So yesterday I just grabbed some weird stuff to make trophies
Okay, look. This whole trophy thing popped into my head yesterday morning while I was washing cups, right? Dunno why. Just did. Saw some empty tin cans, couple of dusty plastic figures from an old board game, even found some weird shiny wrapping paper behind the printer. Figured, why not try making trophies? Looked easy enough online.
First thing I did was grab whatever random stuff I could find:
- Those empty beans tins, rinsed out kinda okay.
- Two plastic lions missing legs.
- Some broken action figure pieces.
- That crinkled shiny silver and gold paper.
- My kid’s almost dried-out glue stick.
Had zero plan. Just dumped it all on the kitchen table. Thought it’d be, like, ten minutes tops. Ha! Famous last words.
The messy part where everything went sideways
Started trying to stick the plastic lion onto the top of the tin can. Used that stupid glue stick. Wiped it all over the tin and squished the lion down. Held it. Counted to sixty. Let go. Lion just slid right off. Left this weird, white glue smear. Tried again, pressed harder, held longer. Same thing. Lion jumped ship again.
Got annoyed. Dug around and found some super glue I forgot I had. Smelled awful. Squeezed a blob onto the tin – way too much, leaked everywhere. Quick, stick the lion! Pressed down. Glue squirts out the sides. Pulled my hand back. Stuck a finger to the table. Pulled harder, felt like my skin was tearing. Managed to get unstuck, left a finger-shaped glue puddle on the kitchen table. Great. Lion was stuck good now, though… sideways.
Tried to straighten it. Fingertip brushed wet glue. Glued myself to the lion’s head. Now I’m stuck to this plastic lion glued sideways on a bean tin. Used my other hand to pry my finger off. Almost tore the lion’s head off. Got unstuck, felt dizzy. Looked like a complete mess. Glue strings everywhere, finger hurt, lion crooked. Felt like just throwing the whole pile in the bin.
Weirdly, it kinda… worked?
Decided to wrap the damn thing in the shiny paper. Had tin cans, wonky plastic animals glued on all wrong, needed to cover the mess. Cut the silver paper kinda jaggedly. Slathered more kid’s glue on the can – didn’t care anymore. Slapped the paper on. Wrinkles everywhere. Corners wouldn’t stick. Used tiny bits of the super glue – burned my thumb pushing it down.
Stuck a broken action figure arm on another tin. Used a toy car wheel for a base somewhere else. Looked absolutely ridiculous. Like kindergarten craft gone radioactive. Just kept slapping things together until I used up the junk. Ended up with three trophies. One silver with a crooked lion, one gold wrapped with wrinkles and an off-road tire base, and one covered in red foil (scraped the kid’s glitter glue for the red) holding a broken lightsaber.
Left them on the counter to dry overnight. Didn’t care. Went to bed grumpy.
Woke up and… they looked kinda cool?
Seriously. This morning, the glue dried clear under that cheap shiny paper. The wrinkles gave them texture. The crooked lion? Looked like it was leaping off the trophy. The broken lightsaber under the red foil? Looked dramatic. The wonky tire base made sense somehow. The chaos just… worked.
Made me think about that time I tried baking bread. Mixed the salt and sugar, kneaded it like it owed me money, ended up with this rock-hard mini loaf. Burned the top. Felt awful. Then the next day, sliced it thin, toasted it – best croutons I ever made. Total accident. Like these trophies. Started with garbage, frustration, and glue disasters. Ended up with three weird, unique, kinda awesome little trophies sitting on my windowsill catching the light.
Point is? Sometimes starting messy just to start… that’s the whole trophy.