Optical Illusions
This theme was inspired by finding some paint sticks sold at a small indie bookstore in the area.
I thought they might really be a fun/easy new way to decorate our windows. I’ll save you from wondering: we probably won’t use them again.
Tried and True Technique
Years ago, Natasia created a blank template of the windows, and we brainstorm and use them to help decide upon what we will do. Or to show our vision.
In this photo, I was the one who filled out the details to help show what I had in mind. The only window that could be considered a true illusion is the one on the far right.
I had no preference on colors, and the closest to a direction I gave was “have fun.”
Heba took some great pics of their work. Masking tape, painter’s tape, and washi tape were all used to create sharp edges. You can really tell by the above images that the “paint” was a lot more like a crayon. It was that texture – a solid stick vs. actual paint.
Side note: I had to ask current team members what “washi tape” was called, as I could only think of “wasabi tape.” Mmmm…wasabi tape…
Meggie had fun creating some of the windows as well – those to the left of the door (from the inside). She also did the fun flowers by our Fred Rogers window display. Hopefully she’ll correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe that she put together the Optical Illusions white board info.
The berries and berry bush remained up from the previous month’s reading bench display. The other window art took so much time that this was a basic necessity since that wall has so much damage, it looks better with a random bit of decoration than painfully plain.
Finally, if you were wondering about cleanup, then I have what you’re looking for.
Cleanup was…interesting.
Mainly Heba and I worked on getting the “paint” off of the windows. We both tried something different with mixed results:
I just scraped at it with a piece of paper underneath the work are for all of the shreds to land. And those shreds were SO WEIRD. Sort of like sharpened crayon shavings. I had to do a good window washing afterwards.
Heba used window cleaner and rags. Things got very smeary and it took a lot of elbow grease to get the smears cleared. She had tried both methods and thought that neither were very easy.
As always, don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions about this or anything else – I’ll do my very best to help.
