Perpetualplum’s Weblog

We went to California over the Easter holiday with our 2 daughters.  The big thing for them is to go shopping.  I happened to have just finished the novel I was reading and I wanted to pick up a couple books for the long trip back home.  We decided to go to a thrift shop to pick up books.  Of course, the girls wanted to go as well.  They had money burning a hole in their pocket.

One of my daughters, I can’t even remember which one right now, wanted a purse.  I had finished my book shopping long before they were done, so I wandered around the store.  By the way, thrift stores in San Jose, California are expensive!   I found this little satin purse for $1.60.  I tried to convince my youngest that it was a nice purse and a very good deal.  She didn’t want to have anything to do with it, so I decided to buy it.   Besides my books, it was the only other thing I found reasonably priced in that store. 

The inside of the purse looked as if it had never been used.  The outside was a little dirty.  I pulled out the Folex and cleaned it up.

I love shoes!  I don’t love to wear them that much.  I love to look at them and draw them…sometime I may even paint some.  I decided to take a vintage shoe image and make my purse into a work of art.  I printed the shoe image on cloth using paper designed for my ink jet.  I added some silver trim, then filled in the shoe with sequins.  Even before I started adding the rest of my embellishments, my daughters were all over me asking if I was going to sell it (or give it to one of them).

I dressed it up a bit more with some beaded trim, vintage rhinestones in metal settings (they’re fastened in the metal settings then glued on with Gem-Tac), string beads, and bead legs.  I jeweled up the snap closure.  I was thinking of replacing the handle, but I’ve grown kind of fond of the old handle.

Am I going to give it to one of my daughters?  HECK NO!  I think they need to see the potential in their own found objects.