A Successful, Accidental Craft Project with Silicone Sealer

You will soon come to know me as the "Accidental Craft Chick," since my talents do not extend to this field, anywhere. However, I have learned to fake my way through it with simple crafts or alternative solutions to others I want to try but found very frightening. The following craft project happened by accident, a very messy accident. But since then I have gone on to produce and even sell, at least 300 of the following items collectively.

You may or may not have handled silicone sealer before. Tragically, for those around me I have. I was 'helping' with a home renovation project. Much to the relief of myself and everyone else present, my husband fired me before I could resign so I was glad to deliver the coffee and cookies for the rest of the day instead . But,, I was left with an unsightly mess on my person to clean up later. I sat on an old rug on the couch and began picking at the stuff in a futile attempt to get it off my old sweatshirt, but finally gave up. I pulled off the sweatshirt and was heading for the rag bag to say a few last words in it's honor when I slipped and fell on the floor boards. Pause.

Non-Slip House Socks:

Returning to the kitchen, and after passing around the coffee pot I was still fuming at myself, but had a brilliant idea spring to mind. Why not use this on the soles of a few pair of socks? I could get a little practice handling the dispenser so I would be more useful next time we were renovating something, and make some non slip souls to prevent further injury to my rear end as well.

It was trial and error, I went through the orphaned sock heap to get some practice socks and finally worked out that a criss cross pattern without overlapping the silicone trail worked best. I set them outside the back door on top of broom handles into the sun to allow them to firm up, then bought them inside that evening and slipped on a pair of (odd) socks to test my new invention. Of course I had seen these in the stores but who wants to pay when you can make your own?

What else could I do with this messy stuff? My brain was racing and I had already sold several pairs at the local flea markets for $1.75 each, in my mind anyway. I later went on to do just that after buying a bulk load of 100 pairs of bed socks from a discount store. I got the kind with the curly/woolly-like insides which worked great.

Bracelets:

Then along came another brainstorm. I went to the kitchen and got some small mason jars and covered the top with cling wrap. I raided my craft kit(?) and got a bottle of glitter ready. Using the silicone - very carefully, I traced the rim of the jars with it. I took half of them when slightly set, and dipped them onto a plate where I had sprinkled the glitter. It stuck well and looked like it would stay that way. I put them where nobody would see them, in case it was a huge failure and headed off to bed. The next day I got the jars down and began peeling the silicone rings from the jars. The glitter had stuck just fine after I shook off the excess and they were quite smart looking too.

I had made bracelets, wow, I'm good!

These sold like hotcakes, yet another accidental success.

200 bracelets at .50c each.....

* I found the best location for selling little things like this is right by the gate as people are leaving the markets. They have a weird way of selling themselves actually, whether people want them or not. Like the trinkets and gum you see while waiting at the checkout in supermarkets, people feel empowered when spending money so a last minute purchase is a psychological victory.

I am always looking for new ideas, but sometimes seeking them out deliberately produces unwanted mess when I could just wait for the mess to happen naturally. I promise to share my next mess with you.

Have fun!