The DIY Imperative

Anne Fadiman wrote an essay  in her lovely book Ex Libris, about how marketing in catalogs and advertising has changed over the years from polite "You can be beautiful using our Arsenic Makeup wafers!", to the imperative. Now everywhere we look, someone is telling us what to do; from our bras to our bosses, it's an endless stream of commands.

Pinterest has taken this to a whole new level. A recent visit has yielded the following DIY Imperatives:

"Make this easy vintage life preserver with things you probably already have around the house!"  Who among us has not had extraneous sailboat paraphernalia scattered about the house and garden'? ( Actually this is kind of clever, but anyone who puts this much effort into a child's first birthday is insane.) 

Photo courtesy of Pinterest.

Wait, you say you have lots of time on your hands? You can: Funk up your denim using a lil’ something you have under your sink…,  or Make a colorful artwork out of paint chips circles. Super easy with lots of possibilities, (is it just me, or does this just look like paint chips on matting board? Yes ,yes it does. Carry on Pinterest DIYers! No hate from Mrs. Hunting Creek. If it makes you happy!)

I think this is the one that made me snap: Get a festive decoration with just an old light bulb and some glitter!

Pinterest again. Don't try this at home.

 This project can be dangerous around both children and adults. Light bulbs are very fragile and can easily break, exposing people and pets to sharp shards of this glass and the elements inside light bulbs. I speak from sad experience - my son accidentally broke a light bulb and sliced his palm open, requiring a trip the the emergency room, stitches and a long mental health recovery period for mom and dad and older sister (who was babysitting at the time). He made a complete recovery. We're all still leery of light bulbs. This crafty tip should have giant warning signs on it. (not just a little mention at the end that it is fragile. It isn't just fragile. It's dangerous.) Plus the glitter can come off on hands, and is horribly painful if it gets in your eyes.
It's a little crazy to glitter up light bulbs when there are perfectly nice, inexpensives sturdy glass and plastic ornaments at Michael's and other places which you can glitter up to your heart's content, if that's your thing.
I've written before how Art can be dangerous.  We can make it less dangerous by not doing dangerous stuff around kids and pets.

And stop bossing me around, Pinterest- you aren't the Boss of me!