Many moons ago, I assisted my uber-talented and imaginative friend Vicky Mifsud-Teti on the makeup for Holly McNarland’s music video for her song, “Elmo.” In the short time that I worked as a makeup artist, it was the most rewarding job that I had. Holly was to be made up as a marionette, and it was a challenge. Vicky came up with the genius idea to make the marionnette hands out of dental acrylic. It was a lengthy process and often frustrating, but the hands worked.
I worked with Vicky on other jobs, and one of the many valuable things that I learned from her is that when it comes to making things, the key is being resourceful — use products for purposes that they might not be intended for — the important thing is to get the project done.
I recently moved into a new home, and while I was unpacking, I found one of the marionette fingers from the video. It’s not surprising that I hung onto it (I am a packrat, which can be a good thing if you have a big enough house), but I was happy to find it.
