La Bricoleuse

For the current show, Assassins, painter/dyer Denise Dietrich and I wound up lending a hand to our props department and creating a "dead dog."

In one scene of the show, the character of Sarah Jane Moore has a dead dog in her handbag, which she takes out and drops on the ground. Our fake dog needed to be realistic-looking, and to have the weight and limpness of, well, a dead dog.

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I realize that this post is off-topic for this blog, technically speaking. I'm justifying it because frequently the line blurs between props and costumes ("propstumes," anyone?), and because when it does, it's the crafts artisans who build those pieces, and because the subject is just plain really super duper cool, IMO.

We--crafts artisans--are often called upon to make bags and satchels, parasols, walking sticks and swordbelts, and enormous strange elements of macropuppetry (witness the Audrey arms), sometimes in tandem with props technicians. I have worked as a props assistant occasionally when freelancing, especially in soft-goods construction, upholstery/drapery construction, and sculptural propbuilding. This post is actually all about my new couch, but i am guessing that if you enjoy the subject of this blog, you will enjoy hearing about my couch. Seriously! Read on!

See, I lived a nomadic freelancer's lifestyle for a while before settling into my current staff job, and as such i developed a profound appreciation for modular furniture that was well-designed, ergonomic, space-efficient, and easily assembled, disassembled, and moved/carried by one single medium-build female (me). I haven't owned a couch...well, ever. I've always had futons, which i've liked for their multifunctionality but disliked for their general utilitarian design over comfort, and the fact that wrestling a futon mattress out of an apartment and into my vehicle is, for me, a bit like trying to move a dead horse in a dufflebag around.

So, i was overjoyed when i discovered the existence of Home Reserve's build-it-yourself couch-in-a-box furniture. The idea being, you choose the size and style of couch/loveseat/armchair you want, and it arrives via UPS in 50 lb. boxes that a lone human can move into their abode--up stairs even! You open the boxes, bust out a Phillips-head screwdriver, and within an hour or two, you have a couch. The frame is constructed so that you also wind up with a "secret compartment" of storage under your seat cushions! Because you do the assembly, the price point is around $300 (higher if you choose more expensive fabrics), and because you do the assembly, if you ever want to change the color, you just order new fabric covers. If your cat barfs on it, you just take the covers off and clean them. God, what's not to love? I totally adore this couch.

The website is full of great information, from an animated gif illustrating how the furniture goes together to a fascinating (to me at least) page showing what goes on in the factory--sewing and frame cutting and such.

While i'm not sure this sort of furniture is for everyone, it's right up my alley. I had a great time putting it together--it's like a huge puzzle that turns into a loveseat when you're done--and it's perfectly suited to my lifestyle. You eat a lot of wind pudding with a career in the arts, so the low price point and easy transportability was key, and the fact that it turns into really quite a nice piece of furniture clinched it. (I got a loveseat in the Monroe style, with Chicago Olive upholstery, if you are curious.)

So, apologies if you wasted your time reading this couch testimonial crap when all you really care about is what i have to say about 18th century footwear or whatever. That's valid.

But dude, i really really love my new couch.

Next post: Unequivocally costume-related, i swear.