I Am Making a Strange Halloween Craft (I Don't Know What It Is Yet)

Because of my aphantasia, it is extremely difficult for me to start a project and know exactly how it look like be finished. Hell, I don't even have a general idea. 

Most of the time, it's like - "Oh here is a neat-looking thing! Brain, what can we do with it?"

Brain: Fuck if I know, but let's buy it anyway. 

That is how most of my Holiday trees started. With a dumb idea and unfounded purchase. 

The year I was really obsessed with marbles, I bought a fuck ton (like 1000) marbles and some hot glue and then stared at them both for about a month while my brain shuffled through different card catalog files up there for ideas. 

I also just babbled a lot about what I wanted to do to random people and croud sourced some ideas that way. Im the instance of the marble Holiday tree, which I wanted to be both lit from within and with strings of lights woven in between all the marbles, I ended up using a Diet Moutain dew bottle for the base. 

And then marbles and hot glue and string lights. I didn't plan the shape of finished product at all, I just glued and crossed my fingers. 

Here is how it turned out:

So, while I know I should have faith in my brain to make something cool, I continually question it. 

Really, my brain could give me a little break at anytime. I am an okay person. I don't need all these layers and spins. 

Maybe it will learn. Who knows. 

Well, the other day, we went to a local farm that also has an attached produce stand. I've been getting a lot of my food this way, trying to focus on local offerings and seasonal items. 

Luckily there are a lot of options for that up here. 

 So, the other day we were on a produce run at a farm and I saw a big container full of ugly smol gourds. I didn't think they were ugly. I thought they were visually interesting. 

"$1 each or 3 for $2"

I asked Mickey if we could get some and in this order he said, "Yes" and "Why?"

I love that the "yes" came first. 

And to the "why?" I said something like:

"I dunno really, I've been wanting to do, like a fall stoop scape or something. I was thinking about getting punkins and doing some creative jack'o'latnerns, but I hate the gut scoop, so no. I have also been wanting to spray paint something in various shades of metallic and I think these might be them. Pick out six ugly ones and I will too."

And so we brought them home. But not after buying some metallic spray paint. 

I got three shades: rose gold, shiny red and dark bronze-y. Then I spray painted the hell out of 'em. Two days in a row. 

Now, I did some research and thought about drying them and preserving them, but then I remembered last year we got some gourds in our weekly Produce Box. We painted those too and they rotted really creepy. 

So I hope that happens again - the the art will be kind of like a living/dying experience. 

Ok, so now these gourds are painted. 

What's next?

Well, I am not exactly sure. Or, at least I wasn't until a burst of inspiration hit. 

My brain has been running the "What should I do with the gourds" loop pretty constantly in the background, sometimes presenting ideas to the main brain, which immediately get rejected.

Background Brain Loop: Pile them on the stoops

Main Brain: No that is boring

Background Brain Loop: Pile them in plastic punkins

Main Brain: No, uninspired. 

Then this morning I finished the last of my tart cherry juice and added the empty bottle to the other piles of bottles in the mudroom. 

And then I looked out front and was sad that the phantom branch I had been cheering on had fallen down. 

Here it is up in the tree:

Look at it! Just hanging out getting support from its limb buddies. I've been rooting on this phantom limb for like a week now, but yesterday, it finally dropped down. I saved it in my "pile of cool sticks" of course. 

Then my brain put the things together. 

Pick out a couple fancy bottles. Paint 'em (black, I'm thinking) and then put the branches in the bottles and use hot glue to arrange the visually interesting gourds in the limbs. 

Then add some really delicate fairy lights and add one to each stoop. 

Who knows how it will morph by the time I'm finished though. I'll try to remember to show you, lol. Even if it's a fail.