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Neighborhood Bodacious bags to join gift market

By MARY JANE PARK
Published October 22, 2006

The two women were brainstorming handbag ideas, sorting through Robin Roth-Murphy's collection of fabrics and doodads, when one of them turned a lamp shade upside down. A lightbulb went on.

That lightbulb will make its marketplace debut next weekend when the women try to sell their lamp shade purses for charity at the Junior League of St. Petersburg's four annual Celebrate the Season Gift Market.

Roth-Murphy and business partner Suzanne Runyan add cloth, ribbon, trim, beads and other adornments to lamp shades. Then they attach handles and foundations, and add linings with pieces of jewelry sewn inside, sort of like the prize in a box of Cracker Jacks. Their larger purses are $185; the small ones, $125.

Roth-Murphy, a fiber artist with a collection of vintage fabrics and a passion for thrift shops and garage sales, admits that she occasionally overembellishes her creations. Runyan preaches restraint.

"We hit a happy point, and we move on," said Runyan, a host on St. Petersburg's HSN television shopping network and a scrapbook enthusiast with an eye for merchandising. She scours the aisles of mass retailers like Target and Wal-Mart for color and design trends.

The women began collaborating on the handbags in July. They call themselves the Gie Gie Girls, using a term Runyan learned while teaching scrapbooking in South Africa. "Gie gie," her students said, pointing to the shimmering gems on her shoes. "It means anything girlie, anything sparkly, anything dolled up or dressed up," she said. (Pronunciation hint: "zhee.")

Their designs have a number of starting points: paint-splattered jeans Roth-Murphy used to wear to art shows, a couture jacket Runyan found at Goodwill, a black beaded dress a friend abandoned after losing weight.

There are plans for even more specialized versions. Roth-Murphy bought an ornately decorated wedding gown at a yard sale not long ago with an eye toward creating something for a bride.

"Robin has an unbelievable collection of vintage fabrics," Runyan said. "We find one piece we like and combinations we like, and we go from there."

The Gie Gie Girls take custom orders and hope, eventually, to offer designs to manufacturers for sale at traditional retailers.

[Last modified October 21, 2006, 17:55:22]