Friday, June 25, 2010

Pop Topping It

I have a minor pop top purse obsession. It started almost two years ago when I laid my eyes on these awesome bags by Escama. I had never heard of them but it was love at first sight. I just had to have one (or several). But because I am cheap thrifty, I couldn’t possibly spend $200 for a purse. So, I reverse-engineered it instead. I’m crafty like that. It took a while though as I am not a crocheter and after scouring the internet for weeks I figured out that these beauties were crocheted. It took even longer to collect enough pop tops to make a purse but many of my family, friends and colleagues pitched in and drank a lot of beer soda in order to help my effort. My first pop top purse was finally ready this past March. It’s a tote really (12x15 inches) and it took about 2000 pop-tops and 9 months of heavy drinking and reverse engineering to make . Here it is:

 first purse first purse detail 

I love that purse. I wore it non-stop for five months, however, due to a crucial production error, the purse started disintegrating. In deciding what thread to use for it, I had picked cotton because it’s natural but that turned out to be a bad idea as the cotton thread couldn’t stand up to the intense wear and tear I subjected that purse to, especially around the edges and the handles. So the tote will need to be redone but I learned my lesson – use synthetic thread!

As I was still working on the first purse I realized that, while I love large totes, they are just too big for some occasions. So, I started thinking about a smaller purse that would fit just my wallet, phone, point-and-shoot camera and keys. After the first purse was done, I continued collecting pop tops and soon I had enough. I was itching to make it but had to wait for the two moves and the FSOT to pass. Which brings us to last week when I finally sat down and made pop top purse #2.  It took about 1300 pop-tops to make. It measures 7x9 inches and still needs to be lined but that’s not preventing me from using it. And, yes, I did use synthetic thread for this one.

baseball and purse 008baseball and purse 015baseball and purse 016

9 comments:

  1. Holy cow. You MADE that?!?!!

    You are incredible. I could never make anything like that. Let alone twice. I don't have the patience. Or the talent. I am in awe.

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  2. That is amazing!!! So cool.

    I was looking for an email address on your blog somewhere, but couldn't find one - I wanted to think you for your thoughtful post on my blog a while back, regarding art and selling it and my existential angst. I really appreciate it. I think you have a future in pop-top bag selling. Keep drinking up!

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  3. That is too cool! I am so embarrassed about my lack of craftiness...so I will just ooh and ah over your bag!

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  4. I knew that Bulgarian girls are talented, no to mi skri shapkata;). It looks so fancy and glittery. Is it heavy to wear? Are you going to teach Nia the trade?

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  5. that is amazing!!! can't believe you made that!

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  6. OK that is too cool! I want directions! I need one of those.

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  7. Glad you gals like it.

    Shannon, I'll try to put together a tutorial for you.

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  8. That purse is SWEET! Great job, I am very impressed!!

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  9. Wow, look at that tote! Too cool. . .

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