Kenyan Pendant Book

Years ago, I stopped at the gift shop of a local art museum and bought two Kenyan pendants, thinking I might use them in a piece of jewelry.  A few months later I read an article in National Geographic on human evolution, where they referred to Africa as "the cradle of humankind".  I wanted to write a little book on the subject, and remembering the pendants, I decided they would make interesting book covers.

To hold the book, I made this box which nestles in rockers, like a cradle. I made the rockers from foam core, wrapped with a knobby brown yarn.  

The box is hinged with a piece of fabric that features an African mask.  I fussy cut it and satin stitched around the edges, then glued it to the box top and bottom.

The title of the book is printed on a thin sheet of hand-made paper, cut in the shape of Africa.

To open the box, you pull on the zebra "knob", (a button).

The inside of the box is lined with fabric from Africa.  The book is on the right.

This is the front of the book.  The pendants are 2.5 inches across.  I don't remember what they're made of - I thought they told me it was some type of shell, but whoever saw a perfectly flat shell?  They clink like some type of natural material, so maybe they're polished stone.  And they're smooth as silk.

The back.  You can see the pages peeking out - circles of hand-made paper, each a different color.

To attach the pages and the pendant covers, I put a rivet in each page, then strung a piece of leather through all of them.  (The pendants already had a hole.)  I knotted the leather close to the pendant.  For added decoration, I strung a variety of beads and buttons on a piece of yarn.

Page one, with a clear view of one of the rivets.

And here is the complete book, fanned out.