My name is Patricia Gunther, and currently I'm located in the Millard area of Omaha, Nebraska. I make and sell original artwork and consumables featuring my artwork, vintage items from my collections or that I find in my travels, jewelry that I originally designed for myself, Bible quotes that I personally find inspiring, repurposed and upcycled treasures and other things I find interesting. The common thread through these groups is my aesthetic for things of enduring quality, often understated, from or inspired by the age of romance, Victorian or art deco periods.
I've honed my skills as a craftsperson, designer and artist since early childhood, for example, learning how to crochet when I was 5 years old and designing clothing for fashion dolls when I was 7 out of tissue and yarn. On top of that, I took every home economics and industrial arts course in junior high and high school, including special offerings in summer school. I also learned how to work with natural materials while I was in the Girl Scouts, and practiced even more creating with natural materials during summers spent on my dad's farm in Kansas. As a young adult I used this knowledge to teach the needlework skills as a Creative Circle Representative. More recently I have been introducing underprivileged kids to different handcrafts and skills.
One of the biggest things that has surprised me about the evolution of my process is how versatile my skill sets have become. I may look at a vintage yoke through my graphic design training in college, and see a beaded crochet collar that I would enjoy wearing. (I don't make anything that I would not personally be happy using, and chances are I have my own personal version of what I'm offering.) Or I may see a very old needlework design, and translate it into a new and fresh beadwork and chain maille design. I've found I'm not bound by strict genre limits, translating my skills, techniques and tools across many boundaries.
These are some of the materials I especially like to work with:
Crochet cotton or cotton blend thread, size 10 or finer, because of the versatility, lacey effects possible, and strength when used in beading or embellishing. I also favor cottons because it's a washable natural fiber material and there are many characteristics (such as polished or fine) and hues available.
Glass and stone, both of which are natural materials (glass being melted sand and naturally occurring in volcanic flows). The beauty and complexity of the endless variety of stone fascinates me, and I love working with natural (from the earth, not manmade or dyed) stone. Glass and stone has some weight, feels substantial, is cool to the touch but warms up quickly against the skin, besides being absolutely stunning in appearance. Glass comes in such a wide variety of offerings in color, size, form and finish and are so versatile in their applications that I never get tired of finding new ways to use them.
Metals, which I also consider a natural material (being smelted out of ore from the ground), my favorite of which is copper. I love taking a spool of wire and turning it into a chain maille creation, or doing a free-form shape and then flattening it, to be used as a pendent or link. I also enjoy hammering out a piece into a specific shape for a special jewelry creation, especially if it's one with a found piece of metal. I love that metals can be reformed and recycled almost endlessly.
My shop also has a vintage section, and my aesthetic is a mix of Victorian, Art Nuevo, the finer things from the 1940's and 50's, and books. Those interpretations of classic lines and forms, as well as the level of craftsmanship, have a very strong appeal for me personally, and I enjoy sharing them in my shop.
The things that inform and inspire my work are:
A search for beauty. I like having beautiful things, I like offering the beautiful things I can create or collect in my shop, and I like sharing the ability to create beautiful things through instructions or kits.
A search for inspiration. I am inspired by the beauty found in nature, and I enjoy sharing and passing on interpretations and versions of that inspiration to others.
A search for spirituality. I have had people who are sensitive to such things comment over the years that they get a specific vibe from my creations, like the feeling be being loved and hugged from an afghan or quilt, or the feeling of being especially cared about or cherished from a piece of jewelry. I've never felt it myself, but since I often listen to sermons, pray or meditate while I'm working, it doesn't surprise me. It's simply another facet in my creative process, to surround myself with positive and uplifting energies and thoughts.