Self-Portrait Made Out of Q-tips

I’m currently in the process of applying to a digital design program, and as part of the lengthy application, I had to make a self-portrait. Not just any self-portrait, though. I had to make a self-portrait without using any standard art supplies. No painting, drawing, photography, clay, pastels, or any of that allowed!

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I’ve only ever done a self-portrait ONCE and that was pencil when I was 15. It’s been 13 years, in case you were wondering. In fact, until two weeks ago, I absolutely loathed the idea of self-portraits. (Those are for narcissists and lazy artists who can’t think of a good subject!)

I figured if I was going to do this, I might as well do something unique. I’ve admired portraits out of screws, QR codes, and crayons. Except that all those would have been more expensive and large scale than I was willing to deal with for this application. Plus, they’d all been done before.

So finally, I settled on… Q-tips! I chose to dye them with food products I consume to keep with the theme of avoiding art supplies and also to give it an extra personal touch.

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photo(21) What it took:
Over 2500 q-tips
Chocolate, chai concentrate, cinnamon, ginger, sangria, strawberries, tomato soup, and apple juice
Floral foam
Clear packing tape to hold the foam in place
Scissors
40 hours
Lots of patience

One thought on “Self-Portrait Made Out of Q-tips

  1. This is absolutely amazing. I’ve never seen anything like it before! It must’ve taken so much time and patience. Pinning!

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