Have you ever wondered what labor goes into producing a beautiful, weathered book page? Swea Kumlien, the creator of these gorgeous covers, breaks down the process for us:
Regarding the technical steps taken to complete this project, I obtained a free period-appropriate font, typed my text into four word documents, then treated each page with coffee and a cotton ball. Next I treated all edges with candle lighter followed by a baby wipe for maximum “aged” effect.
The creative process here doesn’t begin and end with some cotton swabs; the covers effectively reimagine four premodern texts (Beowulf, Morte D’arthur, Paradise Lost, and Fantomina). In each cover, Swea offers a fascinating take on the text in question. How can we read Beowulf as a treatise on peace? Does Thomas Malory’s status as a writer during wartime alter the reception of his work? How can we read Paradise Lost as a “vivid and reasoned retelling of many epic tableaux”? Swea’s creations offer us a window into how these works are constantly re-evaluated and their meanings contested. Peruse them below along with some of her commentary!
LISTEN to this PROLOGUE of a PRESERVED WORK which depicts DIVERSE METHODS which may be employed in the NAVIGATION of KINGSHIP as demonstrated by TWO GENERATIONS within the ROYAL family of the ANCIENT SCANDINAVIANS especially within what has been called the “epic” LIFE of one BEOWULF —OR — A GRAPHIC and NOBLE EXAMPLE for PEACE-LOVING PEOPLES. [et cetera]
Morte D’arthur —OR— “THE LIFE AND DEATH OF KING ARTHUR” And his Majesty’s own knights, TOLD in NINE BOOKS. [et cetera]
Paradise Lost. A POEM IN TEN BOOKS containing the VIVID and REASONED retelling of MANY EPIC TABLEAU: such as SATAN’S DEPLORABLE SEDUCTION of HIS OWN OFFSPRING: the which are presented to current readership By JOHN MILTON. [et cetera]
FANTOMINA: OR, “Love in a Maze” BEING A Secret History of an AMOUR Between Two PERSONS of CONDITION. By Mrs. ELIZA HAYWOD. [et cetera]
Swea Kumlien is an English major/Music minor at OSU. Truly, she loved 2201’s portfolio project because when she was tiny she used to make pages for books and then bind them together and read them to her dolls. When she got older she found that she never comprehended something until she paired the concept with another media-form or sense-form and then viewed the concept through both forms. It went like this: if she was reading she had to draw the action, if she was seeing a film she had to write about it, if she was reading a poem she had to put music to the poem, if she was writing a song she had to put words to the song; and today if she needs to memorize a speech she still has to make images or colors to go with each stanza otherwise she will never be able to memorize the words. The synthesizing nature of this portfolio project prompt was a way to use her natural instincts to best benefit. A prompt that asks for synthesis of time periods and media forms is a small external sanction of the way her brain works already and she is very happy to share her final project with you here.