Perhaps more importantly, the project reawakens Elke’s own inner child and inspires her to make impromptu gifts for her friends, who, in turn, show them off to their friends, who urge her to take her crafts to the next level, and sell them commercially. She initially shrugs off such suggestions, though, considering it too time-consuming and labor-intensive to be a viable undertaking. Besides, she reasons, nobody would pay money for sculptures made from recycled cardboard packaging. For her, it’s a labor of love, and a way to share her magical memories of childhood holidays spent in Stein am Rhein, Switzerland.
As enchanting as these miniatures are, what’s even more amazing is the care that goes into each handmade piece. Elke’s blueprints for her works are in her head. She starts with a vision of how the finished product will look and works backwards to make the vision a reality. This entails an enormous amount of resourcefulness, creativity, and preservation since she works (with the exception of her environmentally friendly paints and glue) only with cardboard packaging that would otherwise end up in a landfill somewhere.
Otherwise discarded frozen dinner packaging, empty cigarette packs, and various sundry throwaways become the foundation for her creations. Once she’s completed the basic construction, she spends days painstakingly detailing each piece by hand, even adding frosted windows that reveal lighted interiors. In the end, each miniature stands on its own, but is easily integrated into a larger village.
With the Holiday Season of 2008 winding down and the uncertainty of 2009 looming before us, it’s heartening to know that some element of magic remains to remind us that it wasn’t such a bad year after all. Elke E’s villages serve as a reminder that every year holds its own magic. They’ve proven so popular that she’s decided to expand her crafts to include other holidays and everyday events, as well as introducing a site that showcases her work and includes her thoughts on a variety of subjects. It’s currently under construction, but once live in early 2009, her site The Village In Her Head should be entertaining and informative. In any case, Elke E is set to launch her childhood dreams into a vibrant reality.
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