The world is falling to shit in new and interesting ways.
One of these ways is the destruction of the very meager U.S. social safety net and the possibility that health insurance for poor people might not exist for much longer.
If I lose my health insurance I’m dead. There’s waaay to much going on with me to be able to survive without access to doctors and pharmaceuticals.
I’ve been working for pay since I was 13. I have a master’s degree and 30+ years of experience in my field yet I’ve never had a job that offered health insurance. Why is health insurance tied to our employment anyway?
Why do we live like this? Why do we accept this as a society?
I’ll do my best to figure things out. I always do. Carry on and bootstraps and all that fuckery.
There’s no avoiding the outside chaos and aforementioned falling to shit so I do what I can to alleviate the anxiety brain hamsters. The pantry is well stocked. The gas tank rarely goes below 1/2. Debts are down, savings is up and I’m working to the point of absurdity to make hay while the sun shines.
Trying to create something, anything, has mostly gone to the wayside while other things take priority but I did manage to start (and finish!) one thing recently. It’s not Art but it makes me smile.
After the holidays wound down I had a vision for the baby Yoda diamond dot painting over the tv. The mass market crafting just wasn’t enough, he needed mood lighting. I wanted something vaguely organic, but sci-fi and most of all cheap. Found the remote battery candles online on sale. Such wonders they make now.
Pleased with the results I am.
Originally planned to use balloons as the form for the paper mache but the ones I dug out of storage in the basement were rather elderly and had lost all of their stretch. At least there’s now one less thing to have to sort and chuck. I used armature wire, cardboard and a fair amount of tape to get the basic shape and then paper mached a couple of layers of newspaper on it. I also learned that cooking the paste makes all the difference.
Then there was a layer of Sculptamold for texture and to seal up any issues with the paper mache. I leaned about this stuff from the model making community. I can never get it as smooth as some claim it can be but it dries rock hard and is very sturdy. Perfect for holding the candles up and keeping the hanging hardware where it needs to be.
The primary paint is black with various light purple and silver dry-brushing to keep it from being boring. I had silver gilding sheets leftover from a project a couple of decades ago and it was perfect for the inside of the pieces to reflect the candlelight. They were a bit too aluminum foil looking but a purple paint wash dulled that right down and once dry, no longer reads as purple.
The creation of these was practically a speed run. Start to finish in less than 3 months is unheard of for me. I usually take years to finish things up but it felt good to come home and just craft, blocking out everything else that’s going on.
Are my little candle holders going to change anything in the wider world?
Nah.
But they make me smile every time I turn them on and they add a nice bit of sparkle to Grogu.
