Reinventing The State Plate

I've always loved state plates and have collected them over the years. When I was into doing ceramics and mosaics I would incorporate some state memorabilia into my pieces alongside my homemade tiles.  When I decided to launch my own line of products last year, I knew that I wanted some DIY component in some of my products, both because I love to see something textural or hand made and also because I wanted to create something that was a collaboration with my customer--something that they could interact with and add their own creativity to. So when I was asked to do a piece of artwork that had to do with the Missouri River last year for KC non-profit Bridging The Gap, I decided the state plate was the perfect place to start. I purchased plates from all the states that the Missouri River runs through and filled in the gaps (or "bridged" the gaps...hahaha) with shards from my handmade tiles.
When I was working on this project, I got the inspiration to reinterpret the traditional state plate in my own illustration style for a new customer, someone who may love the ceramic versions but also want a more graphic approach with a crafty angle for those who (like me) like to embroider and hand stitch. And that's how and why the Stitchable State Plate kit was born. I have started with the 6 most populous states-California, Texas, New York, Florida, Illinois, and Pennsylvania-but am working my way through all 50 so if you don't see your state, please email me to see when it will be done or leave a message on my FB page too. These kits are $20.00 in my shop online here and they come with 2 skeins of thread, a needle, an 11"x14" poster with stitch lines to follow and simple instructions. If you're not into embroidery, I also offer fine art prints of each of these state plate posters here. In addition, I've made embossed postcard sets for each of the 6 states that are also for sale in my shop here. The dark areas in the design are covered with a cool emboss technique that adds that little something extra to the trad postcard. They are $11.50 for a boxed set of 10 postcards.