dusty the destroyer: sequin edition

This post is part of a new (and hopefully, short-lived) series of stories about the ways in which my 8-year-old Australian Shepherd, Dusty, has “redecorated” my apartment as of late.

Around New Years I was inspired to make a few glitzy, crafty projects for decoration around the home.  I picked up a few bags of sequins from Michael’s craft store and drove home to start attaching them to anything that didn’t move.  Some of the projects I used the sequins for involved only certain colors, so I separated sequins into a few different containers and set them on the desk in my bedroom.  When I came home from work one night, I made my way into the bedroom only to find the floor covered in sequins. Dusty had also knocked over a cup of Coke that a friend had left on the desk, so sequins congealed in the sticky substance all over the desk.  I guess Dusty must have been jealous of all the crafty projects that I was getting to do with sequins and wanted to create his own. I must say, his was more high-impact than any of the ones I came up with!  I am still finding sequins in my shoes, on my body, in the covers (see photo of Dusty above for proof), in pockets and all over the apartment.  So glad I didn’t go with glitter!

make it: sequin board

I wanted to make something glittery for New Year's Eve, and was inspired by Jordan Ferney's post about her sequin wall creation. I remembered seeing some images of Kate Spade's flagship store where they did something similar and set to work to find large gold paillettes. Six phone calls to craft stores, specialty art shops and Target, and I was still coming up empty-handed. So until my online order comes in, I have been making do with smaller sequins. I picked u a few packages of multi-colored 8 and 10 mm sequins, foam board, 4x4 canvases, 24K gold spray paint, acrylic gold paint and sequin pins from Michael's.



I painted a few of the canvases with gold paint and waited for the canvases to dry. I also sprayed the foam board with the gold spray paint. The foam board does not take nearly as long to dry. I then lay a ruler against the side of the canvas to help measure out where to put each sequin. I placed the first line of sequins on the board and punctured the center holes with sequin pins, one for each sequin.



Then i measured down another side of the canvas and repeated my process until the board was covered in sequins. I nailed the sequin pins into the wood around the edges and then punched the sequin pins in at least halfway on the canvas near the center of the cube to ensure that the pins wouldn't fall out. But, I didn't nail the sequin pins all the way in because I didnt want to lose the 3d nature of the boards. I made one 8x8 board with sequins in gold, silver, bronze, pink and magenta, a 4x4 board with alternating bronze and magenta, and one with just gold sequins. I am please with the way they turned out. I'd recommend putting foam board in the back of the canvas though to help secure the pins and keep from pricking yourself if you pick it up the wrong way.