#MondayRecommends #writingprompt

I remember that, when I was young, a lot of people had trays and boxes that were basically black, but with iridescent flowers and figures inlaid in them. I’m guessing now they were precious najeonchilgi brought back as souvenirs from Korea by GIs during World War II or the Korean War. My Aunt Rose had such a tray, and a small wall hanging. They fascinated me, because I appear to be part crow: I love shiny things and I hold grudges.

Here’s a picture of najeonchilgi from MorningCalm/Koreanair.com.

Gorgeous? I’ll tell the world!

I was strongly reminded of it because a K-drama I just watched used the effect in its credits. I puzzled over how to best simulate the effect with nail polish and then I got it: I have a bunch of iridescent polish toppers!

So I painted a bit swatch of white paint onto a plastic bag, let it dry, dropped big fat drops of all five iridescent toppers on at random, and swirled them together.

I painted my nails white (except for my blue accent nail), then peeled the swatch off the plastic and cut it into chunks, which I affixed to the white nails with sticky basecoat. Then I painted it with clear topcoat to make the surface even, and picked up stamps with lots of negative space in black, stamping that over the shiny nails.

BOOM!

Not perfect, but I’m happy with it.

A WRITING PROMPT FROM ME TO YOU: Something precious not understood but still treasured.

MA