It’s a quiet night in BarbieLand following the carnage--as Miss Stephanie so aptly put it--post Barbie Fight. I was left with the unfortunate situation of trying to figure out what to do when you’ve run out of china. When I assessed the surface of the base of my lamp I was certain that I had plenty of china to cover it, in pretty Pepto-Bismol pink. Unfortunately, as I assessed the situation following the Barbie Fight I realized that I had grossly underestimated the total surface area. Not to worry, I certainly have lots of other china that I have painstakingly spent these past months procuring and smashing into appropriately sizable bits for some as yet undefined mosaic project.
The real challenge came in trying to figure out what to do with this piece given that everything about it was so pretty, Pepto-Bismol pink and the only other pink china that I have is a much more demure, soft, approachable pink. Not quite the pink of the severe, in-your-face, girlie pink of the Barbie lamp. So, I spent a good amount of time wrapping the wrest of it in a kinda demure, soft pink floral patter that I realize will offset the Barbie bits quite well. They won’t have to compete with the glamour of the pretty pink of the ostentatious china used in the rest of the piece.
At this point the Barbie lamp needs to cure. This is the post-Barbie Fight cooling off period. This is the time for the adhesive to cure, to ensure the china will stick.
Several people have asked me recently what kind of adhesive I’m using. I’m using regular tile adhesive that I bought at Home Depot, found in the tile-your-kitchen-counter section. This works remarkably well with porcelain, particularly well with china from dainty, pretty tea sets. The china is adhering much better than I’d expected it to the plastic lamp base that I vigorously roughed up with the coarsest sandpaper Ace Hardware had to offer. (Inner voice: I’ll make this stick!) Much to my amazement, it’s working very well.
The thicknesses of the pieces of china vary across the lamp. I didn’t have china of all the same thickness as I used a large serving platter as the bulk of the china that covers the lower third of the lamp. The upper third is covered in bits broken from demitasse teacups, the sugar bowl and creamer cup. These pieces are much thinner than the serving platter, which was actually injurious to me. It bit me during a heated breaking session causing a gash in my arm.
People often comment that they imagine me throwing plates on the floor or against the wall to break the china. I’m actually much more deliberate in my breakage patterns. I want the breaks precisely where I plan them and so I take time to work with the china and find just the right angle or tool to ensure a clean break. This was not the case with the platter. It was so thick, and at some point I became so frustrated as blisters were forming under the moleskin I’d wrapped my fingers in before putting on my work gloves, that I covered it with a towel and struck it with my heaviest tile nippers to break it. A large shard shot out and ninja stylie sliced my forearm. Wacky. I felt like a little kid again wearing a band-aid on my forearm to work. I was super bummed that I was out of Hello Kitty band-aids for the occasion.
So, I put the thick pieces on the bottom and the thin pieces on the top and I found something with pretty pink flowers that was soft and unimposing to fill the center of the lamp base and now I really need to let the adhesive cure.
I have a new Barbie figurine that came at the last minute and it is a Barbie that looks unlike any Barbie I’ve ever seen. This whole process has introduced me to many Barbies that are considered classic Barbies that are not part of my “classic Barbie lexicon”.
All the Barbies in this piece came with a certificate of authenticity. Still trying to figure out how to work those papers into the piece. I’ve been very regimented about making this authentic. No Skippers allowed. No faux-Barbies. The funny thing is, none of these look like the Barbies I remember growing up. Maybe that’s a big part of the appeal. I think it’s a testament to the age, our age and also that of the 40s, 50s, and 60s, which I’ve focused on. The Barbies that I recognized as part of my age are generally blond haired and buxom and their feet were shaped for heels even far higher than even I can pull off. The Barbies that I’ve collected are often much softer looking. While they are predominantly blond there are many brunettes and in sum they’re much softer looking then the Barbies I remember from growing up.
So, I’ve reached a point where the Barbie Lamp is completely covered and I’ve figured out what to do when you run out of china: you find more china. And you create something new and different than what you’d planned initially. This is really what the whole point of the work I’m doing is anyway: taking a piece that exists in one form and deconstructing it and creating something new out of it that’s entirely different than it was ever conceived of at its birth.
So for now, I have set the beach ball and the drawing pad in the lamp, I have the base china set, I have the broken Barbie melee, and I have some very pretty extra porcelain shoes and black gloves and torch light Barbie that all need to find their way into the piece. But for now, it’s just going to need to cure for a day or two while I figure out the grout color, which I suspect will be white since it will be the least distracting. And then comes the appliqué of the Barbies. So, I’m going to have to take a day off and let this finish curing and then come back with a strategy for adhering Barbies to the lamp.
Thanks for reading :)
And finally, back to my guilty pleasure – So You Think You Can Dance. (I miss Katie and Josh and … Mr. Midas Touch – You were so hot!)
