Jessica Mach

Have you noticed that each chapter of your life has required a different version of yourself? Some versions I crave + long for at times, some, I am ashamed + glad to be rid of. At the end of both roads, what is left is the beauty that we are never chained to who we were or who we are. No matter the current coordinates of our lives, we always have the ability to change + grow.

I printed them in color so you could see the green writing on the outside + for the unfolded ones I made sure to hand rip the edges to give it the worn, aged look. One thing I couldn’t get over though was how new + white the paper looked, even after ripping at the edges. All you have to do is make tea + using the tea bag blot at your paper you want to add the color to. I am so crazy about detail I almost actually bought a waxed seal on Amazon, but talked myself out of it last second for sake of cost and went with a burgundy paint sample from the hardware store instead.

The whole build process really only took a weekend, but being that we built it in a garage - in July - in the Midwest, that was brutally hot + humid, it made it feel like it took a lot longer. My original design was actually for a 3 panel wall with the middle panel being the widest. We ended up having just enough wood to complete it, so I knew we would have had to go find more pallets and then probably have another whole weekend dedicated to completing the other two panels. So in the end I think we made the right decision to altar my plans a bit + just go with one panel for the backdrop.

Every year for as long as I could remember when we were growing up we would walk from our house, through the neighborhood, to the church. The lights, the rides, the sweet smell of cotton candy, caramel apples and funnel cakes - it was magical. Like an end of summer Christmas, it was something to look forward to. This year for the first time, I got to share that same magic with my baby.