Chasing the Clock & Stepping Back in Time

For this post, I thought it’d be interesting to contrast two places/experiences in the city I had recently. First is the artwork at the Canada Line terminus station downtown Vancouver. This is the same space I previously wrote about here where each panel had a list of first lines from songs that all begin with “Here comes…”

The art at this location tends to be time-related, which the current exhibit makes obvious.

I like the bright colours of the vortex clocks, but I don’t find this work as engaging or intriguing as “Here Comes.” Yes, we’re busy and frantic. Yes, we wish we had more time. Does this artwork invite us to stop in a busy area and breathe a little easier? Reflect on something hopeful? Or does it just reinforce the fact that we’re late, need to hurry, walk faster? The sameness of the panels, minus the colours, highlights the relentless regularity of our lives. The tone of the write-up takes a similar doom & gloom stance with descriptions that give all agency to the clock, in which humans are “trapped in its vice forever.” Is its triumph really inevitable? Are we slaves to time? What about all the times we stop people, look at the little girl eating an ice cream cone, listen to a busker belt out melodies; share a conversation with somebody in the grocery line-up?

From chasing the clock, we go to stepping back in time. I was on Broadway Street this morning, meeting friends for coffee & lunch and exploring some shops in that area. My friend suggested we go into a store called Stepback (neither of us had been before) and we were there for almost an hour, oohing and ahhing at its many vintage treasures.

Unfortunately their website doesn’t have any pictures, but you can get a sense of the kind of items they have from this short write-up that VanMag did with the owner two years ago, as well as this blog that has some awesome pictures.

I was especially thrilled as the wedding theme I’m going for is vintage, so I was surrounded by inspiration! The window display was decorated with dozens of old hardcover red books (homage to Valentine’s Day) and pewter dishes. The store contains a stack of suitcases from the 1940s, typewriters, Scrabble letters, eye exam & bicycle posters, plenty of hardcover classics & dictionaries, wooden block letters, old postcards, stamps, matches, wooden chairs, and more. This store may even rival my love for Urban Source!

I will be stepping back there again, taking all the time in the world.

Distress-It-Yourself

Well, it’s that time of year I bring you another Pinteresty-style post. And yes, it has to do with picture frames again. That’s what my DIY projects tend to be. This time, I tackled distressing a picture frame.

I wanted some art for my bathroom as I’m still decorating after over a year of moving into my apartment. So I did some antique shopping in Fort Langley and bought this old print and picture frame.

I liked the print, especially the postcard text behind the birds. It fits perfectly with the old handwriting on my shower curtain. But I didn’t like the sickly sweet pink of the wood frame. So I distressed it, thanks to these helpful “how-to” instructions I found here and here.

Since I wanted a dark brown colour to be the old layer of paint that showed through, I started off by repainting both pieces of the frame, applying two coats. My old acrylic paint set I got for Christmas one year came in handy so that I didn’t have to buy all the supplies.

My kitchen table work space. The turquoise frame to the left needed some touch-ups so I did that at the same time.

After letting the paint thoroughly dry, I rubbed the edge of a candle along the frames because this prevents the next colour of paint from sticking to the brown. It also indicates which parts of the frame will peel away when you bring out the sandpaper. Don’t be shy with the wax. If you want a really distressed frame, rub away. You can see the path of my wax below.

I painted the two pieces again in the main colour I wanted the frame to be.

I mixed a large amount of white, a pinch of yellow, and some dark purple to get this purply grey colour

I only did one coat of the purply grey because I was going to be sanding some of it off anyway to have the brown show through. Next, I took a piece of sandpaper and started rubbing the frames. I was surprised how easily it took off the paint in the places where I had rubbed the wax!

The last step was to apply some clear varnish to seal in the paint. I borrowed a spray can of my dad’s which gave it a semi-gloss look.

And voilà! The funny thing is now I don’t even think I’ll hang it in my bathroom. I like it more for my hallway or living room.

My antique corner, minus the Times Square frame I also repainted. You could say I have eclectic tastes!

So that was my bout of craftiness until next year. Any Distress-It-Yourself (or Do-It-Yourself) projects you have on the go?