For Estella

I am thankful for many things and one of those is my two healthy children. Whilst browsing Twitter, I came across the story of Estella. Estella died at the age of only eight months of a genetic condition, SMA or Spinal Muscular Atrophy. I hope this blog can help raise awareness of the condition and at the same time, I would like to call for submissions of handmade stars to create a wall for Estella and all the children who use Bluebell Wood Hospice where Estella stayed.

Stars should be between 5cm and 15cm across and suitable to be displayed on a wall. Obviously stars will need to be child friendly, both visually and as I am hoping to create a piece than can act as sensory stimulation for the children at the hospice, the pieces will also need to be safe for small fingers...non toxic, no sharp edges, beads and buttons securely sewn or glued.

Saturday 7 January 2012

Working things out

I'm not much of a planner, I prefer the take a run at it and see what happens approach, but things seem to be falling into place quite quickly I think :) I have had a word with Sarah from Bluebell Wood Hospice and they would prefer the stars stuck directly to the wall, which is great....it means I don't need to worry about transporting boards or a large canvas to Sheffield. Also I think it will look better :) Most of the stars will be secured with strong sticky pads....strong enough to hold most pieces I would think. I'll sort that out, no need to worry about fixing on the back of your star. Also, after pixie's comment on my last post about placing different textures on Estella's hand, it gave me the idea to fix some of the stars with velcro pads so the stars can be taken to less mobile children. Bluebell Wood like this idea.

I've had a promising amount of interest over the last couple of days, with quite a few promises of stars. Thank you! At the moment there is not a deadline, but at least a few months. It will give the project time to gather momentum and spread the smashSMA message....and also I have to work out the logistics of getting to Sheffield ;) Probably most dependant on when my parents can look after the kids! Saying that, if you can make a star within the next few weeks, it would be lovely to see them and I'll post pictures here...which I'm sure will inspire others. If you do have a blog/shop to link to, I can do that here.

As the wall is partly about sensory stimulation, it would be lovely if anyone had any ideas that involved sounds, bells, crinkly fabric maybe?

Paintings, drawings, collage, prints, etc are also welcome. If you could mount the pieces on stiff board and make sure the surface can withstand little fingers, that would be excellent :)

When you have a star, please let me know in the comments, and I'll send you my address. If you would like to join the Flickr group, you can add work in progress and finished piece photos there...again, inspiration for others. If you don't know Flickr, it is free for the first 200 images, and is a great way to share photos and connect with other people.
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