Penny Richards' photos

Paper collages made with images from the Field Museum's Flickr Commons uploads. Tutorial is here: www.indicommons.org/2009/06/11/craft-cabin-easy-commons-cards

Paper collage made with images from the Field Museum's Flickr Commons uploads. The tutorial is here: www.indicommons.org/2009/06/11/craft-cabin-easy-commons-cards

Upcycled purse painted, collaged, sharpied, and kryloned. Image is from the Library of Congress uploads at Flickr Commons (see below). Glenna Smith Tinnin (1877-1945) was a theatre professional who directed some of the major suffrage parades and pageants of the 1910s. SOLD, 6/09.

Most of my purses have a text box like this somewhere (on the bottom or under a flap) that explains the subject's name and achievements.

This was a maroon thrifted XOXO handbag. I upstyled it with gesso, paint, paper collage, sharpies, ink, and krylon. The image is American sculptor Janet Scudder, taken from the Smithsonian's Flickr Commons uploads (see below).

This was a maroon thrifted XOXO handbag. I upstyled it with gesso, paint, paper collage, sharpies, ink, and krylon. The image is American sculptor Janet Scudder, taken from the Smithsonian's Flickr Commons uploads (see below).

This was a maroon thrifted XOXO handbag. I upstyled it with gesso, paint, paper collage, sharpies, ink, and krylon. The image is American sculptor Janet Scudder, taken from the Smithsonian's Flickr Commons uploads (see below).

I made these at a friend's house (hi Lori B!), using her clay and glazes and my own collection of rubber stamps. (She did all the firing in her kiln.) Stamps are mostly from Third Coast Art Rubber. There are a lot of others in the batch, waiting for hardware and cords and whatnot, but these are the ones I've been wearing so far.

Lisa C just started a Flickr group asking artsy-crafty friends to photograph the books that are "inspiring" them recently. I'm not a crafty-book person--I sometimes look at crochet books at the library, at most. But trying to play along: Top book is called "Structural Package Designs" and I use it all the time to make giftboxes and such. The Barbara Hodgson book SHOULD be "The Tattooed Map," but I've lent that to a friend so I used another one--I'm planning to do some vintage architectural images on some purses soon, and thinking about using old maps/photos of Algiers, Morocco, etc. for one of them, so Hodgson's on my mind. The Biographical Dictionary of Scottish Women is just there because I love biographical dictionaries, and because a lot of my purses are featuring women's history subjects lately. And the Hannah Frank book is related to a recent art lesson I proposed (didn't get accepted, but there's always next year).

1. Peggy Bacon makeup case, red side , 2. Rock Diva purse, back , 3. Shoulder to Shoulder purse, back , 4. Upsized kameez--after , 5. Brains! Purse , 6. Jazz Age purse, back , 7. Suffrage purse, back , 8. My own upcycled purse, front , 9. T-shirt "pashmina" as shawl Created with fd's Flickr Toys .

Made from two thrifted, chopped up t-shirts (super-soft cotton) and some crochet edging (very light boucle, Knit Picks Crayon).

Made from two thrifted, chopped up t-shirts (super-soft cotton) and some crochet edging (very light boucle, Knit Picks Crayon).

Finally made one for myself to KEEP! Larger leather camel bag, altered with gesso, acrylic paints, sharpies, collage, modpodge, and krylon. Fish from the Belize Larval Fish Group posted by the Smithsonian (see below).

Finally made a purse for myself to KEEP! Thrifted camel leather bag altered with gesso, acrylic paints, sharpies, collage, modpodge, and krylon. Image of the suffragette Elizabeth Freeman from the Flickr Commons uploads by the Library of Congress (see below).

Thrifted cream-colored cloth purse altered with gesso, acrylic paints, sharpies, collage, modpodge, and krylon. Image of suffrage lecturer Susan Walker Fitzgerald (1871-1943) from the Flickr Commons uploads by the Library of Congress (see below). Quote is from her 1908 lecture "What is a Democracy?"

Thrifted cream-colored cloth purse altered with gesso, acrylic paints, sharpies, collage, modpodge, and krylon. Image of suffrage lecturer Susan Walker Fitzgerald (1871-1943) from the Flickr Commons uploads by the Library of Congress (see below). Quote is from her 1908 lecture "What is a Democracy?"

Thrifted maroon bag was upcycled with paint, collage, sharpies, modpodge, and krylon. Original image of the American all-female jazz band "The Ingenues" from the State Library of New South Wales (see below).