Death

Make a Prince Sparkleball

| Alex

PrinceRIPsparkleball

What better way to salute the artist known as Prince than a glittery purple sparkleball?  Spray-on glitter and paint from Ace Hardware.  Purple mini-lights from Amazon.

20160428_122224Build an Original Sparkleball.  Before adding lights, spray-paint the centers of the two halves, as shown below. ( Leave some clear plastic showing for sparkle. )  When the halves dry, spray glitter inside the cups and around the rims.  You may want to spot-spray a few extra puffs of purple all over, inside and out, because, well, purple is what this is about.

Clear mini-lights will work.  I used purple, which are a bit too raspberry. Maybe they’ll show purple tonight when it’s dark out.20160428_112218

purpleRAIN[Note:  The spray-on glitter was disappointing, but I love the idea.  Need to try some different brands. If you’ve had good luck with it, please let me know.]

Previous Prince Sparkleball post:
What’s Hanging Now: Purple

 

What’s Hanging Now: Purple

| Alex

JulietMy best memory of Prince is my daughter in her raspberry beret.  She was only ten, but she loved the song Raspberry Beret and as soon as she knew what that meant, she had to have one.   How can a performing artist who is so radical touch a child’s heart?  Maybe that is what genius means.  Being able to defy and transcend easy categorization in your creative life.  Whatever.  I’m sad Prince died, and I’m sad he seems to have been sad, especially since he gave so much joy.  For you, Prince,  a purple sparkleball.

For Uncle Chuck

| Alex

My Uncle Chuck died last month.  He was 91.  He had bombed Italy and Berlin in WWII and afterward, was an angry man prone to fistfights, even into his 80s.  For years we were estranged, but softened by age, we made a new relationship and rarely mentioned the past. I visited when I could.  meandchuck2We talked by phone regularly.  When it came, death was as he’d hoped:  at home and swift.  I was holding his hand when he took his last breath.

Since the funeral and cleaning out his house,  I’ve had trouble picking up where I left off.  Death does that.  It shifts the pieces.  Nothing goes back the way it was.  I kept wanting a way to honor him yet honor myself.  Honor us. Uncle and niece, eldest siblings, people who do what needs to be done, crossword solvers.  Last of a line.  Forgivers.

I chose a new shiny sparkleball from my collection, and I’ve hung it like a lighthouse beacon out front, for Uncle Chuck. I’ll leave it up as long as I need to.

chuckcrop2