There were a lot of crazy things that we did for fun back when I grew up. It seems like there was an obsession with "making" things - especially if they were "earthy" and used lots of natural materials.
Decoupages were huge. The first thing you needed was a hunk of wood, be it a piece of a tree or an old faded piece of 2x4. Then you needed a cool picture... some old sailing ship, or a wooded scene with a lake, or maybe a majestic mountain or two. The next step was always fun... you needed to burn the edges of the picture so it got that "old" look to it. My brother and I always lingered on this one... burning stuff was always cool! After you achieved the right look, it was time to glue the picture to the piece of wood. We would pull out the trusty Elmers and glue away. After having let it "set" for a day or two, you started adding lacquer… lots of lacquer. The more coats, the better. We usually got impatient after 3 or 4 coats, but they generally turned out great anyway.
I know there are still some of my "masterpieces" littered about my folks’ home. And I know my brother and I made a few of them for our grandmothers. They weren’t the most professional looking pieces of art, but they were homemade crafts and that’s what made them special.
I sometimes think that those times were the best ones.
ReplyDeleteWhat can I say ... I love the 70's! :-)
Thanks for the post, it made me smile!
Anon: They were fun. I've recently thought about teaching my daughter how to do this. It would be a fun father-daughter project.
ReplyDeleteWe did Make It Bake it which was like a stained glass sun catcher - I think this was the late 70's too, it was definitely early 80's. There were Shrinky Dinks too that I only did once.
ReplyDeleteI'd forgotten about making those. Thanks for the memories!
ReplyDeleteI just found one of my old ones in a box of my old memorabilia (read junk box). They were a lot of fun to make!
ReplyDeleteGlad you enjoyed the post!