Creativity's in the bag

What's in your purse? Two local moms found a creative outlet in theirs. They took old materials - comic illustrations, leftover material and books - and turned them into purses ... and growing small businesses.

Katie Byers: Novel Purses

Katie Byers' law books were sitting around her house, growing more outdated by the minute. She quit her job as an attorney at a financial services firm five years ago, when she started her family in Indianola.

Soon, the 36-year-old found herself with two daughters, 2-year-old Charlotte and 5-year-old Sophie, and a library of books destined for the Dumpster.

"I really started getting into sewing and I was experimenting with purses and trying to find recycled material that would give a purse form and shape and I started experimenting with books," she said.

Art had always been part of Byers' life.

She'd dabbled around. Mural painting. Jewelry working.

"I particularly like taking something and ... repurposing it," she said. "For a long time I was painting on rocks ... canvas is so expensive."

But her legal book purse got a bigger reaction than any other project.

She visited Iowa City for a law school event and the reaction the purse received launched her home business.

"Everyone went crazy for it and said: 'I want one! Will you make me one? What would you charge?' " she said, "and it just evolved from there.

"I decided to go for it. I had so many sources for law books."

Since then, Novel Purses has launched a Web site and expanded from just legal purses. She's used books from other professions and even a Jane Austen novel to create handbags.

Orders have poured in from Seattle, Boston, California and Minneapolis for the bags, priced at $59.95.

She'll customize her creations with monograms or use a book sent by a customer.

Byers has also started using fabric remnants supplied by interior designers and architectural firms to create chic little bags in "retro" and refined "banglette" styles.

The business has grown far faster than she expected. Her workshop has moved and expanded three times. She has 20 orders for January.

At a silent auction in Seattle, one of her purses recently brought in $5,000 for charity.

"It's given me some nice balance," she said. "It's a big adjustment going from full-time attorney to full-time stay-at-home mom.

"I still get to be at home with my girls. And I still get to use my artistic side and my business side, so it works for me. I have really good outlets."

Jennifer Mahr: Designs From Mahrs

A couple years ago, Jennifer Mahr began reading comic books, or as she put, became "addicted" to the genre.

Her particular favorite was a character named Death from the "Sandman" series by Neil Gaiman.

In the stories, "Death" guides people in their transition from life to death. "She has a fabulous attitude about life," Mahr said.

Last spring, Mahr, who works in corporate relations at Principal Financial Group, looked for a new purse and couldn't find one she liked.

She decided what she wanted most was a purse with Death on it.

"So the first purse I made was for me," she said. "It has all my favorite themes. And from there people saw it and said, 'Oooh, can you make me one?' and it's turned into quite a little business."

Her finished purse melded vinyl and comic art for a funky, utilitarian handbag.

She's sold purses under the name Designs From Mahrs, a play off her last name, at the Gray Market craft events in downtown Des Moines and recently launched a Web site.

What began with comics has expanded into other art - artistic ads, dress patterns, whatever catches Mahr's eye.

Hunting down art is her favorite part of the process. Many of her customers order custom pieces, asking for a purse with a favorite character or in a favorite color, or a purse in a specific size.

"I get to display someone else's art," she said. "It's very exciting to do that and show people the fabulous art behind comics.

"I have two children and I'm the coolest mom in the world because we go to Cup O' Kryptonite and sit down at their 50-cent bin (and search for art)."

Having created about 60 purses since May, Mahr has developed a system for her creations, pre-cutting all the vinyl down to shape. It now takes her about an hour to finish one.

She's hoping the new Web site will grow her business even further, perhaps into a full-time job.

"My goal for this summer is to have a table at Wizard World (a comic convention in Chicago."

Reporter Erin Crawford can be reached at (515) 284-8438 or ecrawford@dmreg.com