Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, December 29, 1993 TAG: 9312290065
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Landmark News Service
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium
But Robyn Vasile recycles the fuzzy substance, sometimes collecting as much as $200 in the process.
"It's really funny how people pay money for dust," she said.
Vasile transforms lint into art that resembles impressionist paintings. Instead of applying paint by brush, the 37-year-old Kempsville woman applies lint by hand, using whatever colors the dryer filters catch.
Vasile, whose checks say "Robyn Vasile, the Lint Lady," has sold 70 of her creations since making the first one in July. They have ranged in price from $35 to $200. Two of her unsold works are priced at $350 and $400.
People have commissioned lint pictures from her, including one of a wolf's head.
More than 100 South Hampton Roads residents, three churches, two credit unions and three schools are collecting lint for her.
She calls it the "ultimate in recycling," taking stuff that people throw away and "making something beautiful of it, just as the Lord has done with us."
Vasile has an art degree and teaches art at Glenwood and Fairfield elementary schools. Her favorite medium used to be oils. She first collected lint in the spring, intending to use it to teach papermaking. The lint was too dusty to use safely around students, so she took two bags home.
Now she works up to three nights a week at her kitchen table, wearing a mask and goggles. She works only after her three daughters - ages 6, 8 and 10 - have gone to bed, and she keeps her husband away, too. "Don't do this at home," she advises.
Often she begins by spreading lint out on the table and studying it. She may see a brown for an earth background, or a blue for a sky. Some black lint came with sparkles in it, making a perfect night sky with stars.
Hardly any tools are required. Sometimes she tears the lint; sometimes she cuts it with scissors. The layers stick to each other like Velcro, so no backing is needed. She applies a sealant when the pieces are finished and then they are double-matted, framed and fronted with glass.
Some are fairly detailed. One, for example, shows a boat, sea gulls and a little girl sitting on a rock and painting on an easel. Others are more abstract, like the one she thought depicted a buoy on water. The person who bought it said it looked more like a woman in a dress walking across a white field.
There are seascapes, portraits, snapshots of everyday life, Monet-style scenes, depictions of Bible stories and animal pictures.
Pieces take anywhere from 3 1/2 to 10 hours to create and range in size from 5 by 7 inches to 22 by 26 inches.
Three Virginia Beach stores carry Vasile's lint pictures, and she also brings them to people's homes.
At one time, Vasile thought she was the first artist to work in dryer lint. She has since heard that someone in another state was doing a full-sized lint picture of John Wayne.
"I don't know what the limits are," she said.
by CNB