I love mixing and matching complimentary colors and rich textures together. Many of my pieces have layers of various materials or images. Some of the combinations include items such as brightly stained wood, ribbon, handmade paper, glass, vellum, trim and metal.
When I creating a new design, I shuffle through all of my shelves of handmade paper, ribbon and trim looking to make that perfect color combination. Once I find a match that suits my fancy I begin to select various findings or images to add to the design. I always get excited when I put all the components together to complete a piece. I'll never tire of using all of the delicious colors and textures the world has to offer. It's what makes my artwares come to life.
I also love clever and unique designs. One of my ongoing challenges is to take everyday items and look at them in a different light.
One of my original and still very popular concepts is my ribbon frame. I wanted to affix a photo on the front of a frame instead of from behind. I started playing around with drilling holes and using different hardware pieces. Eventually I came up with a nut and bolt system that effectively held a photo and a piece of glass to the front of the frame. After that, I added handmade papers, ribbons & findings and the first ribbon frame was born. Since then, I have designed a variety of other frames that hold photos with clips and magnets as well.
I thrive on thinking up new ideas. A lot of them are simple concepts, but they keep my designs fresh, different and set a.i. paper design apart from the rest.
