Making something with the usage of a duct tape; interests, talent, identity essay

Topic: Most students have an identity, an interest, or a talent that defines them in an essential way. Tell us about yourself.

Duct tape art

Favorite pass time? Mine is Duct tape. From starting out with roses to wallets to purses to now making costumes and outfits. Every color and pattern that comes out, I'm the first in line to get it to add to my collection.

One of my favorite crafters was experimenting with different materials to craft with and did a tutorial on duct tape roses. I immediately went to my mother asking for duct tape. Sadly, we didn't have any, so we went to buy some, neon pink and leopard print being my first colors and patterns. I made one rose which turned a dozen. Valentine's day rolled around in my school, I made them for everyone, the boys got camo while the girls got pink. It turned out another student in my class had the same interest as me, so we bonded over that.

As the year progressed, we learned about trading, so we had to bring in items and trade with everyone. I made bookmarks and more roses for my class mates. All the students loved the idea of the duct tape items. From there, I started making wallets learning from tutorials Duck Brand had online. My brother and next door neighbor liked what I did, so I taught them all that I knew. I continued to watch more videos and make more items like purses and pillows.

After a year of doing this hobby and searching ways to expand my knowledge online over the topic, I found out about a festival in the Duck Tape capital of the world, Avon, Ohio. This is about 30 miles away from Cleveland, Ohio. Every year, they host it on Father's day weekend. Well in sixth grade, I had told my parents about it and they surprised me about it that year.

After attending a couple of years of the annual festival, they had their first annual fashion show where you can show off your duct tape clothing and accessories creations. Sadly, that year I was ill informed, but my brother helped me patch my current clothing with all sorts of colors of duct tape, going for a space theme and I got to go on stage to show off our last minute creation.

The year after, I decided to go prepared, making something a week before the festival. That year's theme was Hawaiian, so I made a Duck floaty and a hula skirt made up of different colors and patterns of duct tape. For the floaty, I made straps and constructed the base of the floatie with a pool noodle and a Styrofoam ball. The hula skirt was constructed of a waste band made of duct tape and long strips of duct tape in a variety of colors attached to the waste

The next year the theme was American themed, but I decided to go with my own theme. I made a costume of Japanese virtual pop star named Hatsune Miku. I worked really hard, staying up on the nights the week of the festival, until I completed something I was super proud of with the short time I had. This past year I made a skirt and shirt inspired from 50's and ladies bugs. The skirt was inspired by 50's poodle skirts while the top lady bugs wings attached to the bottom adding spots. A mask was also made to complete the looking giving off a superhero vibe.

From making roses to now duct tape costumes and outfits, I can say I learned quite a lot of about the sticky adhesive fabric and how to create all sorts of things. Duct tape has become an interesting way to connect with others. Anything you can imagine, you can duct tape it.

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This is for one of the Texas Admission essays that I'm doing. The prompt is listed above. How did the essay sound? Is there anything I could do make it better? What can I do to improve the essay? Thanks!

Megan, the essay is interesting and really highlights your talent as a hard to learn skill. However, it comes across as nothing more than that. Why don't you try to make the essay go a bit deeper by using your interest in duck tape art as a symbolism for something. Something that has helped you become a better person from who you were before you learned you have this talent? I noticed that you mentioned that you made friends and began trading with others because of this activity. Why did you mention that? Who were you before? Did you find it hard to make friends? What is the significance of the duck tape art in relation to those considerations? How and why did improving your skill in this area help to define you in a way? What lessons did you learn from participating in the competitions and shows? How did it help you become a more open person who now easily makes friends or gains the admiration of others through the art that you create? Go for the deeper meaning of duck tape art. At the moment, the essay just explains your background and accomplishments in that area, which don't really help to define your character or change in character over time, which is the purpose of the prompt.

By the way, in the sentence were you say you were "ill informed" change it to "ill prepared" instead. "Ill informed" means that you had the wrong information on hand. The story that you told though made it clear that you were just "ill prepared" for the event and that is why your brother was able to help you fix your entry for the contest / show.

Basically, you just need to make a few adjustments / additions to the content of the essay. This is a pretty good draft that requires minimal work in order to further improve it. I am confident that you can easily do that.

How does this sound after some editing and stuff? (Also thanks so much for the help!!!)

Favorite pastime? Mine is duct tape. From starting out with roses to wallets to purses to now making costumes and outfits. Every color and pattern that comes out, I'm the first in line to get it to add to my collection.

One of my favorite crafters experimented crafting with different materials and made a tutorial on duct tape roses. I instantaneously went to my mother inquiring about duct tape. Unfortunately, we didn't have any, so we went to go purchase some, neon pink and leopard print being the first colors and patterns in my collection. I made one rose which turned into a dozen. Valentine's Day rolled around; I made them for everyone in my class. The boys got camo while the girls got pink. It turned out another student in my class had the same interest as I, so we bonded over that. This began my journey on making friends, which was something I had a hard time doing.

As the year progressed, we learned about trading, so we had to bring in items and trade with everyone. I made bookmarks and more roses for my classmates, and they loved the idea of the duct tape items. From there, I learned how to make wallets from tutorials Duck Brand had online. My brother liked what I did, so I taught him all that I knew. As I advanced in my skills, I made more items like purses and pillows.

After doing this hobby for a year and searching ways to expand my knowledge online, I found out about a festival in the Duck Tape capital of the world, Avon, Ohio, about thirty miles away from Cleveland. Every year, they host it on Father's Day weekend. In sixth grade, I had told my parents about it, and they surprised me by taking me, pretending we were traveling to a friend.

After I attended the annual festival for a couple of years, they introduced their first annual fashion show where one can display their duct tape clothing and accessories/creations. Unfortunately, that year I was ill prepared, but my brother helped me modify my everyday clothing with all sorts of colors of duct tape, going for a space theme. I got to go on stage to show off our last minute creation.

In 2015, I decided to go prepared, making something a week before the festival. That year's theme was Hawaiian, so I made a Duck floaty and a hula skirt made up of different colors and patterns of duct tape. For the floaty, I made straps and constructed the base of the floaty with a pool noodle and a Styrofoam ball. The hula skirt was constructed of a waistband made of duct tape and long strips of duct tape in a variety of colors attached to the waist. This was the year I met a few other duct tapers, which to today, we share what creations we've made. They also gave me advice on how I can improve for the following year.

The theme for 2016 was America, but I decided to go with my own theme. I made a costume of Japanese virtual pop star (a humanoid persona voiced by a singing synthesizer) named Hatsune Miku. I worked really hard, staying up on the nights the week of the festival until I completed something I was proud of with the short time I had. For the 2017 Festival, I made a skirt and shirt inspired from 50's and ladybugs. The skirt was inspired by 50's poodle skirts while the shirt had ladybug wings attached to the bottom, adding black spots. I also created a mask to complete the look giving off a superhero vibe. Every year, all the duct taper friends I've made over the years all get together excited to show off our costumes for that year.

From making roses to now duct tape costumes and outfits, I can say I learned quite a lot about the sticky adhesive fabric. Plus, anyone can pick up a roll of tape and start creating. Not only has it shows a way of being creative, it's a great way of making new friends. Anything one can imagine, they can duct tape it.