While I was perusing my fellow bloggers’ sites looking for inspiration, I ran across a topic that I have wanted to blog about for some time now.

It seams that Maggie of “Maggie Rants and Raves” stumbled upon the Go-Go Barbie Nail printer here. (Ok, maybe it’s not called that.) Anyways, when I was first introduced to the “nail printer” I thought “What an amazing thing!” (As did Maggie.) But then I started to think about what could happen if people started to use these things for real.

In the salon, I think it might be a great asset to manicurists every where, that is if you can get them to work. I have two, one I bought and one from a manufacturer as a replacement for the one I bought, and neither of them work, and I can’t get them repaired.

But what a great thing. Grandmothers everywhere sporting printed images of their grandchildren’s faces wherever they go, no longer needing to pull out their wallets to show all their bridge buddies pictures of little Johnny all dressed up for Christmas...or whatever.

But then, being the competitor that I am, the reality hit me. What if other competitors were using these for competitions? Of course they couldn’t bring this nail printing machine to a competition but what about the turn-in events? Would anyone know? Would the judges recognize the printing on the nail, especially if the competitor put some strokes on it?

This is the exact reason I don’t like the turn-in competitions. I personally have seen some turn-in art that I felt couldn’t possibly have been hand-painted. I have a really good eye, and I could not see any brush strokes in some art pieces. I say it like that because you can’t paint with a brush and not see brush strokes.

How do you even know whether the competitor is actually doing the work themselves? What if they hired a slew of artists to paint their work for them and turned it in as their own?

Well, I guess we’ll never know because the turn-in competitions are “on your honor.” I can say this: I am an honorable person, but I can’t vouch for everyone else.

Just keepin’ it real

— Lynn