Interview with Katherine of The Floating Market

1. What is your shop address? Do you have other sites as well?

My shop is at http://thefloatingmarket.etsy.com. My other shop is at http://irvingplace.etsy.com, and my blog is http://irvingplace.net.

2. What draws you to using trashion materials?

Well, for one thing, it is hard to beat the price! And while I still try to be careful with my materials, I also worry less about "messing up" when I'm using something I got for $.10 out of a thrift store bin. Besides which, old, battered, and re-purposed fits my urban fantasy aesthetic.



3. What trashion materials do you use?

Old transit and parking tokens, old keys, thrift bin neckties and coats. Fabric samples from a home decorator who was changing their catalog. I also have a lot of beads and buttons that aren't quite "trashion" but which came to me as found objects.



4. Do you remember the first thing you made using the trashion concept?

I was making a Halloween costume as the Goblin Queen. I tore the lining out a black leather jacket I got for $1/lb at the Dig 'n' Save, repaired a busted seam with bright red embroidery floss, and replaced the buttons with an assortment of doo-dads I had lying around. It really worked, and I ended up wearing it again for a LARP (live-action role playing) character in a game based on "Neverwhere".

5. Where do you find your inspiration?

I think about that LARP character, and wonder what things she and her friends would wear when they wanted to be fancy. They'd have to cobble together something shiny from whatever bits and pieces they could scrounge.




6. Name three artists/musicians/writers who have influenced your work?

Neil Gaiman, Charles De Lint, and Trina Schart Hyman (i'm not an illustrator, but her work made me want to be an artist)




7. What are your current projects and what is on the horizon?

Currently I'm making little earrings and pendants with tokens and keys. On the horizon I have a big bin of coats in various stages of progress that I want to finish, and another bin of neckties....I'd like to make more of those scarves.




8. Anything else you'd like to add?

I am very excited to be selling things on Etsy, and happy to be a part of Etsy Team Trashion!