step 1: Concept: people will look at things they consider ugly or disfunctional and ignore them or look the other way. someone with a mental illness or physical deformity is shunned from society because they are considered damaged goods. however, these people can have very valuable things to contribute to society. though they're outside can be ugly, inside they are beautiful.
step 2: planning the process-
this hasn't really worked out so well. first of all, the nuts are too hard for a x-acto knife to cut, so they just started to shatter. this actually fit into my idea, that shattered and broken looking people are just as important as good-looking people. so i started to look for easier (and less dangerous) ways to break the nuts. in the absence of a nutcracker, i threw a nut on the floor. it shattered quite niceley, despite making a mess. after that, i put a nut in a plastic bag and threw it, and that created the effect as well as contained the mess.i took the pvc glue i wanted to use to tape the two halves together to reconstruct the nutshells, and let the two halves edjes remain ragged. i then glued the ribbon between the halves and let it dry.
step 3: expiriments to come-
i'm planning on trying out different ways of gilding the inside, including gluing in leaf and using a leafing marker. then, i'm going to try different finishing techniques for the outside of the shells, including ink, staining, and sanding. finally, i'll mix and match charms and crystals for the insides and maybe add text- from books, movies, or poems talking about the beauty inside.
hope that clarifies things.
