Irons, No Fires, and Waxing Nostalgic

I had a flashback this afternoon.  No drugs involved.

My friend Sue has this really cool and very useful ironing table this fits over her ironing board. I decided when I first saw it that I had to have one. Especially for the type of sewing I’m doing now.

So while Zach was in class I took off for the home store and the fabric store.

We get home and I’m chomping at the bit to get to the barn and cut the wood. After a quick pit stop and a trip to the fridge for soda, I backed Bruhonda up to the barn, plugged in the chop saw and the table saw, made my cuts, tucked the lumber back into Bru and took it to the house.

It was an easy thing to do. It required a simple 1 x 2 frame, a piece of quarter ply screwed to the frame, and covering with cotton batting and pillow ticking.

The only impediment to the process was the width of my quarter inch plywood. I decided 24” was too wide for my cave so I took it back to the barn and ripped it down to 18.

I was beginning to staple the batting and ticking to the little ‘platform’ I had built and I was quite suddenly reminded of building scenery for University Theatre productions way back when…well Mick Jagger was still young back then.

We built sets two or three times a semester. Platforms and flats formed the basis for most of our production sets, flats being the ‘walls’ of the scenery.  In spite of the hard work and the sometimes long hours, it was a blast to participate in any way in a production. I got to build scenery, collect props, act, hang lights, make costumes, apply makeup, sing, dance, stage manage, and be involved in any and all ways that one could.

I must admit the dancing part was minimal. I have no moves.

It was exhilarating, exhausting, exciting, and endlessly entertaining. Of course there were mini-dramas behind the scenes, a microcosm of another world made of young men and women working together, partying together, living, learning, and loving.

I can’t imagine anyone spending their college years having a better experience.

It is fascinating that a simple project can bring on a wave of nostalgia.

I’d love to do it again. But there will be no do-overs in this lifetime. I’ll come back with more talent and greater confidence and do it again in the next life!

Those skills I learned building flats do come in handy. I finished the ironing board topper.

Wow! Done!

Tags: all that other stuff, board, do-over, flats, fun stuff to do when learning something about theatre arts, I'd rather clean a toilet than iron a sheet, iron, ironing, ironing board topper for quilters or accessory designers or bag makers or people who like to iron their sheets, my chest is flat too, nostalgia, platform building, reincarnation, theatre