Fresh Ground Glitter for Madame?

One day an idea sleeted into my head: Wouldn’t it be great if you could get fresh made glitter, on demand? I imagined a glitter pepper mill. You could choose fine or large glitter with a simple adjustment and get just the right amount at the right place with just a twist. You could even customize the color and mix of the glitter by adjusting the proto-glitter that it was ground from.

This is, of course, madness. Especially for me, who hasn’t worked with glitter since I was 10. I won’t say I hate glitter, mostly because if I did say it I would make some serious craft-enemies that I can’t really afford… Fortunately my sister Pat (like most of my brothers and sisters) is receptive to wacky ideas. She’s also more favorable to glitter than I am. (Unlike most of my brothers and sisters.) When I ran the idea past her the response was “Lets give it a try!” When you have two people working together on something it’s no longer a crazy idea, it’s now a project.

Steve Hoefer, “a globally recognized inventor and creative problem solver,” still does projects, sometimes with his sister, and writes about them over here on his blog. Oh, it’s all very fun: Valentine’s Day patent-themed cards, PB&J ice cream cone, reading light in a book. For Steve and Pat’s glitter project, they tested butterfly hair clips, poker chips, glass & plastic ornaments, and glitter itself. The results led them to another idea: Broken Glass Ornaments into New Ornaments. [via]