First of all I've been doing some specialty props for a local theatre company. I love theatre and have worked backstage in some capacity for years on a few different stages. I've done some stage managing, set building, faux painting, specialty props, special effects, lighting operator, sound.. blah, blah. I love it!
So, I made this lovely chicken (I named her Betsy after my childhood hurricane experience because she is fast like the wind) for a production of Into The Woods. She has to remotely make her way onto the stage where "Jack" steals her from the Giant when he realizes she lays golden eggs.
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| From the start to the finished hen |
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| Giant's eye glasses |
I made her from paper mache and then attached her to a remote car. I gave her a hole with some netting in her bottom to keep her golden egg safe and attainable to Jack.. all in all she was fun to create. I made a few other items as well, including these giant 6 foot wide eye glasses. ----->
With all the props out of the way and my sweet better half (Gord) away for the weekend, I figure I can play in my art/scrap room
all day Saturday,
uninterrupted..
but, no.
Instead, I went into my "Art / Scrap Room" which is a gross storage room full of boxes... behind the furnace... that I carved a hole into and added a table. I even refer to it as "The Hole."
Ew.
Did I mention there are no windows? When I went down there, for my day of scrapping, I realized it was a huge creative problem. It's dark. It's not inspiring or pretty or even comfortable. It's ugly and I really don't like going there. So, I decided to tackle it and make it better. I know there are more than a few scrappers in the basement. Hopefully, you can snag some ideas and I'll even post some mechanical instructions in future posts.
Thirteen hours later and a few instances of "Oh no, what have I done??" moments while moving boxes over to one end and my stuff to the other end, plus getting two big rugs under it all (see scary photos below) I have something I can live with.
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| Much later all the boxes at the end wall. Getting there.. and coffee time! |
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| Every things in the middle, sigh. |
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| Yikes! Where's my table? |
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| Finally shaping up with some DIY closet components |
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| This too, shall come.. I found this unused hutch top in my storage pile |
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| Yay! I can no longer see the furnace. |
Ok. Not perfect yet, but soooo much better. Now that it looks like it should be a room, Gord has promised to give me some wall boards.. right now it's just plastic covered insulation. Still border line yukky but it's a work in progress. :)
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| I can no longer see the boxes on the end wall.. kid at his new spot :) |
I also added some curtains I found packed in some of the boxes I was moving around. With some aircraft cable and turnbuckles to string them up I now have draped walls to hide the junk on the back wall and the furnace on the other end. I even gave my college kid his own desk to use, now he won't clutter mine with his homework and snacks. A little more embellishment organizing and maybe some swag lights to brighten up the space and I'm happy.
Ok, maybe a fake window is in my future. Thats what I'd do on a stage and I can look at whatever I want to put outside of it... a mountain view, the ocean, a patio, oh my.. yes, unlimited possibilities. <grin>
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| Hmmm. Creepy. |
