A Tech of Many Talents

Like many nail artists out there, I put nail art on much more than just nails. In fact, depending on how busy I am, I spend my free time putting nail art on anything that doesn't run away.

I have decorated jewelry, accessories, shoes, picture frames — whatever happens to be handy at the time. I'm working on my license plate frame right now. OK. Not RIGHT now. RIGHT now I'm working on the blog ... and just moments before that I was working on one of the projects that I've decided to blog about, which is what made me think, "Oh hey! I know what I'll blog about!" and so here I am.

The thing is, what with all this off-the-nail art that I have lying around, I have people request all sorts of custom projects all the time.

Right now I am working on a cell phone case for a client who told me that the original purple just wasn't "doing it" for her.

A cell phone case make perfect sense to me. Yes, I can "rockstar" that up. I can paint it. I have the products to make the glitter and paint stick to the plastic.

What I don't have on hand are the products required to paint on metal or seal wood.

What I also do have are several projects awaiting my attention that are metal and/or wood.

I'm not sure why people think that they can bring me a wooden step stool or a metal bottle cap-opening ring (real projects on my to-do list) and I should be able to just whip up some custom artwork on them in my free time, between clients. Especially since the step stool project isn't even a bare wood stool — I have to sand the thing down before I can paint it.

And the bottle cap-opening ring? My friend simply does not understand why I need a primer for it before I can paint it.

I've been asked to do all sorts of things over the years, from perfectly reasonable projects like the cell phone case to painting motorcycle gas tanks or, for a friend's wedding once, turning bullets into bride and groom figurines — yes, really, and no, I don't have pictures, long story.

What do your clients bring you?