NEIGHBOURHOOD SMALL GRANTS 2015 - Fairy doors

Continuing the discussion from Do YOU want to apply for the small neighbourhood grants?:

I have submitted the following project to the NEIGHBOURHOOD SMALL GRANTS.
Its has been already submitted but if you have any suggestions for the next one I would love to hear about them.

NEIGHBOURHOOD SMALL GRANTS 2015 - Fairy doors.pdf (115.7 KB)


What is the name of your project? Please use a title that you can remember.
Fairy portals

Describe your project. Give as much detail as possible. (up to 330 words)

I will be creating a series of small decorative doors. These doors are often referred to as Fairy portals, Fairy doors, Gnome doors, etc…

I will run a free of charge, community workshop at the Vancouver Hackspace. The workshop will be open to everyone, but will be targeted at pre-teen boys and girls (Age 5-12). At this workshop people will be able to paint, decorate and take home their own fairy door.

People will be invited to take their doors home with them and install them on their own property that is accessible to the public. (Trees in their front yards, Fence posts, etc… ) Afterwards they will be asked to submit the location of their installed door into an online forum. I will use this information to create a website about this project with an interactive map where these doors can be located.

The public will then be invited to search out the fairy doors installed across the neighbourhood as a fairy door scavenger hunt. Inside each door will be a link to a website with more information about this project.

The doors templates will be constructed with a CNC router and will be approximately 12 cm ( 4” 3/4 inches) tall and 8 cm (3” inches) wide.

When will your project and/or event take place? Include the month, day, and year.

The workshop will happen on a weekend during May 2015 depending on the availability of space at the Vancouver Hackspace.

Where will your project and/or event take place? (max 250 chars)

Vancouver Hackspace (VHS) 1715 Cook st
VHS provides a physical space where people can gather to share ideas, equipment, and opinions. We focus on sharing all sorts of knowledge within a friendly and collaborative atmosphere.

How many people will help organize this project?
11-15 people

Approximately how many people will participate or directly benefit from your project?
More than 100 people.

Who will participate? (Check all that apply.)
Families
Children
Youth
Adults
Seniors
Homeowners

How did you hear about the Neighbourhood Small Grants program? (Check all that apply.)
Website,

How will you promote the project and reach out to and/or include people in the community? Give as many details as possible. (max 250 chars)

Promotion for this project though the Vancouver Hackspace ( ~2k subscribers), and the Maker Faire and Maker Foundation mailing lists (~14k subscribers). I will do general promotion via facebook and library bulletin boards.

Budget

$100 - 1x 3/4 thick baltic birch plywood (4x8)
$50 - CNC machine time
$50 - Paints, decorations, sparkles, etc…
$100 - Website, domain and hosting (donated)
$200- Workshop space (donated)
Total: $600

How much are you asking from the Neighbourhood Small Grants Program? (May not exceed $1,000). Do not use dollar signs in the Amount field.

$200

If you don’t receive the full grant amount that you are requesting, how will you change your project?

People that attend this workshop will have to prepay $20 in advance per person. I will also remove the interactive website element

How will your project connect and engage people who live in your neighbourhood?

This project will bring together people from a different social backgrounds to help create a project that will affect and bring joy to their neighbors. People will be engaged in creating the fairy doors and conversations that come from their experience making. Other people will find these fairy doors around their community, interact with them, and hopefully start conversations.

My Project Will

Bring neighbourhood residents together for the first time: YES
Happen in two or more sessions: NO
Involve local residents to share their skills and knowledge with other residents: YES
Provide opportunities for local residents to learn from each other. YES
Celebrate and showcase unique local talents, public and private spaces, arts, culture and food: YES
Engage residents to make meaningful contributions or give back to their community: YES
Showcase the diversity within the community. YES
Connect people from different groups: YES
Be accessible and socially inclusive to all: YES

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A suggestion for the “How will your project connect and engage …” aspect of the application.

Consider have a project or workshop/events that would work in tandem with a particular school or teacher in your neighborhood. I know firsthand (my partner is an elementary grade school teacher) that there is a lot of teachers who would love to get involved. Am often very surprised how the flexible teachers can be in implementing the curriculum.

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I thought this was funny, and apropos:

(Not that I’m saying it’s a bad thing at all. I think it’s a great idea).

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This grant has been approved, I will pick up the check this weekend.
I will write up the lesson plan sometime this week and schedule a date for this workshop.

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Woo!

Looking forward to this one.

Nice one! Let me know if you need help with it.

That’s awesome! IT’s great to see this and Toma’s soldering grant get
approved. Well done. :slight_smile:

I purchased a few different types of hinges for this project.

Vintage Bronze Engraved Designs Hinges Cabinet Drawer Jewelry Box Pack Of 20

DIY Repair Bronze Decorative Mini Butterfly Hinges S Size For Cabinet Box Pack Of 20

10pcs Mini Cabinet Drawer Butt Hinge

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Looking good! It would be cool to resin cast some small furniture or something. Time frame might be too tight though.

Or maybe some laser cut coloured plexi “stained glass” windows

I am looking for help running and organizing this workshop. My original helper is going away for the summer and won’t be able to help me any more.

I need;

  • Help on the day of the workshop to walk people thought the tutorial
  • Designing and prototyping the Fairy doors GitHub - funvill/FairyDoors
  • Help creating the tutorial/slides
  • Advertisement and public out reach.

I have already purchased all of the hardware (hinges, bolts, glue, etc…) and wood. I have started on the slides for the tutorial, and done a few prototypes for the fairy doors.

I am compiling all my notes, images and slides in to this document https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CbNoIyBtr84lNC19quQcNo29qlRC-J-Xewz7_1UjA-k/edit

What’s the date of the actual workshop? I’ll give you a hand. Let me know what you need help with first.

One other thing that occurred to me, if you call them fairy or gnome doors, it might have more appeal to boys.

I am flexible
The hinges should be in on June 21st at the latest so anytime after that.
I was thinking July 5th Sunday from 2pm -5pm

I’ll give you a hand. Let me know what you need help with first.

Woot !
I am working on the poster and advertisement today. I will post a draft when I am done.
Right now I need help with the Tutorial/Slides and the lore around Gnome/Fairy Doors. I got some of the major information in this doc but its not “KID” friendly. it just information.

Agreed !

Here is the information that I am planning on putting on the poster.
Suggestions on how to make it more kid friendly.

Make your own Fairy door
Create your own mini magical fairy door - for you to place a special location and share with your community and friends.

Where: Vancouver Hackspace (VHS) 1715 Cook st
When: Sunday July 5th, 2015, 2pm-5pm
Cost: FREE! Space is limited to 25 people.
Please register at doors.abluestar.com

Kids of all ages - from 1 to 110 are welcome.

Doors, hinges and basic crafting materials are supplied in the workshop - you are also encouraged to bring any magical, shiney, spacey or crafty additions - to make your fairy door even more unique.

Fairy door search and find
The mini magic fairy doors will be installed in special places within Mount Pleasant. Secret treasures will lie behind the doors and clues from each door will lead you to another door until you find them all! A map can be downloaded at doors.abluestar.com

Draft of poster


Purple box is the examples of doors, and the blue box is the QR tag
Suggestions ?

Two quick questions… Do the kids get to take the doors home with them? If so, can they put the doors where ever they want?

[quote=“ninetynein, post:17, topic:1825”]
Do the kids get to take the doors home with them? [/quote]
Yes absolutely, I don’t want them !
Damn kids and their love of glitter.

Yes, I give them recommendations on where to put them. The slides have three pages of “Good idea”, “Bad idea” images of placements for the door.

If they want their door on the website map, they need to put it in a location that is publicly accessible (like GEOCatching). I have also partnered with a bunch of public gardens (10) around Vancouver that are willing to have doors put up in their gardens. I also partnered with some neighbourhood houses (3) that also want them on their building. So there will be plenty of “Good” places to put the doors.

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Sounds awesome. Will they have the option to show the location of their door on the website if they put it somewhere other than a suggested place? Maybe something like dropping a pin on a map and entering a code? I can see many of the folks wanting to put them right outside their house. That might be too much work though.

A bit of rewording… Take it or leave it :slight_smile:

Magical Door Workshop

As we all know, tiny doors are portals to magical places! They can lead one to gnomes, fairies, and many other types of magical creatures. Come join us in creating your own mini magical door to share with your friends. Once you’re done, you can take it home and have your very own portal to the netherworld. Where will your door lead?

All required materials will be provided, however you are encouraged to bring any magical, shiny, spacey or crafty additions to make your magical door even more special.

Magical Door Map
Once complete, you may choose to install your door in one of our special places within Mount Pleasant. Secret treasures will lie behind these doors and clues will lead from one door to the next until you find them all! A secret map can be downloaded at doors.abluestar.com

Where: Vancouver Hackspace (VHS) 1715 Cook st
When: Sunday July 5th, 2015, 2pm-5pm
Cost: FREE! Space is limited to 25 people.
Please register at doors.abluestar.com

Kids of all ages - from 1 to 110 are welcome.

2 Likes