Crafter Julie Yu loves the library — “I usually check Purses are crafted entirely through folds, tucks, out twice as many books as I intend to read” — so and double-sided tape — there’s no stitching it’s no wonder that reels of 1960s and 70s New York involved. They’re closed with hidden magnets, Times microfilm stocked at a community reuse and some come with microfilm-formed handles. center caught her eye. “I knew it was too good a In a slightly different technique, Yu’s bangle-style find to pass up,” she says. bracelets involve a diagonal weave of leftover
The Portland, Ore., wife, mom, and working profes- scraps of microfilm or colored frames from campy sional had previously experimented with weaving high school health films. candy-wrapper purses, but she now creates stylish While Yu likes the idea of reusing discarded clutches, bags, and bracelets out of her micro finds. materials, environmentalism isn’t her driving force.
After her initial purchase of 80 black and white “The microfilm is cool to me,” she says, “because it reels, Yu, 38, spent nearly four months and 15 reels represents history, it captures moments in time.” perfecting her technique. With as much as a half-reel of microfilm in each
Photograph by Julie Yu
“It pains me to admit this,” she says, “but I used handbag, anyone carrying Yu’s sleek designs will The New York Times moon-landing edition to attempt always have something to read. Keep an eye out one of my first designs.” for stories on Pop Art and Beatlemania, though
Today she has it down to a science. After slicing according to Yu, “The most interesting pages are the microfilm — which lately includes celluloid issues the fashion ads.” of Life purchased off eBay — into equal-sized strips, she reinforces each section by backing it with white duct tape and weaves them tightly together, folding >> Microfilm jewels: 2nddraft.etsy.com along the bag’s openings to avoid any sharp edges.
—Laura Kiniry
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