Studio K2 was back at it again, using out creative skills to decorate (this time) a laundry basket for Warm-A-Heart. Thanks to our generous host, OfficeScapes, we decorated and filled our basket for Refugees in Need.
The participants were given the option of decorating for three different themes; house warming, boys, or girls. SK2 was inspired by the house warming theme in which we aimed to create an interactive basket for the whole family.
The canvas was a typical plan white cylindrical plastic basket formed with the classic wide lattice work, in which three layers of openings are made in the tapered laundry basket. The structure of the canvas gave the office the inspiration to turn the basket into a zoetrope or a flip book like film strip. “A zoetrope is one of several pre-film animation devices that produce the illusion of motion by displaying a sequence of drawings or photographs showing progressive phases of that motion.” (Source.)
The concept was to weave strips or “film” through the three layers of openings in the lattice of the basket. On each film would be a different animation depicting a unique story. One story shown horizontally in the bottom layer, one in the middle, and one in the top layer. The basket would then be placed on a lazy-susan, an item to enhance our decoration by allowing the basket to spin giving the full effect of the zoetrope, but also a useful household item to be re-used for functional purposes by the Refugee family.
Tuning to our scenes created from fabric and paint chip samples on the box decorated last year for Newborns in Need, we chose our three favorite elements to use for our basket’s stories. Scuba Steve and his fishy friends from the underwater scene, a fisherman at the foothills of the mountains, and a hot air balloon floating above all the land and sea. While each story was to be viewed individually to get the full scope of the moving zoetrope, overall the three layers worked together from deep in the sea too high in the sky.
The rest of the basket was wrapped in red and black yarn to keep with the old timey movie theater color scheme and film strip concept. Lastly, we went to TJ Maxx and picked out some useful items that anyone might need in their home; to name a few, hand towels, cooking utensils, and soap. As well as, a few extra items like a blanket, scented candle, coffee press and coffee. In the end, the plain white plastic basket was transformed into the interactive flipbook film strip animation, with the hopes of giving the Refugee family entertainment, as well as, useful household items.