etsy trashion blog: Trashion team spotlight - Interview : BurningRubber's Reliquary

7/03/2007

Trashion team spotlight - Interview : BurningRubber's Reliquary

Trashion team spotlight

Interview : BurningRubber's Reliquary

Shop name: BurningRubber's Reliquary
Shop address: http://burningrubber.etsy.com

In a nutshell : It is a very eclectic place

Tell us a bit about yourself.
My name is Viki Banaszak. I live in Wichita, KS. I am on the Stampers Mall design team and I also design samples for convention displays for After Midnight Art Stamps. I am 48 and suffer from fibromyalgia and chronic back pain. I work at Michaels Arts and Crafts as a picture framer about 10 hours per week at this time. I currently live with 5 cats and a dog, oh yea, and 1 or 2 strays that come around for food. I am a sucker for animals. There are also 4 other women that live here with me. It is definitely a full house. I get creative when the sun goes down. I love to watch sci-fi while I work. I can't just sit and watch tv though. I always need to keep busy with my hands.

Trashion materials:
metal tins, boxes, used fabrics, books, photos, cards, lamps… just about anything.

I transform them into:
My latest projects have been making necklaces out of those small mint tins. I do find it difficult to alter things sometimes, because I really appreciate the items as they are. For example, I had to purchase fake cigar boxes to alter because I just couldn't bring myself to change the real ones, so I now have cigar boxes all over my studio for storage and I am always on the lookout for more. LOL

How do you do it?
I guess I am pretty intuitive. I don't make sketches of what I am going to do or anything like that. When I look at an object, I get a picture in my mind of what it could be. I just dive in. I have almost every art supply known to man from so many years of creativity. I am always trying new things, so I go out and get the supplies for that and so on. Lately I have been collecting various metal working tools.

What inspired you to do this and why are you involved in trashion?
I am inspired by Michael de Meng and Opie and Linda O'Brien, Michelle Ward, Elaine Jackson and a host of other artists and segments on HGTV.

Do you remember the first thing you made using the trashion concept?
Yes

What was it?
A lamp. I still use it.

What are your current projects and what is on the horizon?
Currently I am making card samples for After Midnight Art Stamps, but I have several ideas for making nichos and shrines rolling around in my head. I am sure they will have something to do with the billions of tins filling my closet and my paper hoard.

Why should people buy handmade, and buy from trashion?
You can't get quality from mass produced items anymore. They are made to be disposable. Not like my stove and dishwasher from the 50's that still work. The blasted things will never die. LOL Of course if they ever do I will probably take them apart and see what’s in there. Buying things made from used items just makes sense. Keeps the items out of landfills and from contaminating our home, the earth.