Creativity on Wheels- BT is a Mobile Gallery!

 

Well, Bubble Trailer is the apple of my eye, and we have dreams of traveling across- country with her next year. We have been brainstorming on how to decorate her, too, like maybe big circles or even painting bubbles on the fiberglass shell, — but really didn’t want to give the illusion we did mobile dog baths… you know, what would bubbles mean?? At the very least, we wanted it to say on the back:

“Follow me @BubbleTrailer” 

 

Inside, we were toying with the idea of making circle-shaped metal prints of some favorite photos and adhere them to the cabinet doors, which are a dull combo of harvest gold and khaki– Circa Uhaul, 1985. It definitely would improve the decor! I’ve agonized over whether I should paint all the dark oak trim that dad put in there on the custom shelves in a vivid blue as well. Well, Smurf blue, to honor him of course, since his nickname among all his friends was Papa Smurf. Afterall, he DID wear blue coveralls every day of his life from about age 25 to 65. And we would have until he passed away at 72, but they only made size 52 and up in navy or tan. Yes, we all said he was going incognito. Dang, I miss him. 

But back to the trim, it’s pretty much a one-way street, painting real aged wood. If you change your mind, it’s a full-blown sand and refinish journey. But just so you are not hanging in mid-air wondering about the paint dilemma, I DID paint all the wood and I LOVE IT!! And I’m confident he does too, although he never would have gone along with it here. It had to be his idea or it was just not done.

But I digress!

 

 

All our crazy ideas turned in to Magic one day, though, the day we heard that BayPhoto now has a new UV-Resistant Grade on their Metal Prints!!  EXT Metal prints have a protective UV element in them so they will actually withstand up to 3 years’ exposure to the sun without visible fading!

#BOOM!  I quickly let my imagination go wild with the possibilities… what about putting a circular image gallery on the OUTSIDE of Bubble Trailer? Could that be done? Would it withstand the wind and elements of a vehicle traveling the highways of America? Well, we had to give it a whirl!

 

So, I went to work, planning out how it could look and which images to use. Places we have been with Bubble Trailer (our could have) in the last 2-3 years. Like, nothing from overseas or the east coast where we have not taken BT. [We did include a shot from San Francisco, but no one in their right mind would take BT to SFO!]  Hmmmm,  thinking about this unique gallery—it’s something that really needs to be balanced and cohesive with color, impact, and visual balance. I wanted to use about 20 images total and I needed to be sure I ordered them in the correct size since this would be a bit of an investment in metal prints! I  got out my thinking cap to plan our Mobile Bubble Gallery! Photoshop to the rescue! We cut  paper circles in 5”, 8”, 12” and 20”; the current sizes that Creative Edge Metal prints are offered. Then we taped them on and photographed each side of the trailer with and without, without moving the camera, of course.

 

Then we visually planned it out PERFECTLYwith Photoshop! That in itself was super fun! We will be writing two more blogs (and videos!!) about how we digitally visually pre-designed it with Photoshop and then how we attached them securely for the finished display. Jonny, “the researcher”, put them on with zeal and permanency. (Not sure how we will get them off someday!!) Dad would have been proud. “If it’s worth doing, it’s worth over-doing, right? LOL—that’s a common Dave-ism we quote regularly!!)  But BT (BubbleTrailer) looks amazing and we love the new look.

 

Here’s Bubble Trailer with her new duds on the road to New Mexico- cruising the country in style, sporting a gallery of cool places she’s been. Awwww, it just makes me smile!

Her first trip, though, was to Burning Man, where she was initiated by a radical dust-bath! It’s so fun to have a conversation piece like this, where passersby just engage and conversations spark with wonder and rapport. My parents camped in BT for years and they said the same thing—everyone who passed by either commented on the cuteness or asked to see inside and marvel at how tiny it was! Clearly, Bubble Trailer has always been a social butterfly everywhere she goes, but now it’s just ridiculous!

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