A woman spends hours turning everything from Cheetos to Spam into art by bedazzling them with thousa

Publish date: 2024-10-25

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Claire Hentschker is a digital artist who bedazzles food, technology, and other objects with colorful rhinestones.
Speaking to Insider, Hentschker said each snack takes approximately 12 hours to create, and is covered in an estimated 3,000 to 4,000 resin crystals.
Her designs have become especially popular on TikTok, where her videos have amassed hundreds of thousands of likes.
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When most people look at Cheetos and potato chips, they see a delicious snack. Claire Hentschker, on the other hand, sees art.

Hentschker is a digital artist who bedazzles food and other everyday objects with colorful rhinestones. She shared a video of her creations — including sparkling Funyuns and gummy bears — on May 20, and quickly became a TikTok sensation. At the time of writing, her video has been liked more than 800,000 times.

Speaking to Insider, Hentschker gave some insight into how she makes her dazzling creations, and how she later resists the urge to eat them.

@ntschk

My hand bedazzled snack pile is growing ... ##diy ##quarantinelife ##fyp

♬ original sound - ntschk

Claire Hentschker started bedazzling food last winter

As a digital artist, Hentschker uses a lot of technology in her daily life. In order to keep track of her devices, she began bedazzling them.

"I had rhinestones all over my laptop, and my phone, and hard drives, and it started to become a fun thing I would do," Hentschker told Insider.

HOUSE OF CASIO

A post shared by Claire Hentschker 🍓🍓🍓 (@ntschk) on Jan 10, 2020 at 5:02pm PSTJan 10, 2020 at 5:02pm PST

She later experimented with the art form on a bag of potato chips as part of a Secret Santa gift exchange.

"I was kind of getting screen-exhausted and couldn't look at my computer anymore," Hentschker said. "So I started bedazzling things from the local bodega around the corner from my apartment, and that's how it started. It was so much fun and literally so addictive — I couldn't stop bedazzling the snack food."

Claire Hentschker isn't new to bedazzling household items. Claire Hentschker

It can take hours and thousands of rhinestones to create a single piece of Hentschker's art

When asked how long it takes to bedazzle a single snack, Hentschker replied: "It's so absurd that I'm almost embarrassed to say."

She said that most of her creations take approximately 12 hours to make, and each snack gets covered in an estimated 3,000 to 4,000 rhinestones.

Each bedazzled snack takes approximately 12 hours to make. Claire Hentschker

As far as tools go, she relies on resin crystals that she buys online, and E6000 glue.

"I don't know if these are the best systems, but I've been using a wax-tip pen," Hentschker said of the tool she uses to apply each rhinestone. "You pick up each crystal with the tip of the pen, then you stick it onto the glue, and then you do that for eternity."

Quarantine has proven to be the perfect time for Hentschker to expand upon her craft

Hentschker describes herself as "someone who really likes to make things." As a result, she began to take stock of her craft supplies as soon as the pandemic struck, and began to bedazzle her limited snack supply as soon as she saw she had enough materials. Now, she says her creations and supplies have "taken over" her "whole apartment."

"Slowly I had started bedazzling the snacks I had originally stocked up on, and I thought maybe, eventually we'd get to the point where I would get so hungry, I'd have to eat Cheetos that I bedazzled," Hentschker said. "So far it hasn't happened, but I'm not ruling it out."

The artist says she hasn't eaten any of her bedazzled snacks — yet. Claire Hentschker

In the future, Hentschker hopes to teach others how to create their own sparkling items and start a bedazzling trend

While Hentschker doesn't currently have an online shop or system for people to buy her creations, she has considered starting one. She's also thought about turning some of her creations into accessories like purses once they're emptied of food.

In the meantime, the artist says she's "always so excited to answer any questions" about how to bedazzle, and even has some tutorial videos in the works.

"The thing that makes me the happiest is when people say they're also going to start doing this because I'd love to start a bedazzling trend," she said.

Claire Hentschker has considered selling her art. Claire Hentschker

"I don't know if it's necessarily a lucrative business plan, but it is a really fun hobby," Henstchker said of bedazzling snacks. "It's kind of like chaotic knitting or something."

She added: "It's such an absurd thing to be doing, but fully acknowledging that, it's so much fun and gives me permission to do the weirdest stuff."

Watch: How a popular TikTok creator transforms handbags into DIY outfits