The glue that binds it all

Between making purses out of ties and knitting handbags, I've been experimenting to find the right glue for a collection that I've been trying bring to life. I am looking for an adhesive that is thin yet durable AND  I need to glue the rough side of Velcro to a vinyl sheet, THEN be able to cut numbers from it. It's a process, I know... I've been doing this for almost three years. I'm almost there, I can feel it!

Currently, glues that bonds the two mediums together are too thick and creates lumps. The thinner and spreadable glues don'tt seem to bond the two mediums together. I'll keep experimenting with glue and possibly find a different fabric than vinyl but so far that fabric seems the best out of the non-fraying fabrics I have tried.

If it's not one thing, it's another. The search continues to create my Sew-Do-Ku collection. Feel free to send any suggestions my way for adhesives or fabric that might work!

Sew-Do-Ku collection, new name but same idea!

New updates on my experimentation on creating my precious Sudoku bag, now renamed as the Sew-Do-Ku collection. This weekend I'll be playing with four inch wide Velcro (hook side) that I found at Seattle Fabrics. With my previous trials, I hope to adhere the Velcro to a sturdy and non-fraying black fabric that can be used to cut numbers and be made into a bag. Pictures will be posted of this crafty weekend and, hopefully soon, the first Sew-Do-Ku bag shall come to life!

Mosaic Madness!

I was approached by a customer to make custom order purse for his wife, Becky, as a surprise birthday gift. I assumed he wanted to custom order something from one of my current collections but he said he wanted something different that she would like and that he was trusting me to come up with a unique design. Hesitant to decline the request due to my lack of sewing skills and never meeting his wife, I told him that I wanted to create something that would represent her or something that Becky loves. He emailed me a website and told me that all I need to know about his wife would be on the site. I clicked on the link and to my surprise, he was right.

After browsing her link I saw that Becky is a huge mosaic fanatic and even makes her own art pieces. She is also a farmer's daughter and that was apparent all over the website. I immediately wanted to make a pures with a quilted replica of a mosaic piece Becky created and use organic cotton for the purse. Upon my excitement of imagining such a unique purse, I realized that I have very little quilting experience. Even though a mosaic pattern is similar to quilting, in the sense that smaller pieces are pieced together to make a larger piece, one is more abstract than the other.

I am determined to make this purse come to life and I hope that I can do Becky's mosaic piece justice in the form of a quilt

I know Sudoku can be hard but this is ridiculous!

After finding new fabric that might work well for the Sudoku collection, I've come to see that it doesn't cut on the machine as well as the original fabric. I'm beginning to think this collection may never come to life but I'm not giving up hope yet!

Another collection I need to get started is the Artist collection. I want to create a purse with the sides from actual canvas boards and real art work from real painters. I'm currently in the prototype stage right now to see how the purse will turn out so I hope to have products for sale by the holiday season.

In my re-branding and redesigning stages of my current collections, I am revamping (pun intended) for the Mercury collection as well as making more variety in sizes.

It's been a busy summer but I wouldn't have it any other way!

Esty and Art Fire

From my experience, etsy.com is more well known than artfire.com yet the people that know of artfire.com seem to like it more. I sell on both, being on etsy.com longer though. I've had a couple of sales but that was over a span of a couple of years, nothing to brag about. I haven't had a sale on artfire.com but within the year I've joined, I've had more inquiries for custom orders from it.

I think because etsy.com is widely known, I know more artists that use it and some have done very well on it while others, such as myself, do not get many sales. I don't have many items listed on etsy.com or artfire.com due to the fact that I don't have good way of taking quality photos of my work but I'm hoping that will change when I get a light box going. Another site that I've posted on is craftgawker.com but I don't know how many hits I get on there. I also have this blog and a Facebook fan page but I don't seem to be gaining a strong fan base. Gotta keep working on getting exposure, I guess!

My precious...

Since I began diving into the concept of making purses to sell, I came up with an idea to make a bag that combined my love for bags, my love for "conversational pieces" type of bags, and my love for Sudoku. When I came up with the idea of a Sudoku bag, the few people that I shared it with thought it was a great idea. Off I went to create the bag but I didn't realize how long of a journey it would be.

I began experimenting with felt, since it was easy and cheap to work with and didn't have raw edges to clean up. The idea worked for a bit... up until I got to the numbers. For those of you that don't know, one Sudoku puzzle consists of 81 numbers. I could not find felted numbers in the size I needed so I attempted to hand cut them. Big mistake. After barely making enough to fill a box within the puzzle grid, I did some research to find a cutting device.

Enter the Cricut machine. I shelled out the most money that I have spent on one item in a long time and began testing it out with felt I purchased for the numbers. After browsing the fabric store for other purse related items, I came across a material better than felt. The fake leather material was even better than what I originally started with and with my new machine, I was able to cut out perfect size numbers.

The grid was easy to make but the task of adhering numbers to the grid and the loose numbers to Velcro was daunting. After trying out glue and glue gun, I found fusible webbing. Now, with my new found missing adhesive, I'm so close to completing an idea two years in the making. It will be my most labor intensive and precious collection to date.

Fusible webbing

One day, while doing some Christmas shopping, a light bulb turned on for one of my on going projects. I've been in the works for creating a new collection for a couple of years now and I am slowly gather skills, equipment, and ideas to make this new collection come to life. It dawned on me that I needed a material, like a sheet with double sides of adhesive. I called the fabric store and described my request and low and behold, fusible webbing.

I just picked up a yard to play with so let's all hope that it works. Oh, the joys of experimenting!