Wacky Wednesday #53: Emojis

 

 

 

Emojis are a big thing these days. If you have spent any time on a smart phone or computer, you have seen emojis. (And if you haven’t been on a computer lately, you must be reading this on engraved stone tablets.) This blog post first took form a couple of months ago, when I tried to make a happy face stamp out of a recycled Styrofoam tray. I imagined covering a dress with happy faces. It didn’t turn out quite how I wanted so the idea sat on the back burner while I made loads of other costumes.

 

But a few weeks ago this costume returned to the front of my mind and morphed into a slightly different form. A friend who is a teacher emailed me a photo of something one of her students wrote. It was a helpful list of ideas for me for future Wacky Wednesday costumes. I guessed that this was a female student because she dotted each letter i with a heart. One of her suggestions was emojis, and this felt like a wonderful spin on the happy face idea I already had simmering in my mind. So, young lady in Ms. Doyle’s class, thank you for wanting to help me. Good job on using your imagination to come up with dozens of ideas. It seems to me that you are a creative soul, so run with that. I want to encourage you (and all young kids) to follow your heart when it comes to what you like to do. Don’t spend a lot of time worrying about whether others think your interests are cool enough—do what you love, and I promise you this: you will be much happier inside.

 

And now back to emojis and today’s costume. At the thrift store I found two shirts that were similar shades of yellow (which many emojis are—the faces, anyway), and I decided to cut them and refashion them into an emoji shirt and skirt.

 

 

 

I pride myself on making fun costumes without spending a ton of cash. Here’s today’s costume total:

 

Button-down shirt (thrifted)        $3.50

Tee shirt (thrifted)                          $2.00

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Total spent                                       $5.50

 

In my mind, that’s a whole lot of happy without a lot of hurt to the wallet.

(I already had thread, hot glue, permanent markers and paint so I don’t include them in my total).

How do you make a skirt from an oxford shirt? Cut a horizontal line below the sleeves. Voila.

 

 

My youngest wanted to help and surprised me with this winking emoji, so I made it into a bracelet.

 

 

Why are emojis so popular? I assume that one of the first emojis was the classic happy face, which certainly has appeal. No matter which language you speak, you understand what a happy face means. In 2016 many of us comment on other people’s images online—people who may live on the other side of the earth, speaking a language we don’t know. Using symbols gets around this challenge. Perhaps this is one reason that emojis—with their international set of symbols—have become ubiquitous. Or maybe emojis work well these days because many of us want to convey a sentiment quickly, rather than typing out a few sentences. A smiley face, or a sad face or a heart (or any one of hundreds of emojis) is a quick response to something, and it does convey a mood. Or maybe emojis are just a fun trend. Who knows? I use them daily. They are a way to communicate and they’re cute. Win, win.

 

 

I hope I’ve put a smile on your face today (and not a sad, crying emoji). It’s been fun, but it’s time for me to say goodbye. See you next Wednesday.

 

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