and now for something completely different

Except completely the same in that my Sisyphean auction season will not end.  I am probably even more tired of talking about it than you are of reading about it.  Though that still doesn't stop me from writing this post.

Ok, so, Auction 1, the big one, was on Saturday & came off very well, if I do say so myself.

The only time I almost cried during setup was when it turned out that we -- & when I say we, I mean me, an interior designer, & a graphic designer, so we're not a spatially incompetent bunch, ok? -- had completely overestimated the distance between mezzanine railings & people's heads, so my mobiles were way too dangly.

Eventually we figured it out, managing to avoid the threat of forehead paper cuts for our taller guests.   I didn't even have to rebuild anything.  [I will mention here that they were not hard to build in the first place:  each one is based off of a pair of 36" dowels, wired together as an X, with an 18" X suspended from each of the four arms.]

One last picture of the Quilt for old time's sake.  We hung it from a sturdy coat rack they had on-site, but the rack wasn't quite tall enough so my husband rigged up a rail from a piece of composite trim molding & a handful of bulldog clips.  He attached it to shelf brackets on the back, then zip-tied the brackets to the top of the coat rack.  It worked beautifully, & I'm pretty sure the rail is destined for a wall in my house somewhere, if I can figure out where.

I loved working on the Quilt, mostly, but I never particularly felt like it was mine, & I wasn't too sad to see it go.  Especially since it went for a satisfyingly large bid.

Glitter aside, I take no responsibility for these little arrangements of kermit mums (my design/decor co-chair knows her flowers!), but I love them.  Also, this picture reminds me that I think there's one of those little boxes of chocolate rattling around in my purse somewhere, excellent.

Now then.  Auction 2 is coming up, & while my original plan was to only be involved to the extent of donating that little quilt & helping out with my son's classroom project, I of course immediately fell into the irritatingly sucking black hole of me not being able to resist making things for auctions (though I did stand firm about not decorating an 8-foot umbrella this year), so in the end it was me & one other artist mom doing almost all of the work on the GIANT DECOUPAGE BENCH.

I don't have pictures of the entire thing, since it was flipped on its back today when I finished working on the front panel, but I think that the front ended up being pretty excellent in a totally over the top way:

It's a "reading bench," & so we put READING ROCKS! on the front with fancy rocks & jewels (the kids did this part), then filled in all the gaps with tinier jewels & beads & sequins (the other mom & I did this part, discovering that we were both perfectly, serenely content to spend hours fussing over getting the letters glamorously encrusted just so.   It's possible that this was more excellent to do than it will be to buy; also, this is not the way to speedily finish an auction project.).  Our teacher was the one who suggested that we "bedazzle" (actual quote) the words, which is only one of the reasons we love him.

Like I mentioned, the bench is flipped on its back; this is the front panel, just under where the lid closes, just above two big drawers, just next to a stack of three smaller drawers on the side.  (I told you, GIANT DECOUPAGE BENCH.)   The rest of the bench is covered with vintage book pages (try setting up your book-destroying decoupage project in an elementary school hallway & just SEE what kind of crowd reaction you get), color copies of favorite book covers (brought in by the kids), & kid art that represents something from their favorite books.   

Plus a teeny little bit of glitter.

Now it's in the hands of the varnish volunteers, so I just have to make a pillow for it, & then I AM DONE.

Comments

[Jacquie]

Bedazzled...for sure. What a great idea! Congrats on the auction. Looks like a great success.

[Lynne Nelson-Berg]

Your quilt is gorgeous and it looks like you had a great time.

[Lasso the Moon]

What an incredible turnout. I've never been to a school auction like that! So fancy and sophisticated!
--Anna

[erin]

i am coming to you for tips next year...

[muralimanohar]

Okay, that bench ROCKS! :p

[sally]

You are the auction queen!!! Everything looks fantastic!

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I've never been to a school auction like that! So fancy and sophisticated!

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