| Thursday, September 09, 2010 | SUBSCRIBE | COMMUNITY LINKS | ADVERTISING INFO | TO REACH US |
 |
|
| HOME | | | HAPPENINGS | | | DECORATING | | | SPOTLIGHT | | | COLLECTING | | | AUTO | | | FASHION | | | TRAVEL | | | EVENTS | | | AUCTIONS | | | CLASSIFIEDS | | | PHOTO GALLERY | | | BLOG |
 |
|
It all began five years ago, when Claudia Lindsey and her husband Tom were lost on a road trip in South Carolina. "We were traveling in the south and we happened to get lost and we were driving down the road and just saw that someone had taken a re-bar and welded it together and then just put bottles on the ends that were different colors, and it just really sparkled in the sunshine," Lindsey said. "So while we were on vacation my husband was like 'Ya know, I could do that. I bet no one's ever seen that in Washington, let's give that a try'." They have been creating bottle trees, teacup feeders, and other garden art ever since.  Lindsey later met two avid junk collectors with similar interests on Myspace, and the three of them merged. They have been working together ever since. The three, with the help of Tom Lindsey, hold occasional sales, some in business parking lots. "If a business would like us to set up in their parking lot, on a weekend, we are happy to do so and have found that this generates business for the store or shop hosting us," Lindsey said. "Our thought process is, 'let's build name recognition first' and very soon, we'll look into creating a website, or we'll join a site, such as Etsy, that is Crafter based." Suni Boucher, the second of the three "sisters," has a degree in art. She worked in graphic design for years, but said she never had any fun with it. Her specialty is metal flowers, created out of cans, wire hangers, and bottle caps, as well as tissue-paper art and re-painted doors.  "I had been a paint contractor, and into house remodeling on and off for the last 20 years," Boucher said "I got sick of seeing a bunch of stuff get thrown away. And so I started taking windows home and doors home and painting on those, and I did tissue paper art on windows for a long time and made light boxes and... rewired old lighting and... I just couldn't stop." The Junkies booth set up at a show. Like Boucher, Deidre Norris got tired of seeing useable items in the dumpster. "Every time I would drive by a street, and look at all this furniture on the side of the road, or the garbage by the dumpsters, I'd get sick to my stomach," she said. "I can't believe it's going to the land-fill. And one day I thought, 'I can do stuff with of that. I'm creative.' And I just started grabbing it and bringing it home. I'd stare at it for a while, leave it in my workshop, come back, and just start being creative and doing things. I've been addicted ever since." Norris has been doing this for 10 years. It is her eventual goal to write a book on the art of junk collecting. In the meantime, they're off to a good start. They have sold several up-cycled vintage furniture pieces to photographer Aileen Treadwell, a local children's photographer, who was recently named "Best in Western Washington" by a local TV Station. She uses the pieces as props in her work. They have shows booked through July. They will be holding their vintage-inspired flea market on Mar. 5-6 at The Knights of Columbus Hall in Bothell, Wash. It is located at 24323 Bothell Everett Highway, Bothell, WA 98021-9345.  On Sept. 24-26, the team will walk the Susan G Komen 3-Day for the Cure in Seattle. They will donate a portion of their year-round sales to the fight against breast cancer. Though the Sisterhood of Traveling Junk doesn't currently have a web site, they can be accessed on Myspace, where they met, and Facebook. Their Myspace page is http://www.myspace.com/3junkies. To follow them on Facebook, search for Ima Junky, or Junkies-A Sisterhood of Traveling Junk. For more information on the rest of their shows, contact Claudia Lindsey at (253) 709-8574; or junkies3@hotmail.com. The sisterhood, left to right; |
|
