Season's greetings!

Season’s greetings, everyone!

In honor of the start of football season here’s a project I did while I was a student.

My parents had season tickets to the Washington Huskies. In 1990 they attended the USC game played at Husky Stadium on the shore of Lake Washington. Probably the most beautiful site for a football stadium in the country. And that’s not just my opinion.

After the game when the USC quarterback was interviewed, he said, “All I saw was purple. No jerseys, no numbers, just purple.” It’s going to be like that again this year. Promise. (If you want to learn more about the game look here: http://tinyurl.com/hveqegd )

That game helped to foretell great things. The team won the national championship the next year.

At the game, a commemorative program of the team’s first hundred years was given out, and my folks sent me their copy.

Later that year at school, I wanted to do something special with it because of how events had turned out in the following months. I was kind of into making pastepapers, and thought that would be a good medium for my idea.

I made this:

I put down yellow paste first, to hopefully give the field some depth. After that I mixed the green and put it down by stippling with a brush.  Then I made a frame of sorts so that I could put a ruler above the paper to draw the yard lines. I didn’t want it to look perfect. I wanted it to be a bit less formal, so I drew the numbers on the field and the lines with a bone folder. Pretty much free hand all around.

The structure is called a four flap. The football field is a hard cover. Inside is a softer board which folds open to reveal the program. It is held together with ties. Purple ties, of course.

The writing in the end zones was done with frisket.

My teacher saw the completed project and gave the highest compliment: “I hate football but I really like this.”

I enjoyed making this four flap immensely, but don’t ever bring it out. Maybe I should at this time of year. It could be a ritual of sorts. Maybe it’s the kind of thing that can help the Huskies go 12 – 0, win the national championship, and make everything the way it should be. And hopefully without the ethical lapses of the SEC schools, that would be nice too.

Go Dawgs.