A BulletProof Message

The year 2020 was tough for all of us throughout the world. Being placed in lock down was a major let down. Although, in some ways it was also good. It gave us all a lot of time to rethink our lives, and re-imagine what we could do to fulfill the deficit that could help us cope with the pandemic and continue to grow and move forward. Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, I was an avid cook at home and my main job outside of the home was a restaurant cook. I really miss being able to do that. I felt that something else was missing from my daily life. My hobbies were writing poetry and drawing. I also loved going to the shooting range. I would always save all the spent bullet shells, and still do.

My mom says that I never throw anything out and that happens to be true. She's right, I don’t throw things out. That's because I always find ways to reuse things. One day I thought about the bullets that I had saved and what I could potentially do with them. Then, one day, an idea came to me. That night I was listening to music in my room, as I usually do on a normal night, and the song "Message In A Bottle" by The Police came on. When I heard this, I started thinking about if someone could make a message in a bottle, then I definitely could do something much cooler and that would be a Message In A Bullet. That's when I realized that I could use my spent bullets that I had been saving. I decided that I wanted to make one for my closest friend as a Christmas gift.

I had to make a plan of how I was going to make them personalized and so that the individual who receives it can be able to take the message in and out of the bullet effortlessly. I took two different size bullet shells so that I would have a top and bottom. I then found an inspirational message, and with the use of an app, I put it over a picture scene, shrunk it down, printed it, and laminated it. I then glued it to wire I had cut to make a scroll that went inside the bullet. The scroll makes it easy to roll up the message and pull it out of the bullet and put it back in. For my friend's bullet, I chose to engrave it, “A Bulletproof Friendship.” My friend loved it, and uses it as a key-chain, although it could also be worn as a necklace, or hung over a rear-view mirror. She loved it so much that she encouraged me to start selling them. I have sold several of them by word-of-mouth and my store BehindVegaAndAltair on Etsy.

This is such a unique item, and the messages are customized by each buyer. I take pride in each bullet and spend time finding the right lettering and background picture for the scrolls. You could say “I put my heart in it.” I really don’t make a lot of money in each bullet, but it is something that I love to do. It makes people happy, as it does me. I have been told that this creation is a form of art that has never been seen. Couples have commented that it is such a special gift because it is personalized to each individual. Being able to provide something that means something to people makes me feel good, and it all came from me not throwing anything out and just listening to a song.

-Jay D'Alessio