Dive Away

This week we challenged each other to try something new. Although, making art pieces isn't really something new for me, I have never stained wood, nor made a piece like this before. I have been collecting paper coasters from pubs for over a year now and have gotten Marley to get me some from her travels in Europe and abroad elsewhere. I have collected a plethora of coasters from Saskatoon's locations as well! Here is the process of my piece that I like to call "Dive Away", as it looks like the table top from a dive bar in Europe. 

I purchased these planks and stain from Rona. This process was a lot easier than I had anticipated. I put two coats of stain on the boards. I could have put more to make it darker, but I liked the "worn" look it gave when there wasn't as much stain on it.

I soaked the coins in vinegar to make them more shiny. I have kept these from my travels in England two years ago.

I let this wood dry over night so that I could start pasting the things!

It's a good thing I had two bottles of glue. I actually ran out.

Here's all my paraphernalia. Coasters, photos, plastic cards, coins, buttons, a guitar pick, and a map of the tubes in London. 

I organized the items how I wanted them first before I glued them.

These photos are actually a purchase I made from the establishment called "printstagram". They print photos you select from your instagram account and mail them to you via Fedex. The pictures are great quality and make your photos look like a legitimate photographer took them!

This is my tube pass from London.

Marley started playing with my camera.

Bennie was not impressed with anything all afternoon.

Here it is all glued.

The purpose of this project was to create some sort of headboard for my bedroom. It kind of has that rustic feel to it that my room has been enveloping. Since I didn't have time today, I will hopefully update how my room looks once I have the pieces to hang it up. I also plan on giving it a thick layer of varnish to give it a glaze so that the small pieces become more permanent to the wood.

"Everyone must leave something behind when he dies, my grandfather said. A child or a book or a painting or a house or a wall built or a pair of shoes made. Or a garden planted. Something your hand touched some way so your soul has somewhere to go when you die, and when people look at that tree or that flower you planted, you're there. It doesn't matter what you do, he said, so long as you change something from the way it was before you touched it into something that's like you after you take your hands away. The difference between the man who just cuts lawns anda real gardener is in the touching, he said. The lawn cutter might just as well not have been there at all; the gardener will be there a lifetime." - Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451

Until next time,

Dillon