Here's an article in the local paper today about the "dryer lint lady"!
http://www.poconorecord.com/apps/pbcs.d ... S/11220307
For most people, laundry is nothing more than an everyday task. For Heidi Hooper of Stroudsburg, an excess of laundry has become more artform than chore.
Hooper is known as the "dryer lint lady" and is featured in Ripley's "Believe It or Not" book, "Enter If You Dare," for her unusual dryer-lint art, which she creates using only one arm.
In 1999, her career as a silversmith was cut short when she was diagnosed with a rare cancer called Desmoid Tumor.
She had to give up her work after her first big operation. Radiation treatments were so invasive that they ate away two tri-muscles (the skinny muscles under the bone) in her right arm, which was basically liquefied.
Ripley's "Believe It or Not" features people who have "strange" and "unusual" talents, so Hooper has mixed feelings about being in the book.
"It reinforces the idea that I'm a 'freak' and not an artist," she said. "There is a different artistic philosophy going on with what I do."
She has a bachelor's degree in sculpture with a minor in art history and a master's degree in foundry.
Hooper received her placement in the book for being the only person in the world working with dryer lint using a flat picture.
First, a picture is drawn on a mapboard and dryer lint is slowly added. It is held on with tacky glue and eventually sticks to itself from the pressure.
"The lint comes from all over the country," Hooper said. "I don't know who most of the people are who send me dryer lint. They read about what I do online and send it in."
She has 425 boxes of color-coded dryer lint in her house. Hooper said the boxes are lined up all along the hallway going downstairs, and also above her dryer.
"I am starting to run out of room," she said, laughing.
The cancer has prevented Hooper from doing the silversmith work that she once loved. She explains that it gradually became more and more painful to hold the hammer.
"Right before the operation I wasn't sleeping well because the pain was so bad," she said.
Hooper goes to the University of Pennsylvania hospital for treatments.
"There was serious nerve rerouting in order to use my hand, and I am numb from the last two fingers on my hand and up," she said. "Muscle was taken out of my back to protect the bone in my arm. If I were to fall, the bone would shatter."
Hooper got started using dryer lint after some chenille throws were accidentally washed and there were huge piles of colorful fluff.
After trying several media to still remain an artist, she decided to separate the lint into cardboard boxes and give this a try.
"Being an artist is all I know, and there aren't many choices for me, given my situation," she said.
The limitations with her right hand due to cancer have caused Hooper to use long-nosed tweezers to make her art. One thing she found was if the lint gets wet, it sticks everywhere.
When Hooper brings her work to galleries, she usually shows between 12 and 15. The pieces generally fetch from $200 to $400.
Some proceeds are given to animal rescues, particularly Creature Comforts in Saylorsburg. Hooper and her husband live with several cats, and she says the cats have been a great comfort throughout her struggle with cancer.
"We always knew when the cancer was back," she said. "I had a cat who would lay its paw on top of my arm and every time I turned around the cat was next to me. This happened every time the cancer returned."
Despite her obstacle, Hooper pushes forward and remains optimistic.
"I was only able to take so much depression from the cancer before I forced myself to get up and continue going," she said.
