THIS IS THE WORST DAY OF YOUR LIFE, BUT THE FIRST DAY OF YOURSELF //
✋melted crayon x wax dip clay
👃tender green stems & roots, chewed tomato leaf, fig, mulberry leaves, gardenia, wet soil
*NOTES:
- FAUX PLANT AND FLOWER STYLES / COLORS MAY VARY SLIGHTLY.
- Each color layer (pink, white, blue) comes in a separate container so you can add them yourself and the layers won't mix in transit. The pink and blue come in nice quality 3 oz polypropylene jars, while the 3 oz of white slime comes in the regular 8 oz polypropylene jar. The clay piece and add ins come in a deli container.
- Each wax-dipped clay chrysalis is handmade and will have natural variation in appearance. The outside is covered in iridescent fine glitter.
- Due to the nature of how the wax-dipped chrysalises are made, the clay may not mix in completely smoothly the first time. If there are any clay chunks that don't mix in right away, they will dissolve and mix in after sitting in the slime overnight. The crumbled wax will not dissolve -- it adds texture to the slime.
My Chemical Romance’s latest tour is both dystopian political allegory & meta commentary on the band’s history: part concert, part theatrical performance set in a fictional authoritarian society called Draag. The band play their alter-egos, The Black Parade, who have been imprisoned for many years and are now being made to perform like puppets for the state, playing their album as propaganda, over & over again. They are monitored & punished by state officials, put through involuntary “reconditioning” & wonky time loops. As the characters gradually realize what’s happening, they begin to resist.
This title of the slime comes from a monologue by a Draag official that takes place before the band plays the song “Sleep” and is reprogrammed. In it, the official cryptically prepares the listener to accept the erasure of their identity. His voice booms over the loudspeakers: “Who is left to love you? There is only the hands that wipe the chalkboard clean.”
“Sleep” was written during the band’s stay in the haunted Paramour Hotel, during which singer Gerard had disturbing dreams & night terrors. The song touches on the guilt & horror of reliving traumatic events.
During the song, the band & most of the Draag officials go through a brutal reprogramming / mind control process in which their memories are wiped. We question - who is really in control?
I kept coming back to the line “This is the worst day of your life, but the first day of yourself”. It represents a breaking point of awareness & realization when your current reality falls away, perhaps through great tragedy, & you are left with only yourself. Where do you go from there?
In many trans folks’ experiences, there are moments when the version of living that holds you in a false safety is shattered; you’re left with a truth you can no longer ignore or push aside. The chrysalis has been destroyed; a trembling butterfly shakes its exposed form. There is risk & loss, but also new beginning. This is what I have chosen to represent.
