Whimsey (continued)

Well, after letting everything dry, I found that the destination arrows curled.  So, back to square one, but that is okay.  For this round, I am going to start with black foam core.  I was able to cut more arrows, since it was originally a trifold display.  This time I have 11 arrows.  I also used my husband's box cutter and got decently straight edges, so I am going to stick with the basic arrow shape.

My first step will be to sand all of the edges lightly to remove the scraggly paper on the cut lines.  Then I am going to use a quality acrylic sealer on both sides of the arrows.  I think it would be best to crackle just one side of the arrows (no base coat needed since they are starting out dark colored).  I went to the store today and bought 2 colors of paint: pale yellow and pale blue.  I didn't find a pale green I liked, or a bottle of white to mix my own.  I don't know why the paint selection was so low!

I have an awesome friend with a cricut who is willing to let me cut out the names of my destinations.  I think I'll cut them in different colors of cardstock and then use spray adhesive to attach them to their arrows.  I have changed my list a little:

1. The Emerald City - with a little flying monkey
2. Wonderland - with a little Cheshire Cat
3. The Magic Treehouse
4. Mr. Zucker's Farm - with a pig and a spiderweb?
5. Neverland - with Tinkerbell
6. Whoville
7. Diagon Alley (instead of Hogwarts)
8. Gotham City - with the Bat Symbol of course!
9. The 100 Acre Wood (beware of Heffalumps & Woozles!)
10. Terabithia
11. Death Star - with an "Under Construction" logo

I also considered:

• The Spiderwick Estate
• Alagaësia (the land from the Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini)
• Zorgamazoo
• Ink World (the land from Cornelia Funke's amazing books)
• Droon
• Middle Earth (the Shire, Mordor, Hobbiton)
• Atlantis
• Island of the Blue Dolphins
• Narnia

I think the little symbols beside the destinations will just be simple silhouettes I can print out and attach like the letters.  I can't think of symbols for each one so I think I'll try for half with, half without.  Some of the arrows are larger - 4 are thicker and longer.  So I am thinking of making them double destination signs like:

• The Emerald City (to the right) and Wicked Witch's Castle (to the right)
• Pixie Hollow (to the left) and Mermaid's Lagoon (to the right) - instead of Neverland
• Diagon Alley (to the left) and Azkaban (to the right)
• Gotham City (to the left) and Metropolis (to the right)
• The Shire (to the left) and Mordor (to the right)
• Pooh Corner (to the left) and Trespassers Will (to the right, you know, Piglet's house)

My library right now serves a K-6 elementary.  But in 2 years, our city will be completing construction on a 5th & 6th grade intermediate school.  My library will go down to just K-4.  Perhaps I need to gear my destinations more to the younger kids?  The hard part is most of the destinations that appeal most to me are for older kids.

As I said above, I was disappointed in the paint selection at Wal-Mart today.  I can make do with what I found, and I'm not complaining when the 2oz bottles are $0.57 each!  I think I might go back and stock up.  Knowing our Wal-Mart they are not going to carry them any more.   I thought I had seen 8.5x10 bi-fold foam core presentation boards there, but when I looked today I couldn't find any.  I was planning to use one like an swing-open frame to display my Book of the Month - I'd have had to cut an opening into one side to make a frame.  But now that I think about it, a simple frame would work just as well.  I will have to see what I can find at the thrift stores - I like the idea of an ornate style frame for my monthly display.

So, more on the destination arrows as I get them done.  Wish me luck!