Oh, The Many Things Your Hands Can Do

Does anyone else remember that faucet commercial jingle? It was a cute little song, lots of adorable clips of messy hands turning on the faucet with a tap of the wrist. Good advertising, that. I got it into my head a few days ago in the bath after a long workout and many hours of working on my new Warrior Witch vest, as I have come to call it. Its like if witches rode motorcycles instead of brooms? Yeah, that kind of vest. Think Witchcraft meets Road Warrior.

I love these kind of projects because so far everything I've used has been FREE. The beautiful tarot-card patch was a Yule present from Unlaced, the vest I'm using a hand-me-down from the lovely Coors, and the various studs come from Unlaced, while others I stripped off a falling-apart-belt. I plan to use some black denim scraps to make a few more witchy patches, velvet bits, add some stones and bones, occult symbols on the lining, and runes for a more traditional witchy vibe, and more studs! Maybe even a secret inside pocket for charms. Debating on buying more tarot card patches, or one big ouijia board patch. Its a tough call.

In a few hours I had the above work. I watched a lot of Ghost Adventures and trashed my nail polish, which was all of four days old. I came to remember why I have just about never painted my nails, I always wreck them, either at work at my various jobs I've held throughout the past few years, or just working around the house/getting crafty. 

The more I thought about it, the more I began to realize how much I love doing work with my hands. The feel of the keys beneath my fingers right now as they crawl across the keyboard, memorized years ago from typing many pages of the stories I've written and continue to write. The feel of a pen swirling the words across the page. The careful and hurried strokes of a paintbrush. Hauling hay from trailers to leaning towers of terror. Weeding and shifting books in the stacks. Climbing cherry-pickers to grab water bottles for orders at the factory. Hands covered in dirt and dust, ink and paint, bruised and scratched and worn from working with studs and farm equipment and pens. 

What have you done with your hands lately?