Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Arts & Crafty 101

As a kid, I was totally into arts and crafts. In school, at camp, in the home, wherever, whenever. In fact, there was a brief period during my childhood where I proclaimed that I was going to be an artist. You know, as a career. I loved to draw and paint, I even dabbled in lanyard key chains and friendship bracelets. For awhile there, I actually felt I had some talent. Soon enough, however, my little girl dreams were brutally crushed when I learned the unfortunate fate that befell most artists: poverty. At the time, I probably couldn't even comprehend what it meant not to make any money, but based on the tone of my parents' voices when they explained this to me, I came to the conclusion that it was not a path I would want to take.

Despite no longer yearning to be an artist, I did not lose my creative tendencies, but rather, I began to channel them into different mediums - clothes, shoes, bags, and jewelry. I found a way to express my creativity through fashion, and instead dreamt of becoming another kind of artist. I considered many options, from writing about fashion, to personal shopping, even styling. I have toyed with all of these ideas, but one recently stood out to me as the perfect opportunity to put my latent artistic talents to work.

As an accessories freak, I tend to look for fun jewelry at stores like H&M, Forever 21, and Urban Outfitters in order to build my collection without depleting my bank account. Sure, it's not the best quality, but it's inexpensive, and I can get the look of gold jewelry at a good price. However, because cheap "gold" jewelry is nothing but painted metal, the longer you own it, the more it loses color and starts to look like silver instead.

In the past few weeks, two pairs of my earrings were getting to be so faded, that they resembled nothing of their former selves: what used to be shiny gold looked instead like dull, gray, sadness. ::Pause for dramatic effect:: The choice was clear: my cheap earrings were in need of a serious makeover. See, that's the other great thing about not investing in jewelry. When you purchase something for $5, you lose that squeamish feeling at the thought of getting a little experimental. The task is simple, all you need is a few minutes, and a few bottles of nail polish. (And we all know how I have more than that!)

About a month ago, in a discussion with a friend of mine when wearing one of my lackluster pairs of earrings, I spoke to how I was most likely going to revive the muted metal by coating it in gold nail polish. My friend, being ever so crafty herself, explained that I did not necessarily have to stick to just gold, but that I could paint them however I damn well pleased. Poetic license, if you will.

So guess what? That is exactly what I did. I brought out some neon polish, a little glossy topcoat, and created my very own masterpiece:



Now, if that is not modern art, I am not sure what is. Class dismissed.

2 comments:

Thomas said...

It's a little too blurry to know how those turned out ;p But I like the idea! Maybe have a picture of you wearing them, unless you're squeamish about someone recognizing your ear, which is totally understandable.

Jose Montero said...

please paint me many colors, I am dull, gray, and sadness.