Monday, June 18, 2012

Anchor's Away!!

This is the anchor I made for my friend, S's first dance recital at her very own dance studio.  I shared the paddles I made here.  Her recital was on Saturday.  I actually had to miss it, which I was really bummed about.  A few of PB's friends were dancing in the recital and I would have loved to see those cute little girls.  We were in AZ to see my Mom and celebrate my nephew's first birthday.  We got back last night. 

S was going to drape the anchor in netting and some christmas lights to make it more festive.  I can't wait to see how it looks!!

I used this foam insulation from Lowes to make the anchor and paddles.  If you have never worked with this foam, it is awesome!! It is really light, PB can lift a whole sheet, no problem.  It is really easy to cut. You just have to score it with an x-acto knife and then snap it at the seam. for the curves you do have to cut all the way through.  It is also flexible.  I have used this many times to make props when I was a musical director back in the day.  I made a cornice for above my bathroom window.  We even used it on a headboard.  It is awesome stuff and you should check it out if wood is too hard for you to use.  TIPS: do not use hot glue, spray paint or anything caustic on this, it will melt the foam :)

ON TO THE ANCHOR:
I cut the anchor shapes out of 2 pieces of foam.  Then I cut 4 inch segments to make the sides.  I poked toothpicks in and used white glue to hold it together.  This worked really well but it took a long time to dry, like 24 hours.  I also reinforced with masking tape.   Then I put toothpicks around the whole side with glue before laying the top on.  

You can kind of see it in the above pics but the side was not looking so hot so I cut 5.5 inch pieces of poster paper and with straight pins attached it to the sides.  That is also how i closed over the pointy part of the anchor and the inside hole.  

Then I painted the whole thing with acrylic paint.  I did a top coat of a shimmery silver. Then I pinned silver ribbon to the edge to hide the yucky edge.  
This is how I made it stand.  I took a long piece of foam and screwed it into the back.  YES screws will hold and screw right in!! Then the piece that hangs back can be taped to the floor so it won't move.  

2 comments:

Stephanie said...

Whoa crazy! I wouldn't even know where to start on a project like this. Great job!

Shanea said...

Look at you, you nailed it!

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