Watching this blog, Great Green Goods, (a shopping site for the earth friendly consumer)
and some of the ideas there are simply amazingly creative thinking by some enterprising minds. The concept is to use old, discarded materials to create new products, which are then sold. I can see a market for the idea of ‘recycled’ products and that time and labor goes into the making of the product. Even so, I chaffe a bit at the idea of it still being ‘consumer’ oriented, in that the products are for purchase. I suppose though if society at large were to restrain buying to recycled products only, it would change the face of the ‘open market’.
Shamelessly harvesting some of the ideas I liked from Great Green Goods below. Many more ideas at their blog and go see for yourselves. I chose only some of the items that appealed to me and captured my imagination.
Recycled sari materials made into little tubes of fabric are stitched together for this unusual colorful scarf. at Viva Terra
Five different vintage tablecloths are used to make up this cute summertime skirt at Ekochic.
recycled denim clothing by artist, MissMalaprop – find at Dismantled Designs
On the left is a cute number created from recycled vintage soccer shirts. On the right is recycled, reconstructed military sleeves. At Particle Clothing.
Stuffed penquin critter created from clean recycled sweaters and stuffed with recycled polyester and more at Eco Artware.
Recycled soup cans; an inspired artist and get eco friendly garden illumination at VivaTerra
T-shirt quilts created from recycled vintage t-shirts at stitch’T
Purses created from reclaimed and recycled men’s suit coats at her Etsy shop Mandinka Designs.
Picture frames are created from reclaimed ceiling tins at
Ecofriendly Quilts – Recycled Cashmere reuse and recycle cashmere sweaters. Made by artist, Moonching Wu from Sun Moon Lake Goods.
Holiday Tags from magazine photos and patterns. This collection of Halloween tags (not one of my favorite holidays, but photo depicts the possibilities) at Recycleeh’s Etsy Shop
These rugs, created from recycled sweaters. at Viva Terra
Using ‘magazine beads’, (google to find instructions for tutorial on how to make rolled up magazine beads), crafters are making necklaces, bracelets, mirror frames, photo frames. I’m not bringing the many photos here, except the one above to show idea of ‘magazine beads’. It seems straightforward enough an idea that if you can roll the magazine beads, you can create jewelry and other kinds of fun decor items. Link – Free Kids Crafts - for ez tutorial how to make magazine or paper beads to get anyone started. From there you can use the beads to make items as fanciful, sophisticated, whimsical, cosmopolitan as your imagination permits.
Decorative, colorful and fun mobiles are constructed from the detailed selection of imagery from recycled magazine pages. Each mobile is a handmade labor of love taking up to eight hours to construct. at Frazier and Wing
Created from beads made from recycled magazines,at Novica.com
These are made from the folks at JuicyWallets.
From Dynomighty Design, wallets made from Tyvek
It is that annoying tough material that is used for express mail envelopes. The great story behind Tyvek is that it is made from 25% post-consumer recycled content.
Recycled wallets made from recycled tires, tennis balls and red sox tickets. You got trash? They’ll make you a wallet. Made by hand in Kansas City.
Prices vary at Refinding
