Jillian Picture 2

June 22, 2010
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This kit had its purpose chosen for it before I even saw it! Last year for Christmas we gave our five year old son Xander the Greenleaf lighthouse after he begged for it for two summers (he claimed that his G. I. Joes needed a cottage / peaceful fort). He promptly declared that it was “Perfect! – but it needs a boathouse!”. His favorite buildings to check out at his grandparent’s cottage are the boathouses, and so I was on the hunt for one in miniature scale.

As soon as I saw this kit I knew it was perfect for my cause! Not only does he love boathouses, he also loves to fish with his grandpa. Checking out the bait and tackle has always been his favorite part of the excursion and he will often be found on the floor of the cottage “sorting” grandpa’s tackle box! In this setting, a miniature Xander and his grandfather can run their bait and tackle shop, camp out in and tend to the lighthouse, and fish ‘till their heart’s content!

His initial dream of the lighthouse came from the huge automated lighthouse near my parent’s cottage on Georgian Bay, named simply “Red Rock Lighthouse”. Of course my son named his after it, so the name of the shop naturally became “Red Rock Bait and Tackle”. I also took some loose inspiration from my Grandfather’s days of ferrying the boats and maintenance in the Muskoka Islands in the 1920’s, and tried to set the Bait and Tackle in this era.

Xander has “helped” me to create many of the items included in the setting, giving me a multitude of suggestions of things he and grandpa use and dream of using. His favorite things to create were the clay rocks in front of the shop, which he made to look like the swimming rock from the cottage, and he has asked me for weeks now if he can play with the fishing rods! There are many special little items to look out for in the scene, each with its own significance. I put in three frogs (one for Xander, one for our daughter Kaia, and one for Grandma who hunts frogs with them!), the two ducks (which come back year after year to roost in front of the cottage on the swimming rock), the big black boots ( Xander still loves to play with grandpa’s boots which are hip waders for him), a prized fish to hang over the door (made from a surprisingly life like lure), and a set of moose antlers to hang things like hats and signs on (sawn off a toy moose). The outhouse can be seen in the background by the lighthouse (I realized after we started photographing that Xander had left one of his G. I. Joe men in there – I found it so funny that I couldn’t bear to remove him!). The six small windows above the door are stained glass to represent the nautical flags spelling out Xander’s name. There are old fashioned life jackets and a ring boy made from paper clay, and my father’s beat up old aluminum boat (ever tried to find a 1/12 scale boat?!? I ended up making it out of wood clay and it’s a good thing I wanted it to look like it had been run over the rocks a few times!)

I’m not sure what aspect of this project brought me the most joy – dabbling in miniatures again, creating a tribute to the relationship my father and son share, or working with my special little guy to get things just right for his fishing “fort” (“it’s NOT a dollhouse, Mom! ”)

Thank you,

Jillian