I’m a packrat, and always have been. Things in the trash attract my attention. I pick through the refuse and pull out items that I can’t imagine throwing away. One of my early memories is of saving things from the trash when I was little, as I was planning to “make stuff out of it”. The fact that the things were cardboard rolls from toilet paper and paper towels was a moot point to me. In my four year old mind what I had was priceless! My mother threw the rolls away again of course, and I was heartbroken… she had thrown away my treasure!

Today my trash saving has turned to metal and plastic items, mostly bottle caps and perfume bottles which I turn into fashion accessories and handbags. The perfume bottles are made of shiny pink and red plastic, too beautiful to throw away; and the bottle caps are like little jewels, too precious to toss out. My friends are all aware of my idiosyncrasies, as most have noticed my habit of collecting and pocketing bottle caps off the counters at parties. Some even support my efforts by saving their bottle caps for me. My guy friends-all roommates in Columbus-save their bottle caps by tossing them into a bucket. I retrieve the results of their efforts every few months. I recently received a box from Australia, which contained all the bottle caps saved from one pub in the outback. My friend had saved them for me for an entire year while he was bartending!

So where do I get my ideas? Who provides inspiration, influence or emulation? My sources are mainly from the Fashion Design and Costume Design fields. I love the quirky and whimsical fashion designs of Betsy Johnson, with her love of bright colors; flirty, girly-girl details and frankly sexy trimmings. The costume designs of Mona May, creator of costumes for the films Clueless, and Romy and Michelle’s High School Reunion are inspirational. Costume designer Lizzy Gardiner (for the film The Adventures of Pricilla, Queen of the Desert) wowed me when she wore a dress to the Oscars made entirely out of American Express Gold cards! From them I take inspiration for color, construction, and most importantly, to be unafraid to express my own individual fashion sense through the use of unusual materials.