Sail On, Sailors

The week before Christmas was secretly spent toiling away with newspapers, paintbrushes, a needle and a thread, until the wee hours. Inspired by Ann Wood's beautiful paper mache and vintage textile boats (and following her detailed tutorial), I set about creating little ships for my nephews.

Two layers of high school and college sports scores from a shore-area newspaper (so as not to cover the boats with any bad news) were glued and smoothed down, and covered with paint. Green for Nephew One, blue for Nephew Two. It was, unbelievably, a first go at paper mache.

Masts and yards were fashioned out of bamboo skewers, soon to be joined by sails made from sewing basket scraps. My vintage button collection was pillaged for the rigging.

Through some great miracle, the S.S. Boys were ready to sail by Christmas morning.

Sail on, Sweet Boys.

xo

Sail Away

Brooklyn-based artist Ann Wood spends her days creating the most amazing ships and boats.

Using a combination of paper mache and found and salvaged fabrics,

she pieces together platforms from which imagination sets sail.

One of Ann's ships could include any magical combination of finds, from bits of The New York Times and The Boston Globe,

to 19th century fabrics or the under skirt of an old wedding gown.

These vessels are filled with history and love.

Have a magical day, Darlings!

xo