Years ago, we bought a used Casita trailer for a trip out West with young friends. The former owner had cleared out everything but the bed in order to use it as a mobile office. This suited us just fine and the price was right.
Casitas are basically fiberglass clam shells which look something like a roach egg. Ours was made in 1981. We went to the factory once and were informed it was one of the first ones they ever made.
I wanted to decorate the thing. A friend in the trucking insurance business had gifted me a roll of reflective tape (the kind truckers use to make bumpers and mud flaps more visible at night), so I decided to start there.
Reflective Truck Tape
Hmmmmmm……
I took an old file folder scavenged from an office purge and used it to make patterns.
File Folder With Simple Shapes
I traced out a quantity of simple shapes, then cut them out on the tape. After that, it was play time.
1981 Casita With Reflective Truck Tape: Side View
There was no plan or overall design. The whole project was more akin to doodling than the focused art I usually do.
1981 Casita With Reflective Truck Tape: Back View
Here is the result: a low-keyed-damask-table-cloth look during the day, and a psychedelic light show at night. There’s not another one like it, that’s for sure.
Artwise, it’s very sweet to take a break from technique and just let the hands do the thinking. If anyone out there is remotely interested in doing this themselves, the most useful shapes turned out to be triangles, commas and circles. Pimp your trailer, have fun, and let the hands lead the way!
