Creative Exploration to Canada & New England - A Day At Sea & Another Class

We're at sea today, slowly heading back south.  My group has the class with Tim this afternoon, from 1-5.  Everyone has been wondering what we'll be doing in this four hour workshop.  When we finally entered the classroom and saw the raw wood curio cabinet, it was very exciting.  I've wanted to do this project since the first time I saw it on Tim's blog.

Along with the cabinet we each received a bag full of various objects that could be used to fill the compartments.....some idea-ology pieces, a bird's nest with eggs, a vintage toy car, glass vials, a frozen charlotte head, and so much more.  Also, from the first class, Tim had been hinting that we should be collecting souvenirs and small trinkets in our travels around ports and even on the ship.  And of course, many of us had acquired some cool vintage pieces right in Mario's shop onboard.

We adhered paper from one of Tim's paper stacks to the inside and back of the cabinet, and wrapped the edges with tissue tape.  After that it was just a matter of arranging our objects into little vignettes within each compartment.

I finished a few areas in class, but left some empty to work on when I got home, where I knew I had some things I wanted to include to make the piece really my own.

Here is my finished curio cabinet and close-ups of each section.

With the door closed:

With the door opened:

The clock face, spinner, wooden hand and bingo piece were all

in the class kit.  At home I cut some of the fabric I'd received from 

Naomi and wrapped it around a wooden spool.  I'll always think

of my new friend from Japan when I look at it:

 The birdcage and bird were in the kit.  I added rocks I picked up

at Peggy's Cove, and the filmstrip is part of the ATC I made for

swapping:

The numeral, key and chain were part of the class kit.  The background of the first

compartment is another piece of my ATC, and the compass I added at home.

The broken rulers were purchased in the shop. The little sign that says, "this is what

ART looks like," was stamped and attached with a memo pin.

The letter tile with my initial is something I had in my stash at home.  Behind it,

a bottlecap I filled with watch parts (all in the class kit) and sealed with glossy accents.

The large glass vial, charlotte head, rusty screen and twine were all in the kit as well,

but I like to think I put them together in an original way:

The nest and eggs were in the kit.  The other bits of nature were added:

In this last compartment I used the butterfly, glass vials and old

viewmaster piece from the class kit.  Inside the vials I put some sand and 

shells from Bar Harbor.  The mussel shell and sea glass were contributions

from someone in class, and there is some dried grass and more rocks

from Peggy's Cove here:

This cabinet can hang on a wall or sit on a shelf.  Tim also gave us foundations (metal feet) to attach to the bottom corners if we want, and a very cool knob for the front cover.

I absolutely LOVE this project!  And I can't wait to get some of Tim's new configurations to make more.  I can imagine doing one as a very specific and personal gift for a special person, or to commemorate a special occasion, or a seasonal one, or a heritage one with lots of old family photos, or......well, you get the idea.  The possibilities are endless.

And tomorrow......Boston, and what everyone says is the greatest scrapbook store,  Absolutely Everything.