Giveaway 2 - Upcycled Brown Pouch from Seaoats!
Did you catch Malina's mini feature? I just loved seeing her studio space - very inspirational! I have been lucky enough to have her partner with me for this giveaway.
Malina has offered the following item as a giveaway:
Malina has offered the following item as a giveaway:
Description of giveaway item from Malina's site:
This handmade and one-of-a-kind little case is made with upcycled brown canvas (from a pair of trousers) and is lined with pink retro flowered scrap fabric. it is the perfect size for storing pens, pencils, make-up brushes etc.
The screenprint is made from eco-friendly water based ink and is a picture that my husband Mike took from Christopher Street Pier in Manhattan looking at New Jersey.measurements:9" wide3" tall
It is always a pleasure to find an artist who is so passionate about where she lives and works that she feels inspired to add elements found in her surroundings to her work and art practice. Malina from Seaoats creates these beautiful and functional pieces of art from vintage materials she finds in thrift stores near her house on the Gulf Coast of Florida. Each item is lovingly embellished with Malina's screenprints, sewn thread and sometimes co-ordinating buttons! Each pouch or clutch comes with Malina's signature wooden label and matching wooden bead on the zipper. As you can see from the first picture, not even the inside of these pieces are left untouched!
Here are the links to the pouches and clutches pictured above so you can easily find them to purchase!
In order to get to know the artist behind the Etsy store, I asked Malina a few questions:
1) How does your art practice fit into your life?
At the moment I am eating, drinking, and breathing, Seaoats. I am really determined to make my new Etsy shop work and feel very passionate about it. However, my ten month old daughter keeps me VERY busy so she calls the shots and I work around her schedule. Late mornings and late evenings seem to be when I get the most work done.
Seaoats fits into my life because it goes along with my personal values. Recycling and trying to live as simply as possible has always been a big part of my life (when I lived in Brooklyn, I used to walk 30 minutes in the SNOW just to recycle my #2 and #5 plastics. ha!). I like the idea of being able to turn someone else's trash into something useful. Being a lover of crafts and the sewing machine, it just made sense that I use as many recycled and eco-friendly materials
2) Where does everything come together?
This is where the magic happens. Every once in a while my mess spills out into other rooms but I try my hardest to keep everything contained in one place. I'm finding that keeping organized makes my life much easier and less chaotic. I share the space with my husband who is a photographer but manages to keep all of his things contained in one corner leaving me more room to spread my mess around. neatly, of course!
3) Do you have any specific goals for your Etsy site or art practice?
I love Etsy and fantasize about having a successful shop. There are sooo many sellers on Etsy and I know it takes time to get noticed so I'm going to stay positive and work hard and hope that it pays off in the end! We'll see by this time next year. . .
4) Recommend a good book and movie
I'm not the kind of person who watches movies repeatedly but I'd have to say that the movie Amelie always puts a smile on my face. One of my favorite books is One hundred years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
5) Where do you live in the world? What do you like most about it?
Currently, I am living on the Gulf Coast of Florida where the sand is as white and soft as flour! After living in three different large cities, this has been quite a change from the life that I was used to living. Living by the beach with my daughter and husband has been a lot of fun though and has also been the inspiration for the screen prints on many of my fabrics. Being closer to nature definitely has it's perks. I was always that person that said city life was the best way to live but I must admit that living by the water allows me to actually sit back and breathe and has allowed me to work on projects that i never had time to do in the past.
Oh, the thrift stores here are also amazing and they are EVERYWHERE. (thanks to all of the retiree's and snowbirds!) I would be crazy to not use up-cycled fabrics in my shop when I am surrounded by mountains of reusable materials here in lovely Florida.
*closed*
