by Jessika Hepburn, O Happy Day Handmade
My dream job has always been to be the person who creates fantastic window displays and transforms mundane spaces into magical ones. In March of this year April MacKinnon of Nurtured gave me the chance to do just that. Her store front has a generous amount of windows that weren’t being used to their full potential and she bravely gave my imagination free reign.
So far I have done a Nest/Spring themed display, a birthday party display for Nurtured‘s first birthday at the current location and last month was a Down in the Garden theme. This month I wanted to feature all of Nurtured’s new summer related products and to celebrate the beautiful weather we have been having with a “Day at the Beach” display.
I love to make things BIG and window displays are the perfect venue for showing that off. I made a nearly three foot long white wool whale (dubbed Moby by the Nurtured ladies and mistaken by some customers for the latest and greatest in breastfeeding pillow design!) and a flock of fifteen flying fish. A roll of heavy brown paper sheathing usually used for underneath flooring was painted with tempera paints and cut to make the waves and a large hanging sun.
I finished it off with a borrowed ships wheel, a refinished wooden toy boat rescued from the thrift, and a message in a bottle (blue glass, of course).
I am really happy with how it turned out and I wish I could take photos from outside to do it justice but I think the only time I might be able to do it without the images being ruined by glare is at dawn, which I haven’t had the heart for yet. Are there any photographers out there with some tips for photographing window displays? Until then these will have to do. Next up for the Nurtured window? A fall forest of child sized wool trees and a felted christmas village!
