Put Those Broken Branches To New Use
The sweatshirts have already hit the racks in local stores that were once cold, unlighted caves. The message: “Have an Ice Day - I Survived the 1996 Ice Storm.”
But you needn’t commemorate the storm with a T-shirt, especially if much of the winter budget was spent on kerosene lamps, propane heaters, candles, wool socks or Pres-To-Logs.
There are, after all, plenty of downed branches all over the South Side that can be saved and decorated - and which may one day produce as many fond memories as a jar of Mount St. Helens volcanic ash.
Marcea Seimears and her cohorts, Karen Silva and Becky Prescote interior designers with Design Works Inc., suggest a few ways to decorate the home with broken branches, large or small, to commemorate the infamous ice storm.
“It all depends on how big your prop is,” Seimears said. And perhaps your sense of humor.
“If you’re working large, suspend a big branch from your ceiling as if it came through the roof,” Seimears said. (This probably won’t be a favorite at homes where branches really did come through the roof.)
Leaning branches can be placed in a sturdy vase and spray-painted with snow or completely siliconed so they look like they’re covered with ice.
Glue a few feathered hobby birds onto the branches, drip silicone over them, sprinkle with glitter, and the look of winter outdoors is yours inside, she said.
Those willing to work in a smaller medium - twigs - have many choices, Silva said.
Little houses, which can be purchased at a hobby store, can be liberally sprinkled with twigs wrapped in black wire, Silva said.
“Make transformers out of soup cans. and silicone it all to make it look like ice,” she said.
For those with a few dollars to spare, Seimears suggested buying a “little Dickens Village - except leave it unlit. And snap off all the trees.” Add a restaurant to your village, with a long line of people outside, “since you couldn’t eat anywhere without waiting in line,” she said, “and you’ve got Thanksgiving Day 1996.”
, DataTimes