Monday, June 15, 2015

Art and Fun

Today's post is about a fun artsy experience. I am also very interested in the business model for this type of arts experience.

Rodney cutting wax (photos by me)

A couple of weeks ago, Rodney and I were in Leesburg, VA for a friend's wedding. We had some time to ourselves and decided to get out and wander around for awhile. We wound up at The Village at Leesburg shopping mall. That's where we found The Art Station. I'm familiar with the drop in-type hands-on business model, but this place was really great. They offered make it-take it projects like candles, soap, and various painting projects. (They also offer painting parties for adults and children.) They have two roomy studios, with one designated for painting only. We decided to make candles.

They offer many different molds in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. (Of course, the smaller the mold, the less expensive the over all cost.) They also offer a nice selection of scents. We chose our molds and went into the main studio.

There we had access to lots of colors of wax, and pre-cut shapes and letters. (The pre-cut pieces are sold by the piece.) This was a lot of fun. The concept is to fill the mold as full and tightly as possible, so that as the wax melts, it fills in the small air pockets. Also, this is an upside-down type project where the pieces on the bottom will become the top, like a pineapple upside-down cake. (If you've ever made poured concrete mosaic stepping stones, it's the same concept.) Then we took our candles to our host and she poured hot wax into the molds. Here's a cool video of that process.

After that, we walked down to a nearby restaurant, shared an appetizer and had a glass of wine. Then we did some window shopping and came back to The Art Station about an hour later.

And here are our candles!

Rodney's candle

My candle

Rodney's candle is rose scented and mine is sweet pea scented. They both smell great when they are lit.

We had a lot of fun that afternoon--if you are ever in the area, it's worth checking out!

May all of your scores run true!
-paula

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