Feature Me Friday: Candy Calamity

This week for Feature Me Friday, we have Emily of
Candy Calamity from St. Louis, Missouri.
Who is Candy Calamity?
I make jewelry and other accessories from recycled materials,
sometimes including candy wrappers like Starbursts, Dum
Dums, and chocolate bars, but always including what I call a
‘candy aesthetic.' I love bright splashy colors and fun modern
shapes.


Why work with recycled materials?
I love the challenge of working with a limited material set. It
inspires me to think of new solutions & techniques when I can
only work with the materials I’ve collected or had donated.

Where do you work?
My studio is in the front room of my apartment. It’s nice to
have a space to keep everything contained, or else I’d be finding
craft supplies sprinkled all over the place. I like to keep the
blinds on all 4 windows wide open to take advantage of daylight
hours, plus the birds outside keep the cat entertained.



What music do you listen to while you’re working?
I’m devoted to a local radio station, The Arch 106.5. I keep a
radio on that station all the time when I’m working. Today they
just played some Bonnie Tyler, Kenny Loggins, Green Day, Bon
Jovi and Soft Cell, so I’m rocking out.

What are the five best things you've purchased on etsy
and where did you find them?
Five handmade goodies that get almost daily use at my house
include:
A carnival photo set by bomobob framed in my dining room

A shine colander pin cushion from fellow trashionista Loneweever

2 corkboards by The Crafty Wino are keeping my office organized

Handmade mandarin bergamot soap and grapefruit
sugar scrub cubes from Bella Luna are the BEST

And my first every Etsy purchase:
some chocolate and lime arm warmers by Dyno


Read any good books lately?
I just finished A Series of Unfortunate Events, by Lemony
Snicket, which was a huge downer, and then I picked up
Love in the Time of Cholera, by Gabriel García Márquez,
which is also on the sad side – only cheerful books for me
from now on.

Who inspires you?
I have had the pleasure to meet so many awesome crafty ladies
(too many to name) through my two street teams: the St. Louis
team Show Me Etsy and the Trashion Team.
Being surrounded by all this talent gives me a huge boost to be
able to do what I do, without my two street teams I probably
would have quit long ago.


What do you do for fun?
I have a major sweet tooth and love baking and cake decorating.
I also live close enough to the Missouri Botanical Garden to go
visit the flowers and I walk around there all the time.
It’s a beautiful place.

Besides Etsy, where can we find your work?
I do a lot of shows in the St. Louis area. My next show is
the Tower Grove Farmers Market on August 21st.
This fall I’ll be at the Green Homes Show, September 25th,
Show Me Etsy’s Artropy show on December 2nd, and
the Every Artist Market, December 11th.
I’m still working on the full schedule, but I always keep an
updated list on my blog for anyone who’s looking for me.



How do you promote your work?
You can find Candy Calamity on Facebook
and I’m 2/3 of the way done with Craft 365 on Flickr.
I’m posting a picture of one crafty thing I do each day.

Have any words of wisdom?
Even if an idea seems totally crazy go with it!
You never know how things are going to turn out.

What's in your future?
I don’t know! That’s what makes it so exciting


"Now you can eat your candy, and wear it too!"
www.candycalamity.com