The box is made from A3 grey board, although naturally it is larger than A3 and the cardboard needed to be laminated in order to get the right size...
Each piece - walls, floor, lid, partitions - had to be cut twice, glued, weighted, sandpapered smooth, filled and painted white before being covered in thin Thai banana paper with wild grasses in the mix too.
Class Two wrote accounts of their trip on thick drawing paper, with illustrations on both sides but words on only one side. The paper was folded along one edge so that I would have a margin I could use to stitch the stories together in two accordian books.
The inside of the box base was painted with natural ochres I ground up from the rocks I collected on the beach and mixed with an acrylic medium, then the whole box was varnished, ochre paint and paper, in order to make it a bit more durable under the stresses of 22 pairs of hands!
This is the finished box before I inserted the two accordian books, which I secured to either side so that they sit flat on top of the collection beneath. The 'handle' on the lid is a twig I picked up on one of our walks, sewn on with sage green linen thread to match the leaves in the paper, and varnished as well so that it feels smooth to the touch. Today I presented it to Ruth, their class teacher, so I hope they like it.
11 comments:
What a lovely memento. You just might have set a precedent with this!
I'm sure they'll love it. Looks like a lot of work. Have you completed the books yet? Can't wait to see them.
This is just beautiful. What a lucky class to get such a wonderful receptacle for their collection and memories.
What a creative example to set the kids - well done. Where did you get the box from?
Gawd, what's not to like? I hope they gave you a standing ovation, putting all that work into it!
This is so special. I hope it takes pride of place in the classroom. What a great way to remember the place and experience by.
Wow! I'm sure they'll love it! I think the question will be : does it stay with the year 2 teacher, or progress on with the class as they move up?
Thanks for all your lovely comments - apparently the box went down well at a recent teachers' meeting so I may get some more (paid!) commissions! One of the joys of a Steiner primary school is that the teacher moves up the school with the class so this box gets to stay with the class and the teacher until they finish at Year Six (or Year 7, depending on when they choose to move to High School), so it's a permanent reminder of their camp.
That's such a lovely idea. I'm sure the class will enjoy seeing it.
I have a bunch of little shadow boxes that I bought on clearance years ago. My thought is that someday I will be inspired enough to use them. So far, no inspiration.
jj
What an amazing memory box--all of the details are perfect!
I see we have a mutual blog friend--Snippety Gibbet! She is quite an inspiration for me, and I'm glad that you visited my blog from hers and discovered the felted, embroidered stones. I think it would be a great project to try with your crafting group. I am trying to get a similar crafting group together of Waldorf parents, and I would be interested to hear how yours is organized. I have thoughts too of taking the things we make to raise money for the school--we already raised a little sum by putting together some felt kits.
Please keep in touch!
How did I miss this post! This is gorgeous.
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