Jenny Eng, Scene 360: If you had to describe your style in about 10 words or less, what would those words be?

Twinkie Chan: I was driving in my car one evening, and (right before I got pulled over for rolling a stop sign) I came up with this word for my work: Cute-ilitarian (Cutilitarian?). Cute + Utilitarian. Yummy and useful. Form with Function.

As for my personal style: Coolest Girl in Second Grade.

How did you first start crocheting and specifically how did it come about that you started creating food-themed pieces?

My best friend’s grandmother taught us to crochet when she was babysitting us in San Diego more than 20 years ago. I think she was just trying to keep us occupied, but it was something that I always held onto, especially if I needed a fun gift in a pinch. What really got me going in 2005 was scarves. It gets pretty cold in SF, but I found most store-bought scarves really boring, so I started making my own. Yarn colors and yarn textures already evoked food imagery in my food-obsessed brain, so I just took it one step further and made my designs actually take food form. Since the beginning, I’ve just made things that I would like to wear.

Counter-clockwise from top left: Heart-shaped Sugar Cookie Pins, Sugar Cookie Pin, Pear Scarf.

Where do you find your inspiration, and what do you do about it? Walk us through a typical Twinkie Chan project, from ideation to the sale of it.

Inspiration and food are everywhere! I store up so many ideas and never have enough time to execute them. I might get an idea in my head, like a black forest cake scarf that I am working on right now, and then look online for reference pictures if I don’t know yet exactly how I want to lay something out, where the cake layers go, how to decorate the cake, etc. After looking at reference pictures, I will make a rudimentary sketch of a scarf swatch with Photoshop. The colors and shapes are basic so that I can start breaking down how I will put everything together and figure out which stitches to use. My sketches are notoriously horrible, but they help me a lot to in translating something 3D into something 2D that is manageable for me to create with crochet. When I was really young, I remember reading a book about how to draw, and the advice in it that I have kept remembering to this day is that it helps to break down objects into basic shapes, and you just imagine the world as a collection of triangles, rectangles, and circles.

Top: Twinkie assembling a Black Forest Cake scarf (Eds: Twinkie has a lot of yarn to choose from!). Bottom: Twinkie working on a Pink-frosted Tissue Box Cozy.

Then begins the process of crocheting. Sometimes I just have to make stuff up as I go, and take notes as I go, so that I can ultimately write a pattern in my notebook. There is a lot of trial and error for me. Sometimes I give up on a piece and start over entirely, or I’ll have to take out rows and rows of work to get things exactly how I want. It’s all part of the process, but I’m really anal about how everything looks. So once I have one scarf segment figured out (if it’s a segmented scarf like cupcakes or cookies), it’s time to reproduce at least 12-18 more segments for the whole scarf. This can involve a lot of appliqué, or felt-cut outs, or pompom gluing, depending on the design. I usually make scarves so that they fit me the way I like. Fortunately I haven’t heard anyone complain that they are too long or too short! I tend to not like very wide scarves because I have a short neck, so that is why you might notice that I mostly make long and skinny scarves! I recently told someone that I know I’m on the right track when I can start to smell the food I am crocheting, like the scent of whipped cream or pizza just suddenly appears in my nose. That’s when you know it’s working!

When the scarf is finished, it’s time sew on my label, take self-timer photos when the light is good, and then put together graphics for selling the item. It’s always hard to let the items go, but it’s also fun and very gratifying when someone wants to buy them.

Screenshot of TwinkieChan.com, as designed by Twinkie.

Where can we find (and buy!) your work?

I used to only sell on eBay because I was always afraid to determine the price of my own work! But people kept complaining the prices went too high, and I noticed that the same few people were always winning the auctions. So I re-designed my website, www.TwinkieChan.com, and made a vow to keep it stocked with goodies more often, although, I must admit, I haven’t really been meeting my goal! I also started to consign at other sites, like the currently defunct www.oncherrylane.co.uk and the not defunct www.oakboston.com. I would like to branch out and consign more, but then there’s the pesky problem of keeping my own site brimming with goodies. I would say the best way for people to keep tabs on where to buy my work is to sign up for my mailing list. I don’t SPAM, and whenever I have some stuff available, I send out a short note with links.

Pepperoni pizza scarf.

How much time does it take you to create one of your scarves and do you think you get a good enough return on the time you invest in your projects? If not, why do you keep doing this?

It’s really hard to gauge how much time it takes to create one item, because I have terrible crafting ADD and tend to work on several projects at once and rotate. I would guesstimate at minimum 6 hours of work, up to 8-10. When the bidding gets really crazy and high on eBay, I definitely feel like there’s a great return. However, if I try to keep my pricing somewhat reasonable, the return starts to get iffy. But even if nobody ever bought any of my items again, I’m in a state now where I’d make things anyway. My first measuring stick for anything I work on is: Does this delight me? Would I wear/use this? So it sounds kind of selfish, but if my work delights myself, then it’s all worth it. I think that’s kind of the point, if art is a means of personal expression. I never started to crochet scarves because I had the intent to sell them. I just made them because I thought they were funny, and I had to bring what was in my head to life.

I’ve been a huge fan of your scarves and have followed your auctions on eBay for years now—the closing prices have climbed steadily despite a continually flagging economy, upwards of $300 for a scarf. This puts a lot of your work out of reach of most people. What are your thoughts on this?

Well, there are a lot of paintings and prints that I would like, but are also out of my price range :), and that’s sort of the breaks. But, yes, the high pricing on eBay has its pros and its cons, which is why I am trying to make a better effort about splitting my items between eBay and twinkiechan.com. My set pricing may still be out of some people’s reach, but there is a lot of time and love and creativity put into each item, and I do my best to come to some kind of middle ground. I also hope that smaller items like pins or pouches or t-shirts can be more accessible to more people, but I do also notice that it’s the scarves everyone asks about most.

Counter-clockwise from top: Pepperoni Pizza scarf, Spaghetti & Meatballs scarf, Steak purse.

The demand for your work clearly exceeds your supply of it—have you considered getting your work licensed and mass-produced for sale at retail outlets? Why or why not?

I have definitely considered this and am actually in the process of working with someone, though nothing is concrete yet. I know that there is the issue of selling out, of not having 100% control of your work and your business, but on the upside, I would have so much more time to design and expand into different kinds of items, rather than toil day in and day out just making a million cupcake scarves and feeling stagnant. I really like the idea of moving forward, and I’m not afraid of change. I’m at sort of a “What the hell!” part of my life right now, so I’m trying to be open-minded.

Your work plays on the theme of food and the pieces are often incredibly cute—what role do you think cute objects (and, in particular, cute, anthropomorphized food objects) have in our lives? What do you think accounts for their popularity in our culture? When I first saw Junior Senior’s video for “Move Your Feet” I completely thought of you, btw.

Oooh, I’d never seen that video. It made me want to eat a hot dog!
I have often though about this, and I have no idea why throwing a face on a piece of food makes it cute and delightful. On a side-note, I considered early on putting faces on my food scarves, and then decided against it because I wanted my items to still be cute without faces. Personally, anthropomorphized food reminds me of Pee Wee Herman’s refrigerator! Without having the psychological or social knowledge to break down why we like cute things, I would just [say] that they are popular because they bring us happiness, plain and simple. Cute things make you smile. They fill your heart a little. They buy you a little bit of silly, personal peace. Perhaps they remind you of your childhood, of innocence. I find that a lot of people in our generation have a sort of “I don’t want to grow up” mentality. It’s hard to be a grown-up these days!

Bread n Butter scarf.

In the past several years, there’s been a huge surge in crafting—why do you think this is?

I think it is due to that economy you referenced earlier, and sticking it to The Man by making things yourself. I grew up with the women in family saying, “Go home and make it” to us when we went shopping, and I think this is a philosophy that is adopted more and more, which is neat, because everyone likes unique items, and crafters put so many cool, individual spins on their items. Also, all old-school/nerdy things become cool. So if your granny did it and wore it, it’s probably cool.

Who are your favorite artists and craftspeople? This can cut across all genres and media.

One of my major inspirations has been Heidi Kenney of mypapercrane.com (plush, hand spun yarns, paintings). I think she was one of the earliest DIYers that I started to follow/idolize, and she is so talented and nice. I remember thinking to myself, “If she can do it, I can do it!” I’m dying to own a piece by Naoshi. She is a Japanese artist who makes these fabulous and cute sand paintings. Also Nouar. I’m dying to own something of hers. Of course, it’s food-related. Right now, one of my favorite indie clothing designers is Kelly Eident of I’m Your Present. I consider her an artist. I bought a kitty dress from her that is basically the cutest thing ever.

Artwork by Heidi Kenney of mypapercrane.com.

Where do you see your work going in the next few years? I hear rumors of a book? Your work to be sold at boutiques? What’s fact and what’s fiction?

Ah, the book! Well, it’s fiction now :). I was going to work on a book with a friend who worked at a publisher a few years ago, but then the person who I might work with for licensing suggested to maybe hold off on that, so I am for now, although I would LOVE to work on one and hand-illustrate it! I definitely would like to be in more boutiques. I get requests all the time from boutiques, both in the U.S. and abroad, but I can’t really commit to that until I get more help on the production end. I’m actually trying out an “assistant” right now, and we’ll see how that goes. It was definitely hard to make that decision because I want all my items to be made by me personally, but it would be too hard to expand anywhere with that mindset. Fingers crossed that my helper works out! This industry is so new to me, that it’s hard to predict what can happen in a few years, but I hope for big things as far as licensing. I just participated in my first group art show, Sugarcraft, at Kasia Kay in Chicago, and it would be fun to participate in more of those as well.

Green Salad scarf and Strawberry Shortcake scarf.

Here’s a question that I think many of Scene 360’s readers struggle with which isn’t necessarily related to your work, but is more about your Twinkie Chan persona. Many people don’t know this, but your day job has nothing to do with yarn. How do you keep it all separate? Do you find that one persona’s activities can adversely affect another’s? And what advice do you have for people trying to maintain balance in their lives?

I don’t think it should be too surprising that most crafters can’t live solely on their crafts and probably have another source of income. But I think due to my appearance, it might seem more strange that I went to Stanford, or that my day job is in a rather conservative industry like publishing, or that I can sort of pull off being a business woman when needed :). My boss is a very well-coiffed woman in a tailored, designer suit, and while I’d love to be able to pull that off, I just can’t really come by that honestly, but I still feel very lucky to be involved in the publishing world as a literary agent. I get to help writers realize their dreams, but as Twinkie Chan, I get to realize my own.

I find that the lynch pin of this identity-crisis issue is the Internet. With the Internet, it’s much easier for your “selves” to start overlapping and blending. It’s much more difficult to hide your personas. I tend to not discuss Twinkie Chan’s existence with my agency clients, but if I’ve met one of them in person, she might recognize me in a web banner for ShanaLogic.com that has been all over the place, like Cute Overload or Perez Hilton. If you go to ShanaLogic, you can also found out that my “name” is Twinkie Chan, and then you’ve just opened up an exciting box of worms about your literary agent’s alter ego. So far, my clients just think it’s delightful, and I hope none of them think that I am not giving them the support and time that they deserve for their projects! However, without the Internet, I would not have the exposure for Twinkie Chan that I have managed to acquire, so for that, I am so appreciative of the world wide web.

When I was first making stock in 2005 to open www.TwinkieChan.com, I was working full time, commuting, crocheting at home, and also studying for the LSAT because I thought I wanted to go to law school! Finding balance in all of that was actually quite invigorating, although my boyfriend at the time didn’t really appreciate my lack of time for him, I think.
I’m still struggling to balance everything, even though I have cut back some of my office hours to devote more time to my craft. In addition, some of my crafty friends have asked me to model their items for them, and I recently got paid for the first time to model shirts and accessories for a website, and am now starting to photograph other models for this site as well. It is all really fun, and I like being open to new things, but it is one more thing that takes up time, and I have to be careful about that.

Sometimes you have to learn to say no; that’s a tough lesson! But you have to remember what is most important to you, and what elements of your life are most valuable. If you spread yourself too thin, you’ll just start sucking at everything. I would mostly advise people with artistic/crafty interests to treat that hobby like a second job. Make yourself a schedule. Stick to it. Kick yourself in the pants once in a while. The crafty stuff is fun, but it’s still work, too!

What is your favorite food (to eat—not knit! :) and where do you get your fill of it?

Oh gosh. I am still on the lookout for the BEST BROWNIE, soft, warm, milky. I’m still searching. Also I love FRENCH FRIES, from McDonald’s. The problem with a favorite is that I am pretty ok with eating a lot of things. I’m a grazer. I’ll eat anything. Cold. Out of the can. I just started a new side blog, too, www.IEatYuckyStuff.com. I think food is hilarious. I’ve eaten frog ovaries but I’m not saying they’re my favorite…

You’ve designed your own website, work by day as a literary agent, crochet like a fiend, run your own small business, and model on the side. What other kick-ass skills do you think we should know about?

Dog Whisperer! I kid. But I have two dogs now, and the one we raised from a pup is really well-behaved, and I’m kind of proud of that. Still working on the rescue dog…fingers-crossed. I am by default sort of learning how to design clothing, starting with secret hoodie projects. I’m getting a little more into photography by default since I take all my own product photos—although I am afraid of my DSLR. I’m really good at recognizing obscure actors in random movies. There’s a lot of imdb.com fact-checking in my house! I’m also the family essay editor. I’ve helped my brother and all my cousins edit their college entrance essays. And in case anyone asks, I’m a terrible cook.

Please share with us your five all-time favorite pieces and please tell us a bit more about them.

This is tough because I get excited about anything new, so the new things are always my favorite!

1. My first Sugar Cookie Scarf: it was the first time I actually wrote down a pattern. It was really simple, but I was excited that I could actually do this!
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

2. My first Green Salad Scarf: I made this during the work/crochet/LSAT crunch. I remember staying in on Halloween to work on it. A bunch of us watched The Grudge and I sat there crocheting in the dark. I’ve made a lot of salad scarves as gifts for my family. Actually, I think I still owe one of my cousins one!
   
   
   
   
   
   

3. The Baked Ham Scarf with Pineapple Ring Brooches—Man, this scarf got no love on eBay, but I thought it was brilliant! It inspired me to work on tissue box cozies because I loved making the pineapple rings and wanted to make a pineapple upside down cake tissue box cover.
   
   
   
   
   
   

4. The Pepperoni Pizza Scarf: there is something epic about this one. There’s no real story behind it. If I ever had time to make a scarf for myself, I’d make a pepperoni pizza. My boyfriend suggested trying to make the crust bubbly, which I ended up doing. It was more difficult to create the pattern for it, but the challenge turned out great. Sewing on all the little pepperonis took forever, but I swear I could smell pizza while I was making it. I think it was also one of the first scarves I made when I first met my boyfriend, and I was proud of scarf and thought, “This dude’s gonna know how bad ass I am.”
   
   
   
   

5. The Steak Purse: it was the first purse I ever tried to make and it turned out pretty successful! It was also the first time I tried a process called “fulling” (or felting) in which you take an item crocheted or knit out of 100% wool and then agitate it in hot water and shrink it into a sturdy fabric. I learned a lot of new skills. At the time I didn’t have my own washing machine with adjustable knobs, so I fulled/felted the steak purse at my parents’ house in their machine. I think they thought that was pretty weird.