Here are some snippets of the art that went into the project…
I know, it looks like she's wearing a bra—I actually thought white was compositionally appropriate, but polkadots or stripes might have been a better choice.I got out some of my art supplies, and painted them. Then did the same with an old photo of a piano keyboard that I warped in my graphics software, and came up with these two elements...
You may be wondering, 'Why paint brushes and a keyboard?" My protagonist, Leila, is impossibly talented— that's why.
Next, some interior accents—Chapter Headers and the fist letter of each chapter, sort of like illumination, but not so elaborate.
...and some of those little 'thingies' placed between sections of a book...
I put all that together, printed my signatures, sewed them together, and trimmed them (Okay, my husband did the trimming—he won't let me use sharp implements for reasons that don't require much imagination). Then I put them in the cover, and this is what I came up with...
Notice the neat little jacket sewn into the back, for the soundtrack—and yes, I know I can't distribute it without copyright permissions...
Whether or not I find a publisher for Story for a Shipwright, I plan to do the same with it, but this time I hope the manuscript will be all polished and complete before I bind it…
