Before and after

A few weeks ago, a friend's Dad (a watch collector and local flea market vendor) gave me eight huge boxes of stuff ("garbage", he said) that he had already gone through. They were from the estate of a local watchmaker who had passed away in his early 90s.

My son and I stayed up very late 2 nights in a row sorting through everything. A lot of it was indeed garbage, but I salvaged quite a lot of watch bands, parts, faces and other items that I've slowly been selling off on eBay.

And then... there were these little boxes.

Mostly cardboard and some with plastic inserts, like compartments, to hold all the tiny watchmaker parts. Many had scribbled markings, broken bits and probably 30 years' worth of discoloration on them.

These little boxes attracted me like crazy! I've always loved miniatures and immediately thought they would be so much fun to alter.

To go back a step: I had sent an ATC to a friend in BC as part of a non-art-group swap with a Beach theme. The envelope came back here a few weeks later, torn and sodden from sitting in my mailbox all day, and the ATC was ruined (didn't know bubble mailers could tear, did you? Neither did I.) Sadness ensued.

Well, when I saw these little boxes, I immediately thought: "AHA! I can REPLACE the damp ATC with something in a beach theme!" and the wheels started turning...

Last night I finally put it all together. Pics coming up - I just put a final coat of sealer on it and am waiting for it to dry. :)

What's on your art calendar for today?