See a Penny, Pick It Up…

Fact: people do strange things with their spare change.

I, for the most part, keep my change in a very old, heavy, large, blue-green glass mason jar that was my great-grandfather’s … or let it roll around in the bottom of my purse until: I. Just. Can’t. Take. It. Anymore.

There are those folks who religiously count, roll and deposit their spare change into the bank. I used to be one of those people – until the whole “I’m gonna buy an electric guitar with ALL my spare change” episode I went through in high school. I saved, and I save, and I saved – for FOUR years I saved. Coins. Coins. Coins. Note: I still don’t know how to play, nor do I own any kind of guitar. Second Note: I have no idea what I spent all my hard saved change on. #fail

Then there those of us (waves hand) who use spare change in craft projects. Specifically, to “penny” things. Yes – everyone’s favorite copper colored, Lincoln covered, coin has surpassed its status as a noun and become a verb.

pen·ny /penē/ (verb): to cover any surface with coins, specifically coins that are worth 1/100 of a dollar.

I pennied three letters to spell out EAT thanks to this tutorial and hung them in my dinning room to start a somewhat finished collage of eating related art. Of course, none of this really matters when you have a two foot square painting of Alfred Hitchcock hung on the other wall. The point being, I have eclectic art and there is very rarely any kind of continuity going on.

But some people do wacky things like cover their bedroom floor with pennies. Um, say what? A couple in Chi-town decided that wood, tile and carpeting were très boring and upon looking at a roll of pennies and thought: “destiny, thy name is penny.” Seriously, check out #THEPENNYFLOOR – they detail out the whole process.

At first, I have to admit, I thought the whole idea of penny-ing anything as large as a floor was kind of, over the top, strange. Gluing money down and covering it with epoxy so no one can use it for currency ever again seems a bit … fiscally unreasonable.

But then I started to see the artistry behind it. Plus – I have to admit – the floor is kind of wicked. I love the color; the shine; and the sheer awesomeness of it. How awesome would it be to actually HAVE a pennied floor?!? Now, I find myself staring at my second bedroom/office/studio space and the gears in my head are slowly starting to turn and I wonder … I wonder what my landlord would say if I asked to penny the floor?

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