Tag Archives: experiment

Magic 8 Lobotomy

I was recently involved in making a series of short indie movies with Sine Fine Films, one of which required the acquisition of a Magic 8 Ball. Since I’d purchased it, it was mine at the end of the shoot, and I decided I didn’t really have much use for it as is.

So I enlisted the help of my father to cut it open, while my mother photographed the experience for posterity. As you do.

I already knew that the “fortunes” were nothing more than a white plastic 20-sided die bobbing around in some kind of blue fluid, and this was merely an extraction operation. I thought maybe the whole sphere was full of liquid, while my dad (correctly) suspected it was just a little canister, but we lobotomized it to make sure.

Then Dad cut it in half using a band saw. (Did I mention I have awesome parents? Because I have awesome parents.)

It took a little doing, but eventually we got the sucker pried apart.

I unscrewed the top of the interior canister and we emptied out the blue stuff.

I don’t know what it was, except that it was rather oily and turned my fingers blue, but that was to be expected.

Eventually we got all the liquid out, cut the end off the canister, and I retrieved my prize. My father kept the “8” hemisphere of the ball as a trophy of his valiant efforts.

So what did you do this weekend?

Eyeshadow Art – An Experiment

I’m going to be in a wedding this summer and I realized as I was going through my makeup that none of it had been worn since my own wedding some four and a half years ago, which meant that the very newest stuff dated from then and quite a bit of it was much, much older. I hate throwing things away, especially when they’ve barely been used, but it was time. So I decided to experiment with the makeup as art supplies.

I used watercolor paper (more specifically, watercolor postcards).  I figured the more texture on the paper, the more likely it was for the makeup to stick at all, and I think I was right. Since I was working only with the makeup I already owned, and I never wear makeup, my selection was pretty limited: Lancome Colour Focus 4Dreaming, Mary Kay Signature Pink Pout lip gloss (apparently a much sought-after discontinued color), N.Y.C. black eyeliner pencil (given my complexion I have absolutely no idea what I was doing even owning this thing), Clinique black/brown gentle waterproof mascara, and assorted Mary Kay eyeshadow, blush, mascara (unlabeled and five years old, so I have no hope of finding them; suffice it to say they were various shades of brown).

It didn’t work out so well.

The makeup was all more or less destroyed in the process of doing this, and I made a mess. (The latter is hardly surprising; I can manage to make a mess with a gluestick. It’s a talent.) The trouble with using makeup on paper is that you need a lot of it for it to really show up, and if you use anything non-powder like lipstick or mascara or eyeliner, the contrast is too sharp. If I were to do this again, I would start with a much broader palette of colors. Then I would choose to draw something that is in no way associated with makeup. And skip the mascara.

But at least now I don’t feel so bad about throwing it all in the trash.

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