Family Tree by Leslie Marsh

My family tree holds fruit from several European countries as well as the wild American plains. I like to imagine my ancestors as vikings drinking from skulls and wielding intricately crafted swords. Or possibly weaving feathers into their hair and beading buckskin by an open fire. Guided by my most creative Norse and Cherokee ancestors, I forged the covers of Family Tree shaping the metal to hold a vintage frame and hand crafted clasps. I stretched goat parchment over the wrapper and riveted it into place. Leaves collected from our property were bundled with paper and boiled over an open fire, coaxing their pigment onto the pages. This book was created as evidence that we were here. It is the framework that will hold the proof. I am the family archivist. The keeper of our family tree.