Keys 684 - 687 Attempts at Cleverness
I made plans to include clever bits in this 5000-key-making-adventure; plans like creating "ten keys ten ways" using paper as a medium, plans for large (3 -4 feet) keys made out of wood, and even plans for building an "imagination generator" (well - that's actually an idea for a separate project). But the truth is I'm not what would be described as clever. For all my day job work in administration I'm not even much of a planner. It would be clever, I thought, if I switched to paper when I reached 1000 keys. [Since I've already been telling everyone that when I reach 1000 I'm going to make key-shaped cookies I decided not to do that. Get it "cook-keys". I didn't notice that connection myself until someone clever pointed it out to me. My thinking was more along the lines of - I can probably make at least a hundred key shaped cookies in an afternoon and reach my goal a little faster that way...] I considered making keys 700 - 799 out of paper because that seemed to have a certain logic to it. In the end I didn't do that either.
I've been researching paper quilling (well, actually, seeing it on Pinterest and stumbling across a few how-to videos - but doesn't researching sound more clever?). In vain I searched my city for supplies. It was a no-hoper path. I ordered some paper and tools from Amazon. I quickly realized that life would be better if I cut my own paper. Too bad I gave away that little paper shredder I had...and too bad that all the current shredders are "cross cut" and shred and cut important documents into little pieces so that they can't be "jigsawed" together again. Back to Amazon I went - I was able to get a small hand shredder that so far seems to work just fine. I felt a little lucky that the postal strike didn't happen after all.
It would be clever, I thought, to start making paper quilled keys as I work my way towards 700. In a perfect world I'd reach 700 and then BAM! I'd have 100 paper keys waiting in the wings and impressively I'd be at 800 and that much closer to 1000. The paper quilling takes time. I have a steep learning curve. I didn't think the first keys looked very good. I'm struggling to get a halfway decent photo of these keys. I don't have any time to work on the other keys. I don't know where the hours in the day are going. I feel like I'm not on top of things. I don't usually use colours like yellow and red (I'm more of a blue/green/purple guy) and if I do use those colours I don't usually put them together.
But I did put yellow and red together. The quilled pieces aren't even; glue is visible; and the backing paper is rippled because it's just regular paper, not card. I'm not sure if these keys are good enough to show to the world but I am making 5000 keys and life is a process and I should get better with practice and I'm interested to see what will happen to the design of the found object keys after I make paper quilling patterns for awhile and maybe the two mediums will even collide and I want to make 5000 keys but I don't want to make them forever but I don't really want the project to end because then I'll have an empty art nest on top of my empty house nest and this is a really long sentence so here are those keys:
