binding almost totally disintegrated. Brittle covers inside pages have beautiful coloration and remain intact. Overall I’m surprised at how well it held up.

I tried to rinse the dirt off my book, which only made the fabric fall apart faster. This is what my wet, muddy book looks like. I'm looking forward to seeing what it looks like when if dries, but it's so fragile that I just have to wait for it to air dry!

I've been watering my garden daily, but with sandy soil, it dries out quickly. I had trouble finding my meditation book today, since it was really dissolving! I gathered all the pieces which were covered in soil.....

Still no rail. Cracks are 7” deep in the ground. Slight bit of decomposition/worn spots on some pages. Haven’t had rain in weeks.

It has continued to be quite rainy. I dug the book up two days later than scheduled and was surprised by how many holes it now has- most seem to be in the area where I sewed the sea shell, even many pages away. I also noticed a spot on the blue fabric where the color is now gone.

This is all that is left. In the subsequent 2 unearthings, the book structure had fallen apart, so I attempted to rebundle and bury.