Birthday Box for the Arts Building

 This was a very fun creation I offered to make for the Gibsons Arts Building to house supplies for Birthday party rentals. It is made out of many things.

 We wanted to have 5 activity options for kids to play with and I realized that the antique chest  ( I used the drawers to make shelving, see previous posts)  was the perfect size for the base. The top was a puppet cart experiment that was too small but was perfect for the top of this unit.

 Now to decorate. I picked up a box of kids wooden blocks a while ago and they were perfect to add a whimsical and playful element.

I screwed in the letter so they could not be removed.  I glued little houses to the bottom of the Z. 
These doors were salvaged from a restaurant renovation. I knew they would come in handy for something.

 The round wooden circles were the wheels to my puppet cart, being wood they did not last long so I attached them to the unit. The wheels are made from an old painted board that washed up on shore.

 I started decorating the outside with little things I had been given or acquired.  This little cow is from a pair of earrings. 

 this little clock does not work anymore but is perfect as an accent on the outside of the box.

my hope is that the families and kids find the box inspiring and that much art will be created.  The top of the birthday box will house the supplies - from paint to pens and felts and so much more.  If you live in Gibsons, BC be sure to check it out. 

sky blue ceiling

 This is a refreshing colour for when it is dark and raining outside..about 9 months of the year.

 I am really getting into painting and the excitement of rolling it on the walls.

 I plan on laying these collours with more shapes of colour, I like the tapestry effect.

I attached this branch to the washroom wall as I will find many things to hang on it.

new colour for the washroom walls

 this recycled paint turned out to be a great yellow that complimented the natural wood and other collection of colours I have been adding onto the walls.

 I am adding a sky blue to the ceiling to evoke the imagination of outside, without the rain.

 This side of the studio is where my sewing table will go and wall of inspirational material.

list of task

The end of January brought on mass colds and flu symptoms, so I lost about 2 weeks in my studio and I think everything multiplied.  Then I had a lovely Sunday day to sit and make a list....

 the first thing was to finish the yellow coat of paint on the wall where my sewing table will go.

here is a birds eye view with the door open and the sun streaming in.

putting up some art

I really liked this little playful art piece from Miyuki Shinkai  she and her partner have so much great art and it is nice to be inspired by someone else too. Wish I could afford more. 

I found this great antique mirror for $3 in the local thrift store, I put it up with countertop handles I picked up somewhere for free. 

I look behind me and see what else I have to do, yikes, will it ever be finished?

making room for my costumes

Ok, it is mayhem back in the studio, I had to move over my racks of costumes and clothing and now I see I have to reduce down to on rack. hmm....

 I redesigned my studio table by lowering the bottom shelf to the floor and putting in a rack underneath the table to hang fabric.  I also painted it orange with a hint of purple. Maggie  helped.

I have 3 racks of clothing and one little table to make downsize to, can I do it?

new life for a broken chair

This poor little green chair fell apart but I knew I could find a use for it.  And I did, a new towel rack and stool for our little washroom.

 I put in a peg board that needs some colour along with our walls in the washroom.  The middle section is an old piece of metal sheet I turned into a magnet board to create words of wisdom.  The bottom of wall is long pieces of off cut wood from a friends property.  Create a nice cabin feel to the compost haven.

What colour to paint the wall????

 I sit and wonder what yellow will look like on the wall, one way to find out.

  I still have to paint the ceiling sky blue, lots of colour in this studio. 

how things were built

 this is the frame of the smelly chest of drawers I took apart to create shelving. I am going to use it somewhere somehow but have to figure out how to cut it in half first. 

This is the shelf made out of 5 drawers,  2 in the middle are sitting vertically. 

this is the back of the dresser, it was held together with little pieces of hand carved wood, or dowels. I had to take a picture to remind myself of the craftmanship.

I picked up a can of yellow eco paint, half price but I am not quite sure of the texture...a bit runny but I will try anything once.

more organizing

I am hanging supplies on the inside of the doors for easy access. So far I have found 5 pairs of scissors but I know I have more. (reminds me of a story of my Nana, she had her house filled to the ceiling with creative projects and would always loose her scissors so instead of organizing herself she simply bought a new pair, not sure how many were found after her passing,  but it was in the double digits) wish I could have documented it.

 I am always surprised at how much fabric I acquire. I use fabric for my workshops in puppet making and redesigning clothes but instead of getting rid of fabric I always seem to end up with more?

on the left is a very large basket of fabric scraps and a large bag I made to keep recycling materials that  I will be using to make puppet, more to come about those later.

Maggie has come to help me in the studio but she likes to take things down as I put them up. I also filled up her hiding place inside the shelves, she was the perfect height to walk inside.
The crazy wall behind her will be one of the last things I finish as I am dreaming up a mixed media collage combined with text.  I also ran out of green paint so I am waiting to see if any other interesting colours come my way.

Time to start organizing my stuff

 the doors are up so now I can start organizing my materials.  This is no easy feat because I have collected so much over the years...and I find it hard to throw anything away. 

 this is a handy idea I adopted from working in film.  Putting notions into zip-lock bags so you can see everything clearly and everything is easy to access.

 Before I started organizing my things, I painted the cement floor a pinky rose...why? because the paint was cheap, $10 for a gallon instead of $40 because it was a miss-tint. I purchased all my paint and building supplies at our local Gibsons Building Supplies.  I am not sold on the colour of the floor, but anything is better then gray cement. 

 so far my notions are fitting nicely in their new home. Now that I have space, I can start separating my supplies instead of throwing everything into one big container...it will be interesting to see just how many safety pins I have...over a thousand...I kid not.

here is my musical inspiration (my top 3 to date- Be good Tanyas/ Tori Amos & Feist)...funny fact. We hosted a puppet workshop with Clea Miniker the summer of 2008.  She was on tour with Feist as her puppeteer during some songs, very effective visual I must say.

The Puppet Shelf is complete!

Yay... the shelf frame is done! I dreamed up this shelf and hired Ross Maxwell from Handyman Services to build it.  Ross was more then helpful helping me create something that would actually work.  I wanted a self that would open up into a 90 degree angel to show off all my puppet creations and then close when I needed to work on other projects. 

 this wood I had to purchase but by building a frame, I can create the walls out of re-purposed material

 there are 8 casters on the bottom to help support all the weight that I am going attach to the unit. To think I thought one wheel would be enough. 

 I told Ross that I was going to use suitcases to house some of my puppets, so he framed these ones in as a measurement. 

Now to paint them. The base colour is green but they will be layered in colour to blend into the wall.
Maggie will be happy to help me with the layering.