Wedding Week: Vinylmation Guest Book
Today’s pieces are by a first time custom artist. Lisa Farry and her husband, Trace, were getting married and wanted to show off their love of Vinylmation. Taking a 9″ white and a 9″ black Create Your Own Vinylmation Lisa created a Bride and Groom that guests could sign in place of a guest book. I love this idea. Not only is it something unique but it’s a creative way to display the signatures of the guests (what do couples do with the guest book after the wedding anyway?) Not to mention these two customs are brilliant, especially for a first timer. They are some detailed, very personal representations of this couple.
I had an opportunity to ask Lisa Farry about her wedding vinylmations.
M.C.: How long have you been creating custom Vinylmation?
Lisa Farry: The “guest book” bride and groom were my first. Originally Trace was going to do them, but in my bridezilla frenzy, I coudn’t wait any longer and he turned the job over to me!
M.C.: Do you collect the Vinylmation created by Disney artists? If so, What is your favorite Vinylmation figure?
LF: First off, I am married to a vinylmation FREAK!! In fact, Trace spent this last weekend catologing and photographing a PORTION of his Vinylmations… He has a ton and I think the best thing I’ve done for our home (I moved in about 8 months ago, our wedding was in January) was buying some acrylic display stands so all the little vinylmations can at least be seen and appreciated! My personal favorites are the new occupations “medical” one (I am Nurse Anesthetist, so I dig the stethoscope) and Trace bought me the one that is like a cup of tea for Christmas. I’m a big tea drinker!
M.C.: How did you come up with the idea of a Wedding Guest Book piece?
LF: In all my wedding plannning web surfing, I had seen a couple of people do the Vinylmation guest book idea, but actually Trace thought of it and told me about it before either of us had seen it online. I thought him so clever! Plus, it was a great way to get something that really represented him AND would be cool and not overly “wedding-ish” to have in our home later on.
M.C.: Can you describe this figure? The inspiration. What detail went into it?
LF: I bought the white and black large vinylmations early on – I think I got one of them in the park and ordered one online last spring. It was funny because as the wedding date got claser, actually I saw a lot of brides on the dis-boards weddings forums looking for I think the black fig and they were briefly sold out online. I had seen a couple different ones, mostly I knew I wanted the date on each. I wasn’t sure how ornate to go – it seemed like simple was better. So the back of each says our wedding date (1-25-11), the bride has a bouquet drawn on, the earrings, wedding ring set and the veil – and little heart shaped lips. The groom has a boutonniere (which you think I could spell aftr all this time!), some tennis shoe details, a wedding ring and the goatee!
M.C.: What materials were used?
LF: I started off just buying some different paint pens at a craft store, but quickly found that the black figure obviously needed a really opaque paint to cover anything and show up. So I ended up doing the white circles (to suggest Trace’s wedding sneakers) in acrylic paint and then going back to the paint pens. I also used rhinestones to give the bride earrings and a fabulously accurate wedding ring set! I had part of a veil I had actually been trying to craft into something for MYSELF that I ended up using a piece of for the bride figure. And the “fun fur” from the craft store was an on the spot decision to depict Trace’s signature goatee! I just used a gel type super glue for the few things that needed glueing. After finishing the figures, I knew what pens showed up best and brought those along to the wedding!
M.C.: What was the hardest part in creating this figure?
LF: Getting the right pens to cover the black figurine appropriately.
M.C.: What was the reaction to the guest book from the guests at the wedding?
LF: People really dug it! The really funny thing was that even the Mad Hatter and Alice (special guests at our wedding) signed it! I was not expecting that!
M.C.: Did you create any other pieces for the wedding?
LF: No other vinylmation peices, but I did do several “DIY” wedding projects – it was fun and releived the pre-wedding jitters!
M.C.: Are you working on anything new?
LF: Right now I am immersed strangely in shadow boxes as a way to display wedding pictures and knick knacks – a couple of them incorporate some of Trace’s vinylmations (we went on the Dream’s Maiden Voyage for our honeymoon!).
M.C.: Where can people go to find out more about your pieces and see your work?
LF: Folks can find Trace and I on twitter (@sambycat and @traceland), and me mostly on my podcast, Those Darn Cats! (available on iTunes! Ha! – www.thosedarncats.net). I also have a personal and a disney blog, but those babies have been a little neglected since the wedding frenzy started! www.lisafarry.com and www.wdwdlist.wordpress.com.
