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airstream craft

Tiny Travel Trailer

If you follow @handmakery on Instagram you know we LOVE creative camping and outdoor adventures! Here’s a mixed-media product & process we’ve always dreamed of making & creating with children! Thankful to have summertime to leap into delightful-n-dreamy workshops inside our sweet studio. Would you believe this week we’re launching ~ Early Bird Enrollment for Summer Art Camps!?! Take a peek into our creative & custom workshop ~ TINY TRAVELS: Trending Trailer + a Tailed Creature! Enjoy meeting a maker, peeking into the process, making your very own ~ Tiny Travel Trailer, and dream about joining us in the studio this summer!

Meet a Maker & Her Magical + Mobile Masterpiece:

A painterly peek into the process, as we travel with one magical maker & her “mobile mini masterpiece for a marvelous milestone in the mountains” with oh so tasty treats to tempt.

Seeing this little artist peeking into her very own handmade creation, completely captures a creative at heart! Love the wonder and magic of a creative-n-crafty childhood.

Thought we’d let you take a peek at some precious photos before diving into all the dreamy details of a DIY! Beyond thankful to have my talented photographer friend, Hilary Brock, creatively capture and curate these clever closeups with her camera! Thanks a million for being part of the magic, hip-hip-hooray to Hilary!

A peek into the production + painterly process inside our sweet studio following a magical maker:

SUPPLIES FOR ~ TINY TRAVEL TRAILER:

A SIMPLE PROCESS FOR ~ TINY TRAVEL TRAILER:

ONE Construct your own ~ Tiny Travel Trailer using precut/heavy-weight cardboard pieces which include ~ Side 1 + Side 2 (handcrafted & handcut with mid-level windows which magically fold out with a lower ledge and above window overhang) + Trailer Front + Trailer Base. Construct and secure all four pieces into place with duct tape. We hope to make a cardboard custom kit with time! Open pre-cut windows outward, upward /downward and tape at an angle of choice using duct tape. Duct tape can easily be precut with scissors into small strips. Use cardboard pieces (precut to the width of the trailer) to create the contour of the roof. Keep the back of the trailer open for interior design exploration & hours of creative play.

TWO Once all cardboard pieces are secure with duct tape and the trailer has taken shape, simply mix up a batch of paper-mâché in a plastic bowl. Cut several short strips of newspaper pieces to have on hand. Lay down a plastic shower curtain for easy cleanup. Dip individual newspaper strips and remove the excess mixture with fingertips. Place strips of dipped newspaper onto cardboard. Smoothing out paper strips is key. Strips can be applied in multiple directions for added strength. With the strength of the heavy-weight cardboard beneath, as the armature, young artists will only need to tackle 1-2 layers of paper-mâché. Dry fully sculpture on plastic egg cartons. Repeat the paper-mâché process as desired and be sure sculpture is fully dry before painting.

THREE Paint the trailer, both inside and outside, with a heavy-bodied white acrylic and wide brush to get a solid-n-sleek finish. Completely dry. Cut a large white piece of heavy-weight paper for the interior floor & ceiling, to give the interior a crisp-clean finish. Hot glue paper into place. Move to the exterior, use a ruler or straight edge to divide the upper and lower by forming a traditional vintage trailer zig-zag with a pencil. Mix up a vintage tint (color + white) for the lower half of the trailer. Paint. Dry. Use silver acrylic to steadily detail the traditional zig-zag horizontally on both sides.

FOUR Add dazzling details around the windows to personalize and accent. This amazing artist used pom pom ribbon as her darling accent, but other artists used pom poms, felt, ribbons, and more! Paper straws can be cut to size to prop the window overhangs and to steady the window ledge. Simply measure the straws for the windows, cut with scissors, and glue.

FIVE Artists made tasty-n-tiny treats, total mouthwatering treasures, sculpting their clever creations using clay ~ muffins, lollipops, pretzels, cotton candy, snow cones, pizzas, caramel apples, churros, cookies, milkshakes, smoothies, and more! Once treats were dry, they were carefully painted using a tiny brush and acrylic paint and sealed with some shimmer.

SIX Artists also created artistic menus to “melt a mama’s heart” using hand-drawn illustration and their heart-warming handwriting. These menus were personalized with colored pencils, markers, and/or chalk markers on blackboards (heavy-weight paper painted with black acrylic) or just heavy-weight white paper. Peek into this playful picture to see how this mini maker illustrated each of her handmade tasty treats!

SEVEN Another fancy detail! Add two traditional “wings” using copper foil, “wheels” can be created using black sticky foam with copper foil for the center, “exterior lights” can be made using sticky foam, and handcrafted “license plates” can be personalized & playful. If you don’t want to buy an entire roll of copper foil, metallic duct tape, sticky foam, foil, or cutting a lightweight tin might be just perfect!

EIGHT Artists can also artfully add to their trailer’s interior! Simple ideas include artwork, rugs, curtains, built-ins, and moveable furniture items such as tables and chairs made from up-cycled items such as cardboard, cardboard tubes, and fabrics to compliment.

A peek inside our studio at 449 Main Street in the heart of the Carbondale Creative District in downtown Carbondale, Colorado!

This is the mouse that sells all the tasty treats out of a ~ Tiny Travel Trailer! Each mouse was artfully inspired by artist ~ Vanessa Cabban. We artfully adore Vanessa’s use of text and fabric for all her playful paper-mâché clever critter creations, especially her much-loved mouse ~ Evangeline!

On a side note, how adorable is this Anthropologie ~ Mini Camper Play House to compliment a road trip custom cardboard creation for indoor and outdoor play!?!

An artful adventure awaits at the outdoor art show for artists:

Artists skipped their handmade sculptures over to the local park for a little outdoor art show to celebrate their colorful summer camp creations!

Even though this beautiful day quickly turned into a radiant rainstorm, literally just as artists set up for the art show in the grass, big smiles still radiated “undercover”! Thank you to this magic maker for letting us follow her artful adventure in HANDMAKERY’S ~ Summer {hands on + mixed media} Art Camp.

Thank you for joining us for a peek into a wondrous week with magical makers {inside & outside} our sweet & playful studio.

Tag us @handmakery with your creations on Instagram!  We’d love to see what delightful details you add to this summery + scrumptious + sculptural process with kids! Follow our blog for more inspiring process-based art projects!  As always, thank you for following our artful adventure on Main Street in the heart of the Carbondale Creative District!  Please send us a note anytime!  We’d love to hear what you’re thinking, dreaming, envisioning, and creating!  Much love and happiness creating in this creative + colorful world filled with collaboration + connection + community + arts & crafting!

Ami