"Tie One On" with Artist Amy Karol
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She was the new girl with purple hair in the office full of corporate types with mustaches. After dying her hair back to a more natural shade, she quickly realized that wasn’t going to change the fact that she would never enjoy meaningless water-cooler small talk. At her core, she could not conform to the norms of the corporate world. Tune in to find out how she made the transition from corporate to a crafty.
It took a few years, but Amy eventually reclaimed an artistic life for herself. She started making art again – jewelry, mono prints, and quilts – and let go of the job that didn’t suit her.
Today she is a 34-year-old artist, wife and mother of two pre-school aged daughters living with her husband in Portland, Oregon. She showcases her art quilts, prints, paper goods and paintings on her King Pod site and documents her creative life in her "Angry Chicken" craft weblog. Amy also runs Mailorder, a subscription-based, craft activity club that has involved ID cards, merit badges, fake money, secret passwords and decoder rings. Here are some of Amy's small quilts.
She also runs the Tie One On website that serves
as a fantastic gallery of homemade aprons made by
enthusiasts all over the globe. Every month she
cooks up a new theme and invites participants to
make aprons to showcase on the site. Yes, aprons
are hip, if you haven’t noticed. Here are
some of Amy's apron creations.
The lovely music at the end of the show is by
Amy’s husband, Pete Matern. The song is called
“Cedars.” Thanks, Pete.
Here's a link to his old band, the Ex-Hustlers. He
is currently working on a solo project.
Mark your calendars... The Detroit Urban Craft Fair is coming up Aug. 5 at the Majestic Theater in Detroit. Visit the website to learn more about this one-day alternative craft show, and check out the cool Handmade Detroit blog, too.
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Taking Names: Who do you want to hear from next? Send your comments, guest and show topic suggestions to jennifer@craftsanity.com.
This week’s burning question:
If you could be a superhero, what kind of superhero would you be? What kind of super power would you possess? What would your costume look like? Just for kicks... check out this superhero generator.Listen to Amy describe her superhero project in this week’s podcast then leave a comment at the end this entry with details about your superhero aspirations. Come on, you know you wish you had the power to zap, fly, and make homemade Christmas presents faster than a speeding bullet.