Rooted in Magic Dresser Project

~ Ellie Evermore

Hello Everyone,

Well, as you can see, I finally finished what I’d begun several months ago. The entire project took me about 70 hours to complete, and I am so happy to finally be done. I don’t have a passion for drawing or painting, but I do have a passion for mixed media, which helped drive the momentum for this project. The slideshow was created for a couple of different class assignments, which is one of the reasons I’m sharing it here. This project is something that I loved doing, and I’m excited for whatever comes next. I hope you all enjoy this little peek at the process.

If any of you are wanting to create something similar, here is a list of the products I used, and some of the unaffiliated links for purchasing those items.

Reflection:

Before I started my dresser project, I had no idea how to design a dresser that resembled a bookshelf, and yet that was my ultimate goal. I spent a lot of time searching online for examples of others’ work. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find anybody who had done what I wanted to do. The only examples I found were quilt projects people had completed, and since none of those were 3D, I still couldn’t quite grasp how my dresser project would look once it was done. Before I could start, I had to plan everything out, and I spent a lot of time searching for items to use since I wasn’t confident that I could cut everything I needed. In the end, most of the materials I wanted to use couldn’t be found, so I ended up hand-making almost all the pieces from old book covers or cardboard. The only pieces I was able to buy were the wooden pieces for the door, decorative applique, flowers, and animals, which I still had to paint. I feel like my dresser project is much more meaningful since I had to do most of the work myself. In the end, I learned how to draw, design, and paint: apothecary bottles, books, mushrooms, a spider web, a snail, a treasure chest, a candle, and a mouse. I had a lot of trouble gluing everything on, but I learned a lot through that process too — mainly what not to do! Some of the flowers broke when I attempted to attach them with hot glue (I quickly found out that Elmer’s glue worked better for the more delicate pieces,) and the entire project required about five coats of paint because I hadn’t primed the surfaces beforehand. I feel so confident now that if I tried something like this again, it would go much smoother because of all the issues I had to face this time. I’ve learned from my mistakes, and I think I’d really enjoy doing something like this again.

In closing, please remember that I am always here to answer your questions. I think the more we can spread encouragement through our creative endeavors, the more likely others are to discover their passions, which often leads to contentment and happiness within oneself.

Take care everyone and stay inspired. ~Ellie xoxo

9 thoughts on “Rooted in Magic Dresser Project”

  1. Pingback: Rooted in Magic Dresser Project | Her Writing Haven
  2. Pingback: Rooted in Magic Dresser Project – Putting My Feet in the Dirt

  4. I had been wondering how this was going. And now here you are! You absolutely kicked ass on this! Another dresser dream made reality! I’m curious as to what the most frustrating part about this whole process was for you, and what ultimately helped you push through it?

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Thank you… I think the most frustrating part was gluing everything on. You never know how things will go when you’re using hot glue. The day I attempted the gluing part, things started to break, glue was getting everywhere. I ended up having to scrap off a bunch of glue and and repaint parts of the dresser surface. I also had to fix one of the flowers that had broken in three pieces as a result of me trying to adjust it after gluing it down. Hot glue just dries way too fast! After awhile, I decided to try Elmer’s glue, and now I wish I had used that for everything. It was so much easier to just lay the dresser down on the floor, put glue on the backs of the pieces that were left, and then cover the pieces with heavy books while they dried. Of course, I was so close to finishing at that point, that I knew I had to keep going. Also, since I ended up doing this for a class project, I only had a short window of time to get it done. In fact, this blog post is part of a graded assignment as well. I think if I do another one, I’ll have way more confidence because now I know what works and what doesn’t. I still don’t enjoy drawing and painting as much as writing, but I’m really starting to like it a lot more than I used to. I’ve decided that the dresser will hold all of my poems, which will be sorted into piles by genre. I figure by doing this, I can start figuring out what poetry books I’d like to publish next.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. That absolutely makes perfect sense! I find it fascinating that the Elmer’s glue ended up working better overall than the hot glue. I’m going to keep that in mind for the future. (Though I know that is all going to be context dependent based off what project I’m doing of course) You really should give yourself a round of applause for all of that hard work. I probably would’ve been ready to throw in the towel with frustration after watching everything start to break, and then having to deal with that glue going everywhere. LOL! 😂 Fingers crossed for a good grade that I believe you will get if you haven’t gotten it already! 🤞🏻

        Liked by 1 person

      2. Yeah, isn’t it funny how simple school glue could work so well. Lol… And thank you… The only reason I didn’t throw in the towel was because I was too far into the project at that point. It’s like not wanting to give up on a race when you’re about 50 ft. from the finish line. Lol… And yes, hopefully I will. I have my favorite teacher for two of my classes and she’ll be the one grading this project. She really respects artistic expression and so that’s why I was able to do this combined project for both of her English classes. I stopped by and read some of your work today. I’m not sure how to get notifications for when you post. There used to be a button to select that, but I couldn’t find it today when I looked. Hopefully I’ll figure it out because I don’t come across your posts in the reader very often.

        Liked by 1 person

Leave a reply to The Creative Chic Cancel reply