The book arts listserve has had several posts recently about books with seeds embedded in the paper. Many of the examples are about growth, decay, regeneration. For instance, Basia Irland makes books of ice and seeds: “River water is frozen, carved into the form of a book, embedded with an ‘ecological language’ or ‘riparian text’ consisting of local native seeds, and placed back into the stream. The seeds are released as the ice melts in the current.” Many of her projects are collaborative and community-based. Here’s one she did in 2009, in Albuquerque. (See all the projects here.)
You can buy paper with seeds already embedded. This one says it can be put through a printer and then planted.
But my favorite seed-based find while writing this post is not book related. It’s these shoes, called Nanohana Heels by an artist called Sputniko. She made them in response to the Fukushima nuclear disaster—the flowers on the shoes (rapeseeds) have seeds that absorb radioactive substances from the soil. As the wearer walks, the seeds are discharged into the soil. You can see a very short video of how this works here.
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