Edgar Allan Poe Cabinet
A few weeks ago, I was staring at a very ugly, very well-worn cabinet in my classroom. I was bored and it was doing nothing for the overall appearance of the classroom, so (long story short) it had to go! The black cabinet next to this lackluster cream-colored monster is a thing of literary beauty; I had one of my most artistic students cover it with a painting of Shakespeare. This inspired me. I decided to decorate this other cabinet with another literary great--and one of my few favorite American authors--Mr. Poe. At the same time, my school library was tossing out some older volumes that hadn't been checked out in a while and, among the ruins, I had found a volume of Poe's stories, printed in an appealing font and with some beautifully creepy illustrations by Arthur Rackham. Immediately, I decided that I wanted to create a collage of Poe's writing, along with these illustrations, to cover my otherwise commonplace cabinet. The project itself was time consuming, yet easy and rewarding.
SUPPLIES & COST
To create the cabinet, I used the following supplies:
(1) dumpy-looking cabinet: FREE to a good home
(1) copy of Poe's Tales of Mystery and Imagination: also FREE
(1) package of resume-quality paper: approximately $6.00
(1) old-school overhead transparency projector: borrowed from a colleague
(1) large bottle of glossy Mod Podge: approximately $9
(1) exacto knife: borrowed from the art teacher
(1) black Sharpie: approximately $1
TOTAL COST: $16.00
To create the cabinet, I used the following supplies:
(1) dumpy-looking cabinet: FREE to a good home
(1) copy of Poe's Tales of Mystery and Imagination: also FREE
(1) package of resume-quality paper: approximately $6.00
(1) old-school overhead transparency projector: borrowed from a colleague
(1) large bottle of glossy Mod Podge: approximately $9
(1) exacto knife: borrowed from the art teacher
(1) black Sharpie: approximately $1
TOTAL COST: $16.00
The first step was to photocopy selected pages from the Poe book onto resume paper. I chose a package of paper with multiple textures, for variety. Then, I tore away any pieces of the photocopied image that I didn't want on the cabinet. (The title of the book appeared at the top of each page, but I didn't want the title to appear a million times on the cabinet when I was finished; I also ripped off page numbers and extraneous white space.) Once my pages were prepared, I began gluing them to the cabinet with Mod Podge. As I glued pieces to the cabinet, I also went over the pages, using the Mod Podge as a sealant. I also noticed that by ripping the edges of the paper, individual pages were more likely to blend together, creating a smooth surface. In areas where the pages began looking a little too uniform (sort of like a patchwork quilt) I ripped smaller pieces of pictures and print and glued them randomly for more visual interest. I wanted it to look as if I had added several layers of text. I also tried to smooth out wrinkles (from the pages being wet) as best I could, but ultimately decided that the lack of neatness would have earned Poe's stamp of approval.
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Once I covered the cabinet with the photocopied pages from the book and I sealed the entire collage with Mod Podge, I found an image of Poe online and photocopied the image on to a sheet of transparency film. Then, I used an "old school" overhead projector to project the image onto the cabinet. (Because I may not be able to freehand a picture of Poe, but I'm one of the best tracers I know!) I used a black Sharpie to trace the image and also to fill it in. I had to go over the image twice to get rid of that obvious appearance of marker marks. Actually, with the added gloss of the Mod Podge, the Sharpie looks like paint; and--oddly enough--I didn't even go through one entire Sharpie. (Hooray for the amazingness that is Sharpie!)
The final step was to go around the edges of the cabinet front with an exacto knife to trim any of the extra paper away. Once I cut off the extra, I also went over the edges of the paper with Mod Podge to seal it against moisture and damage. |