For those of you who wondered why Marglish has gone through such a lengthy radio silence, know that it was not due to the death of my inner monologue or a lack of interest in sharing it with the outside world in bursts of bad grammar. My creative endeavors have been drawn away from my writing and toward the other side of my personality, the mad designer. For the past several weeks my inner sculptor, painter, decorator, bargain shopper and glue connoisseur has been working away at turning this massive block of medium density foam . . .
Into this theater set!
And it was all done from the comfort of my livingroom floor. This truly takes working from home to a new level. Wrangling these fridge sized blocks used up a lot of elbow grease, encouraged a few dangerous encounters between bare feet and dropped knifes, and covered my carpet with snowy pills of foam that would stick to anything within a wide static cling radius.
I also used my expert illusionist skills to turn much more manageable sized pieces of foam into the materials our budget couldn’t afford.
The fun didn’t stop there. I also constructed all the props, which involved covering a number of odd items with brown paper.
Did you know that when a ballon covered in paper, still moist with glue, pops in your hands it makes quite a mess.
I addition to all the glue sniffing I did at home. I also spent a fair amount of time being a diligent shopper, ignoring the stares I got as I elbowed my way through all the beige clothing at the local op shops, and politely refusing offers of help at the hardware store. “No, I’m not lost. I just like to go up and down every aisle. You never know when you might find a random piece of industrial tubing that could be turned it a fashion accessory.”
All in all, I’d say my literal blood, sweat, and tears was worth the result. Wouldn’t you?
You can learn more about this set from immmagination.com and see the rest of the photos on flickr. I’ve since recovered from all the paper cuts, hand cramps, and have managed to scrape most of the glue from under my fingernails. Though, I think there are still a few snowballs of foam hiding under the couch. I’ve more news to catch you all up on so keep your eye on the page for an increased frequency of creative rants and travel-logs. In the meantime, I’ll be vacuuming under the couch again.
