Upcycled

Thrifted BCBG Max Azria purse, upcycled with gesso, acrylic paints, paper collage, modpodge, sharpies, inks, and krylon. Image from Flickr Commons.

Some of my purses on display at the Recycled Art show, 3/24/12.

Black thrifted purse, upcycled with gesso, acrylic paint, modpodge, paper collage, sharpies, inks, and krylon. Image is Vinnie Ream, an American sculptor. The quote "She had a mind of many colors" is from Danish critic Georg Sandes, who was talking about Ream. Vinnie Ream image is from the Library of Congress.

Thrifted Samsonite traincase, upcycled with gesso, acrylics, modpodge, paper collage, sharpies, and krylon. All images from the Library of Congress uploads to Flickr Commons.

Thrifted Samsonite traincase, upcycled with gesso, acrylics, modpodge, paper collage, sharpies, and krylon. All images from the Library of Congress uploads to Flickr Commons.

I found some red Dansko shoes in my size, great condition, for $5 at a thriftshop. Just a little scuffed up, maybe, and I already have plenty of red shoes, so.... My first pair of Flickr Commons shoes. Upcycled with gesso, acrylic paints, modpodge, paper collage, sharpies, krylon, using the same techniques as my purses. Photo is Australian pilot May Bradford in 1934, from the State Library of New South Wales on Flickr Commons. Before and after is here: thethriftygarderobe.blogspot.com/2010/05/thrifted-shoes-u...

Padded interior means this must have been some kind of instrument case--Kilgore International makes dental equipment!--I think it'd be a good camera carrier. Found in a second-hand store, upcycled with gesso, acrylics, sharpies, inks, modpodge, and krylon. The image (of an unknown woman posing with a camera) is from the State Library and Archives of Florida uploads to Flickr Commons (see below).

Thrifted suitcase, upcycled with gesso, paint, modpodge, paper collage, ink, sharpies, and krylon. Images are tintypes from the Liljenquist collection recently donated to the Library of Congress and uploaded to Flickr Commons in the set "Civil War Faces." www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/sets/7215762552...

My trusty old black Doc Martens MJs were scuffed badly, but otherwise wonderful. Solved with an upgrade of paint, collage, and sharpies. Image of English suffragette Christabel Pankhurst from the Library of Commons uploads to Flickr Commons (see below).

Thrifted Clarita purse, upcycled with gesso, acrylic paints, paper collage, sharpies, inks, and modpodge. Image is of three Portuguese "mill girls" striking in Lowell MA, 1912, from the Library of Congress uploads at Flickr Commons; "pão e rosas" is "bread and roses" in Portuguese, and refers to the strikers' slogan ("We want bread, and roses too!"). SOLD 10/10.

Thrifted red Clarita Accessories handbag, upcycled with gesso, paint, sharpies, ink, and paper collage. Sarah Edith Wynne, aka "Eos Cymru," was a 19c. Welsh soprano who gained unusual international success. Photo is from the Flickr Commons uploads of the National Library of Wales.

A thrifted brown purse, upcycled with gesso, acrylic paint, sharpies, walnut ink, paper collage, modpodge, and krylon. Image is from Australia, 1932, and is in the Powerhouse Museum's uploads to Flickr Commons (see below).

This was a smallish black backpack-style bag, found in a thriftshop and upcycled with gesso, paint, sharpies, collage, modpodge, and krylon. The images are of Ruth St. Denis's "Radha," as found in the New York Public Library's Flickr Commons uploads (see below). The Spanish-English dictionary fragment inside the buckle includes the words dance and dancer (as well as damsel, dandelion, dandruff, and dandy ). SOLD 10/09.

Tan thriftshop purse upcycled with paint, sharpies, and collage. Image of Sarah Hodge of Salem, from an 1850s daguerreotype in the George Eastman House uploads to Flickr Commons (see below). Quote "A loving heart is the truest wisdom" is from Charles Dickens, David Copperfield . The hearts are cut from a facsimile edition of Dickens' Great Expectations . SOLD, 9/09.

This upcycled purse features an image from the Library of Congress uploads in the Flickr Commons project (see below). Thrifted black bag was altered with paint, sharpies, and collage.

Upcycled from a plain black thriftshop backpack with gesso, acrylic paints, paper collage, sharpies, modpodge, and krylon. Image of Hedwig Reicher as Columbia, at the 1913 Suffrage Parade in Washington DC, is from the Flickr Commons uploads of the Library of Congress (See below for original.) SOLD 8/09.

Used gesso, acrylic paints, sharpies, and krylon to alter this thrifted brown leather purse. The button is by Lisa Clarke, Polka Dot Creations. For Lisa C.'s Big Button Challenge.

This was a thrifted black makeup case, $2.99. Gesso, paint, modpodge, collage, sharpies, more modpodge, and krylon to alter. The image is American illustrator Peggy Bacon (see below). SOLD, 10/09.