When I was eight, my parents gave me a tree house. The first space that would be all mine, it would keep my secrets. It would become a fort, a ship, a castle, a dollhouse… anything I wanted.

The tree house was beige inside and out. The first thing I decided to do was to cover the interior walls with a rainbow of acrylic paint. In a few short hours, to my great pleasure, its walls were covered with electric color.

When my mother came to bring me in for dinner, she was shocked to find the colorful mess. She instructed me how to wash the paint off with soap, water, and a bristle bush.

These gloves, delicately embroidered and beaded with stains, are a celebration of mess, creativity, and self-acceptance.

Photos by Zoe Alexa and Kathryn Gremley