Scene - Blogs - Lets get plastered at work

Let's get plastered at work!
Published: 12/7/2011 7:00 AM
Last Modified: 12/6/2011 8:12 PM

I wasn't sure how best to use my wreath upon making it, but this wasn't a good idea.

It's too small for my front door, so I reckon it'll stay at my desk through the holidays. And just out of arm's reach because it kinda smells like my freshman locker room in high school.

If we had a suggestion box at work, I'd drop in a piece of paper with the words "arts and crafts recess" scribbled on it. And, while I'm thinking about it, "nap time."

On Friday, I spruced up my desk a bit (not that anyone can really tell), and I was going to throw away some greenery that had dried in a long-gone flower arrangement. The little branches, which had lined a circular vase, had dried into a wreath shape, which I thought looked Christmas-y.

Nicole, our beloved food writer, gave me some sage green ribbon, which I tied in a bow onto the wreath and hung on my cubicle wall. It only took a couple of minutes, but it reduced my stress level considerably. Now, it's my mission to have a weekly arts-and-crafts break in the newsroom canteen. All I need is a suggestion box.

Maybe it could be a side job, something I could hand-write on the bottom of my business cards: "Jason Ashley Wright, Tulsa World reporter, columnist and wreath-maker."

I asked a fellow reporter how much he'd pay for my creation, and he answered with an expletive I can't print here. But the more people I asked, the higher the dollar amount rose, from $2 to $5 to $10, even $20. When FGP said she'd pay $10 million, though, I realized people were probably just pandering to me. Pander bear.

Otherwise, I'm not remotely crafty. When I was a kid, though, I fancied myself somewhat of an artiste, even going so far as guilting my family into attending an art auction of my drawings, for which I made $1 and some change.

In elementary school during the holidays, I always went home with hand-made ornaments for Mom's tree, many of which she still hangs. Like the plaster ones I painted in fifth grade that would've been quite pretty had the school's sprinkler system not caused a flood, fading my Magic Marker mastery and forcing us to spend the last two weeks before Christmas break in the gym.

That same holiday season, I mentioned the ornaments to Mamaw Wright, who bought some plaster of Paris for me to make stuff at her house. I spent a Friday night there, probably during one of my brother's away football games. We watched "Wheel of Fortune," "Dallas" and "Falcon Crest," then made ornaments -- while eating copious amounts of Mamaw's fudge. Mmm, that was some killer fudge.

Basically, it was some tub of stuff you add water to, and we poured the stinky slop (the plaster of Paris, not Mamaw's fudge, sorry) in the recesses of an old aluminum cookie tin with shapes of candy canes and Christmas trees. Then, using watercolors, I painted them -- red and green, respectively. I made some for every relative on both sides of our family that Christmas, wrapping them up and gifting them, delighting in everyone's expression of joy and gratitude, which I now know was feigned delight masking disappointment that they were getting some half-cent-worth dried blob of plaster in exchange for a $20 toy. Sigh ... Those truly were good times.

For whatever reason, all this makes me think of my early childhood, some of those far-flung, faint first memories from when I was probably 3 or 4, specifically when Mamaw made play dough.

I'm not sure how close these two recipes from (the very oddly specific web site) PlayDoughRecipe.info are to what she did, but I assume they'll work and be something you can make for visiting wee relatives this holiday season. Or for yourself when you need a de-stressing arts-and-crafts break at work, and they won't let you get plastered of Paris.

Do-It-Yo'self Play Dough

Ingredients:
2 cups of baking soda
1.5 cups of water
1 cup of corn starch

1. Mix the ingredients until the mixture is smooth.
2. Boil it in a pot until it gets thick.

Here's another recipe for play dough using Kool-Aid -- Oh-YEAH!!!

Edible Kool-Aid Play Dough

1 cup water
3 teaspoons of Cream of Tartar
1 cup of flour
1 package of Kool-Aid Mix (non-sugar)
1 tablespoon of cooking oil
1/2 cup of salt

1. Mix all the ingredients in a medium-large pan.
2. Add 1 cup of water and 1 tablespoon of cooking oil.
3. Cook it on medium heat and stir until it is doughy. (The original directions said to "thir" it, so I'm merely guessing.)

Peace, love and getting plastered of Paris ... XOXO

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Living Wright

While other kids were watching "The Smurfs," Scene Writer Jason Ashley Wright was tuned in to "Style with Elsa Klensch." By fourth grade, he knew he wanted to write, and spent almost three years publishing a weekly teen-oriented magazine, Teen-Zine -- circulation: 2. After earning a degree in journalism from the University of Southern Mississippi, he became the medical reporter and teen board coordinator for the Hattiesburg (Miss.) American, a Gannett newspaper. Eight months later, with visions of Elsa dancing in his head, he applied for the fashion writer position at the Tulsa World, where he began working on Aug. 3, 1998. He is now a general assignment reporter for Scene.

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