Guest Blogger: Dale Anne Potter

Posted by Kelly on February 27th, 2009 at 11:53am

Today’s special treat comes all the way from Saskatchewan. I found mixed-media artist, Dale Anne Potter, via Twitter (are you following us yet?!) and she agreed to lend some insight and inspiration to the idea of recycling thrift store finds like old materials and making them into something crafty, new, and beautiful. Find more about Dale Anne’s work at her blog, Creative Ramblings, or website.

I am a full-time mixed media artist who specializes in textiles, also dabbles in stamping, altered arts, scrapbooking and genealogy.  I live in a small town so sometimes needs to be creative with using supplies on hand.  I LOVE going to thrift stores, finding new uses for some great finds. I came to fabric naturally. My mom sewed all our clothes and I used to make doll clothes with all the leftover scraps of material.  I remember being so excited to get the use of Mom’s treadle sewing machine, and always designing new Barbie clothes.  I, also, remember using leftovers from any projects Mom was working on – MAKING DO with what we have on hand!

Living on a limited pension budget makes my growing up “thrifty” a good thing!  I find forcing myself to use what I have on hand makes me be more creative.  I find my best ideas come from the limited palette!!!

I have always been crafting – from macrame to quilting, rag rug making to corn husk wreaths, altered arts to scrapbooking.

Everyday the world around me — nature, its textures, rhythms and colours, the materials at hand, fabrics, paper, found objects, and the movement of life — provide me with the ideas and enthusiasm to create new work. In addition, I am an avid student of design using books, magazines, the internet and as many other resources as I can find. The result is a variety of methods and diversity of materials.

My artwork has been exhibited locally in Morse and Swift Current; nationally in Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Ontario; as well as internationally in Florida, California, Wisconsin, Vermont, and Washington.

The project featured here is one where I used what I had on hand and some thrift store finds. The Fabric Mini Album in a CD Tin is all about using up bits and pieces laying around, then adding thrift store finds as embellishments.  The only new thing was the CD tin! I used leftover quilted hand-dyed fabrics, cut from larger projects.   The printed photos were leftover from a larger album project that I do for clients, with quotes.  Some of the photos have imperfections but don’t show up on this project.  The silk flowers are thrift store finds and I take them apart to use all the layers.  The buttons are from my Mom’s and my own button tin.  The lace bits are finds from thrift store that I tea-dyed to look aged.  Charms are also thrift store finds.  I used leftover bits of tulle, leftover stickers, a little parchment envelope that someone gave me years ago in a bunch of RAK goodies.  I used some words from a vintage book, leftover quotes   from other projects, a wooden quote that was also a RAK goodie.   Ribbons, and beads are from my stash. I make these for clients using their photos transferred onto fabric, or I will teach them in a 6 hour workshop.

Here is a card I made using the inside of envelopes we receive in the mail.  I save all patterned paper that comes in the mail!

Here is a scrapbook page using the inside of yet another envelope (a large one this time) and also adding a scrabble tile from an old game purchased at the thrift store just for the tiles.

Here is a piece of hand-dyed fabric that I had done many years ago and left it as I didn’t really like the background, so I did some Soy Wax Batiking on it using some thrift stores finds.  The electric frying pan I used to melt the soy wax was $5 and will only ever be used for the wax.  The potato mashers in various styles are always FUN to find – I still check out all the different ones when I visit the thrift stores.  I also bought a pair of baby shoes once that had an interesting pattern on the sole, for stamping or using with soy wax batiking!

Tags: Dale Anne Potter, mixed media, thrift store finds

Under Guest Post Tags: Dale Anne Potter, mixed media, thrift store finds