Saturday, Aug. 09, 2014 - 2:06 p.m.

She got through the party without having to smack anyone down for clapping, thank goodness. (See previous entry, if you must).

Back to glitter. J thinks it cannot be done (well), so the gauntlet has been thrown. It's interesting as a craft practice, because while people used mica and other natural sparkles occasionally in antiquity, modern glitter dates only from the 1930s.

Some thoughts:
I want to take rusty hand tools and dip parts in resin and cover in glitter. But simple "hey look, incongruity and gender role switcherooni!" is not a very interesting statement, really.

I want to ask, if artisans of different times and places had had access to modern glitter, what would they have done with it? That could be funny. I mean, renaissance scribes with both gildig AND glitter? Yeah. They would not have held back. Baby Jesus would have shone.

One could also rework modern imagery to contain glitter, using it to highlight things. Which things? Things that are actually awesome? Things that people seem to think are awesome but are not (all that glitters...)?

It is the second of these that appeals to me most. I have the idea of making my own glitter (I have a very small hole punch). A sort of comment on the value of the handmade, and long craft traditions. Or, a question about it, anyway, as I am not sure I have an entire coherent view of it yet. Handmadeness is fetishized these days in certain circles. It doesn't always make sense, or make something better. In (fine, studio) craft, the establishment takes tradition pretty seriously. That leaves those of us working in newer mediums feeling a bit adrift. Well, me, anyway. Making my own glitter or at least reimagining traditional crafts with access to glitter, a new technology, would be...funny, I guess. "Tradition? I'll give you tradition!" And an interesting intellectual exercise at least.

Just a thought.

[later] I am also rather drawn to the idea of coating items representative of women's drudgery in glitter. Iron skillets. Scissors. Perhaps combine this with my first idea up top so it isn't just about gender, but about tools, work, drudgery, and glamour in general. Maybe not that deep, but visually rather charming, I think.

�