Monday, August 22, 2011

Blue Skies Downstairs


Although the basement facelift is well under way, I am still trying to figure out the ceiling -- that is, what I’m going to do to hide the beams and ducting. I am still leaning toward some sort of draped fabric. It would really be great if it looked something like the sky. But how to achieve that look?

I spoke to a neighbor who is a well-known fiber artist. She agreed with my idea of using flat bedsheets and suggested hanging them with a staple gun. We talked a little about tie-dying, but not enough that I had a real plan for doing it.

After my seeming unsuccessful search for white sheets, I had another idea today after locating very inexpensive light blue sheets at Target.com (thanks, Steve!) I thought about using a weak Clorox solution and bleaching clouds onto the blue background. My fiber artist friend said eventually they might fall into holes where I had applied the Clorox. She also suggested that I do this outside and use a mask and eye goggles because of the fumes.

Then tonight I came up with the idea of making stencils and spray-painting white clouds, stars, and moons in a random pattern. I would still do it outside, but it might be a little easier and more permanent than the bleaching approach.

I could probably achieve the same effect with white fabric ironed on with Stitch-Witchery or a similar product.

I’m not sure exactly what sort of expert to contact to help me make decisions. I suppose I could purchase a sheet and try all these things to see what works best.

Fortunately I am under no time constraint and this project is keeping me busy as I think about how to do each piece.

Let me know if you have any ideas on giving my basement a blue sky!

4 Comments:

Blogger Terry Grant said...

I love your idea of using blue sheets and spray painting clouds. I think regular old spray paint would work nicely. I like this better than the tie-dye scheme. Tie-dying something this large would be, ummmm, tricky. Besides a tie-dye ceiling might be quite overwhelming, whereas a blue sky ceiling might be quite expansive feeling. Good luck with this. PS. I concur with your neighbor about using bleach. Not a great idea.

1:06 AM  
Blogger Steve Reed said...

Yay! Glad Target worked out for you! Despite my appreciation for street art, I have no idea how to go about stenciling such a large amount of fabric. My only advice would be to cut your stencils with ample amounts of extra cardboard on the sides to protect against overspray. Know what I mean?

3:34 AM  
Blogger Cyndy said...

Making it look like the sky sounds like a fun idea although I'm having a bit of trouble imagining the possibility of getting a realistic effect, especially on an 8 foot ceiling. But lots of people (including me)paint their porch ceilings sky blue, so why not have a blue ceiling in the basement! I think it would be pretty even with just plain blue sheets.

Since one of the things you are considering is white fabric and stitch witchery, why not go all out and get a roll of batting so you can cut out and glue soft white puffy cloud shapes to the blue sheets. You could probably pull on the edges of the shapes for an even softer more cottony effect.

Plain or painted sheets would be easier to take down and clean though.

4:09 AM  
Blogger Barbara said...

Terry -- I'm glad you are on board with the ceiling project. I'm also glad to be able ditch the Clorox approach and tie-dying, both of which were making me nervous!

Steve -- I agree about the overspray, although I want some fuzziness around the edges of whatever I end up spraying if they are clouds.

Cyndy -- I totally agree about making puffy clouds. The same thought had occurred to me. Most of the ceiling is actually much higher than 8 feet. And I would not at all mind staring up into a cloudless blue sky if the clouds just don't work out.

7:33 AM  

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