Casts in cool colors or covered in your friends' get well messages are great, but some people take things a step further and turn the pile of plaster and bandages into a wearable piece of art.

1. Starry Night

When Nicholas Frausto’s mom was scheduled to attend a dinner party after she broke her wrist, he insisted she not leave with an ugly, boring cast. So he decorated it with this great tribute to Van Gogh’s Starry Night.

2. TARDIS

Casts are always a tight fit (that’s kind of the point), but with a TARDIS painted on your cast, you can always imagine that it’s bigger on the inside. Artist Zak Kinsella spruced up his friend Laura Keeney’s cast with this wonderful picture of the TARDIS from Doctor Who floating around in space.

3. Spider-Man

This cast might not be able to do whatever a spider can, but it still looks a lot more heroic than most casts. DeviantArt user MssMime painted this great tribute to everyone’s favorite arachnid-inspired hero on her girlfriend’s cast.

4. Iron Man

You don’t have to be Tony Stark to look cool in Iron Man’s suit –even just part of it. There are quite a few casts out there inspired by Iron Man, the most famous being this one by Imgur user calig, but my personal favorite is this one that Katie of Love Paper Paint decorated for her son Isaac, who is a serious Iron Man fan.

5. Guinness

DeviantArt user EmmyLou1012’s brother plays rugby, so when he broke the same bone for the third time, she decided to help him put a positive spin on the whole thing by decorating the cast with a little something special. It’s like a “get well soon” toast that lasts as long as your cast.

6. X-Ray Vision

This might just be the most metal cast ever. J. Giz Patterson used spray paint and paint markers to spruce up his cast. No word on whether or not he did this while the cast was still on or not, but I certainly hope he at least waited until it was removed to add the spikes.

7. Koi Pond

What’s particularly impressive about this cast artwork is that DeviantArt user FawnsWonderland did it on her own leg—relying on a mirror at some points so she could even see what she was doing.

8. Tattoo-Influenced

Sarah Hardy based her cast design on a traditional Japanese tattoo style and the influence is easy to see. Like FawnsWonderland, she did this all by herself, which she admits was not easy.

9. Stencilrific

The cool thing about this cast decoration by artist PressOne is that it almost looks like a designer accessory rather than a cast. It’s also a great inspiration for those who want to spruce up a cast, but aren’t great at painting or drawing—with a few cool stencils, you too could make something this eye catching.

10. Beachy

You might not be able to swim in the waves with a cast, but you can always ask someone to bring the beach to you. Erin Moses and her brother drew this happy beachy scene on their mom’s cast after she started feeling a little depressed about being stuck with a broken ankle.

11. Sydney

Flickr user Janeen broke her ankle when she was hit by a car when she was 14. She painted this great rendition of Sydney on her cast to help pass the time while it healed, which seems like a good way to keep yourself entertained while you’re stuck inside.

Have any of you ever ended up with a cast that you were reluctant to throw away because it had such cool decorations on it?