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Thursday, May 6, 2010

Some cutting remarks.

Sometimes I see a cool little object, and want to make it into an even cooler little object, but it's just not quite the right size, or shape, or mood. A handy dandy pair of scissors will often fix that right up.

I bought these at the dollar store, in the form of an Easter garland:

They're made of that sort of stiff, heavy felt. There were six crosses and six butterflies. I bought them the day after Easter, at 50% off. Fifty cents, people! Fifty cents for 12 cool objects.

Immediately, I thought, "Pretty! For earrings!" Then I thought, "Yeah, if your ears were the size of baseball mitts." (The butterflies are about as big as your palm. The crosses are smaller, perhaps slightly more earring-able, but still. Is there anyone out there - I don't care how much she loves Easter - who really wants a fuzzy, 3-inch-long, neon green Byzantine cross hanging from her ear lobe?)

So that's when I started snipping with said handy dandy scissors. Trying to isolate segments that had a pretty shape. I found a shape I liked; added earwires. And then there was:

Next thing I knew, the fur was really flying. And then there were:

I really had fun dismembering, er, taking apart the filigree shapes and assembling them into - if I do say so myself - some cool little objects.

I also tried adding a teeny bit of shading with a Sharpie. It's subtle, but I think it helps give some dimension:

Okay, I know these are weird. They're not for everybody. But in my mind, if I find a way to use the word 'subtle' in the same post as the phrase 'fuzzy, 3-inch-long, neon green Byzantine cross,' I count it as a success!

16 comments:

  1. I think these earrings are cool! I'm going to take a trip to my local dollar store soon!

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  2. I'm totally dying from your creativity. I actually stood and looked around in my hobby room yesterday and asked myself, "What would Mich L. do?" Also, I received the deer earrings in the mail. They are so lovely! (I wore them to church on Mother's Day.) Thank you so very much.

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  3. You did it again! Cute and clever and inspiring!

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  4. Nice! Deconstructing dollar store stuff is the best.

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  5. LOL So cool - Well Done You! :)

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  6. finally.... all caught up on your posts, each one more brilliant that the last.

    so my question to MichinLA™ is, if someone were to issue you a challenge, like, oh, say, to make a pair of mens cufflinks, what would you do? What, to borrow a line from the movie Speed, would you do....?

    reason i ask: saw a great pair of cufflinks made out of scrabble tiles. unquestionably hip, but they cost a gazillion dollars, and i say to myself, i say, "i bet Michinla® could make something twice as cool without even breaking a sweat..."

    so....what say, Michinla©?

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  7. To Kansai007: I lurve a challenge! Scrabble tiles are too easy. Wait til you see what I come up with! Wait a sec....uh-oh...ZZzzzZZtt! (sound of Mich L. being struck by lightning for hubris.) Anyway, men´s cufflinks soon.

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  8. Will be looking for craft meaterials to refunction in this genre. Wow!

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  9. Totally rocking and completely unique. What vision you have. thanks for linking up to The CSI Project today!

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  10. These are fan-freakin-tastic!!! Love your vision....and your humor. This post cracked me up, girl!

    Thanks for linking up with us over at The CSI Project.

    ~Amanda

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  11. Love your humor. I even like the earrings even though I would never be caught dead in them. But then I'm an old fogey.

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  12. This is such a clever idea. I will have to look for those next Easter. Maybe they will have other shapes throughout the year too. BTW, I'm from LA too!

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  13. So cute! And I bet they are nice and lightweight.

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  14. These are so cute and original. What a fabulous idea!

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  15. And you have a funny way of writing, this post made me laugh and I love those butterfly wing earrings. I like how your mind works :)

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