Monday 22 March 2010

A plastered Swede...


And so it was that there was a rushed Swede on a fly-by visit to Stockholm in September 2007. The Casa Cor exhibition had just started and I had about 15 minutes to spare. With ca 40 architects and interior designers having created a wild and wacky home for an imaginary family, those 15 minutes were going to be jam-packed with impressions and inspiration, and I did not intend to miss a thing.
In one room hung some art work that caught my eye and made me think, like so often when I see something I can't afford, " What if I could try to make that myself?"

And so it was that a stubborn Swede returned to the UK carrying a baby in arms, whilst ushering a three-year-old along, pushing a pram and pulling a suitcase... and carrying two big buckets of Swedish plaster ("spackel"). After having searched everywhere in vain for English plaster behaving like the Swedish grainy, sandy kind, and refusing to give up on my experiment, this seemed a very natural solution to me. Needless to say, some other family members expressed some concern about my sanity and were quietly mocking my madness.

As much as I loathe working with MDF, this seemed like the best material for the square and the circle, which were then screwed together and covered in a thick layer of plaster. With the back end of an art paint brush, I made the lines to give it the texture I had in mind, and painted it with a matt gold and matt blackboard paint. As I did not have a picture of the art work that had inspired me, I had to try to recreate it from memory.

The result? A round golden wallthingamajig that seems to work rather well in our Oriental-inspired bedroom. Mocking family members mock no longer.



So, did it in the end ressemble the real deal? The picture to the left below is from Casa Cor. Conclusion: Same, same, but different.


Photo from a blog called "Living in Andyland".

7 comments:

  1. Ett gammalt svenskt talesätt: "själv är bästa dräng", kan väl passa bra i detta sammanhang.
    Avundsjuk blir jag allt på den som har fantasi och förmåga att få till det. Fint blir det i alla fall! Kram från mamma Doris

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  2. Makalöst händig och kreativ är du! Läckert med det asiatiska ekot.

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  3. Hej Helena!

    Vad duktig du är vännen! :) Jag är verkligen imponerad. Det är roligt med kreativa människor som bestämmer sig för att "det där kan jag göra lika bra själv" och sedan verkligen gör det. :) Jag önskar att jag vore likadan. Jag vet inte hur många tilltänkta projekt som aldrig har blivit av.:( Däremot har jag tagit tag i projekten renovering här hemma och det jag inte kan lär jag mig eller tar hjälp av andra med. :)

    Ha en härlig måndag!
    Kram Lotta

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  4. OMG!!! Det ser ju nästan likadant ut som originalet! Vad duktig du är, och att du dessutom gjort det ur minnet är riktigt imponerande!
    Kram från Jonna ♥

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  5. Wow! Nu inspirerade du mig ...!
    Så roligt Att hitta hit, tack för din kommentar! Vilket häftigt hus ni bor i, ska bli kul att Följa din blogg!
    Mvh Milla

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  6. Hej Helena!
    Tusen tack för den otroligt fina kommentaren hos mig.
    Om du visste vad glad jag blev!

    Nu ska jag kika runt lite här hos dig.

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  7. Så rolig och kreativ du är! Du har verkligen gjort det där som man (läs jag) bara tänker, men som aldrig blir av! Men du gjorde det och med den äran dessutom!

    Ha en härlig vecka!
    Kram
    Lisa

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