Monday, September 24, 2012

31DC2012: Day 24, Inspired by a Book

Today's "inspired by a book" manicure was inspired by The Missing Piece by Shel Silverstein.

It's a beautifully simple children's book about a circular shaped creature whose body is missing a wedge shaped piece. It goes on a journey to find the piece that will fit perfectly in with it. While on its journey, it meets worms, smells flowers, and lets butterflies land on it. It meets pieces that are too big, too small, too sharp, too square. It even meets pieces that fit, but then holds them too tightly or not tightly enough. When it finally gets it right, the creature realizes that it can no longer do the things that it used to love to do, and continues on, leaving the piece behind.

The book is filled with simple and lovely illustrations and I did my best to mimic the style.


This manicure only has two "ingredients": Lime Crime Milky Ways and my It's So Easy Nails Stripe Rite in black.

As you can see, I've shown the creature, its worm friend, the flower it stops to smell, and the missing piece.


On my thumb I showed the butterfly that landed on the creature. When the piece was a part of it, it rolled too fast for the butterfly to land on it anymore. That was one of the things that it loved that it couldn't do with the piece.

Here's a great quote from Anne Roiphe in The New York Times Book Review about the story:
"This fable can also be interpreted to mean that no one should try to find all the answers, no one should hope to fill all the holes in themselves, achieve total transcendental harmony or psychic order because a person without a search, loose ends, internal conflicts and external goals becomes too smooth to enjoy or know what's going on. Too much satisfaction blocks exchange with the outside."
Food for thought! :)


My grandma Mo used to read this (and lots of other Shel Silverstein books) to me and my sister when we were growing up, and these books are really special to us.

Mo used to live in Key West, Florida, where Shel Silverstein lived sometimes. They were friends and she had him sign copies of his books for us. He drew pictures in addition to signing them, which is just inexpressibly awesome to me! Here are a couple of mine:


This one below is the one that is in my copy of The Missing Piece.


Last year I did nails inspired by Chuck Palahniuk's Invisible Monsters.
Check out upcoming challenge prompts here.
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42 comments

  1. I LOVE this, so delicate but so so pretty!

    Jazz x

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  2. I love Shel Silverstein, and I'm so jealous of your autographed books! Great mani today. It totally matched Silverstein's style. :)

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  3. One of my favourite Shel Silverstein stories! That is amazing that your grandma was friends with him! I love that drawing in your copy of "The Missing Piece" <3

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  4. This is awesome! I did Shel Silverstein nails too today. His books always meant so much to me. You did an amazing job capturing the missing piece! <3

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  5. Most simple and beautiful design I have ever seen. What is name name of the white polish? :)

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  6. I adore these nails. I've always loved Shel Silverstein and it's SO COOL that you have signed books from him, especially with art.

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  7. wow those inscriptions are so special xx

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  8. This is so simple and cute- and what a great personal connection to have to a book!

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  9. Oh, the nail polish's name is there.. :)

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  10. So cute! Every times I see someone wearing Lime Crime polishes it makes my heart skip a beat! If I wasn't such a cheapskate I'd buy the whole set. :)

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  11. LOVE it...and also envious of your autographed books! Shel Silverstein has been one of my favorites since I was very, very young. <3

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  12. PERFECT! I just love it to pieces!

    Lisa

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  13. Thats lovely! :) So cute.

    Please check out my latest blog post http://neenyswishlist.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/ootd-just-call-me-gallagher.html x

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  14. I love this mani! I've never heard of the book before, but now I feel like I have to get it and read it to my nephew! What a sweet story, and your signed books are great!

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  15. wow! those personalized autographs are something special! i loved his books as a kid and love to give them as gifts. impressive nail art, as always.

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  16. Holy crap! That is awesome that Shel hand write those to you! Cherish them always! He was a very unique person (I did some papers in college about him for bio-type projects) and is one of the greatest people I have ever learned about. Also, good for you on that mani! Super sweet!

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  17. I love this one! Your nail art totally captures the feeling of his books--too cute!

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  18. I love The Missing Piece and I think your manicure captured it well and is a great tribute. Your autographed books are true treasures.

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  19. Omg that autographed book! Amazing design <3

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  20. amazing. i love the inspiration, and you did an amazing job translating it to the nail

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  21. Wow, that is really cool! Love the story and the nails:-)

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  22. So fun! I cherished his books growing up. On my very first day of college (over 500 miles from home!), in my very first class (English Lit), we were cold-tasked with writing a paper about our fave author in 15 minutes. I was 17 and nervous as hell and was sure that everyone else was writing about some literary giant like Alcott or Tolstoy. I wrote on what I knew for sure...Shel Silverstein. When I turned my paper in, the professor smiled and whispered "He's my favorite too!" What a great memory. You are lucky to have his illustrations. So awesome!

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  23. How special to have those signed books. What a treasure.

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  24. This is perfect and captures the spirit so well. :)

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  25. Not only an impressive manicure, a beautiful story to go with it. I love Shel's books too.

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  26. Amazing! Does anyone know a OPI, Essie or China Glaze dupe for the white polish here? :)

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  27. I can already tell this will be on my weekly faves! Great job!

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  28. I did not even need to read the post before thinking this mani reminded me of Shel Silverstein art! - for Polish Addict - This is a hard one to recreate. It's really a cream shade cream. You might try mixing some optic white creams you have with a touch of a really white leaning yellow base super light beige (nude) thinking like ChG White on White with a touch of Essie Sand Tropez. You might come up with this perfect 'book paper white that has zero gray to it.'

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  29. Awwww what a sweet post. Love the simple design too. ♥

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  30. this sounds like such a beautiful book. lovely manicure :)

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  31. SUCH a nice job! I like your writing style as well. may be my favorite post of yours ever! <3

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  32. I love Shel Silverstein books, read them all the time :) I plan on getting them for my daughter! Needless to say love this mani!

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  33. Awesome!!! I absolutely adore Shel Silverstein books.... I remember reading them as a child and I still read them today! :) Great nails!

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  34. I love this! So simple but so creative. I think it's really reflective of Shel Silverstein's style, and I think you have a precious keepsake in his drawings made just for you. Anyway, other than to compliment your awesome nail art looks (yours are seriously some of the best I've seen on the interwebs), I'm writing to see whether you have the Zoya Lovely collection yet. I ask because Lime Crime Milky Ways is a huge lemming for me, and I'm dying to see a comparison. I know they're not dupes, but I'm trying to decide whether Jacqueline would satisfy my need for Milky Ways. Thank you in advance!

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    1. Alex - I will post a comparison on Instagram/Twitter if you follow me there!

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    2. Will do! Thanks so much!

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  35. OMG, I LOVE LOVE LOVE this!!!! I love black & white manicures, & The Missing Piece was one of my favorites as a kid! Great idea!

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  36. The handwritten notes from Shel Silverstein are basically the coolest thing I've ever seen. I actually have a tattoo of the missing piece on my left arm (picture attached). That book means a lot to me, along with its sequel "Missing Piece Meets the Big 'O'". Super awesome mani! You are my favorite nail blogger and I'm a huge fan of your work. :)

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  37. Oh wow, love the simplicity in the tattoo! Very cool.
    Thank you so much! I wanted to try my best to do Shel's work some justice.

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