Green Options » earrings

Recycled Bottle Cap Earrings

Allison Boyer — Sat, 09 May 2009 07:32:16 +0000

These earrings, made from recycled bottle caps, are cute and give you a chance to tell others about the cause. Says the artist:

My designs hope to spread positive messages not only in the image design, but with the interaction you will have with others when you wear them. More importantly, they are a small donation to Mother Earth by helping conserve her resources.

You can find tons of designs on her website, and the prices are extremely affordable. On top of being recycled, she donates part of her profits to The Adelante Foundation, which helps women living in poverty.

Trashed Pop & Juice Containers Convert to Fashionable Jewelry

Delia Montgomery — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 02:19:39 +0000

This creative artist is hot, IT, green, and canny! Jewelry designer Victoria Spleet-Lenz doesn’t mass produce. In fact, she individually hand-crafts every item with recycled aluminum pop and juice cans. Each piece is exclusive, elegant and unique.

New Life for Old CDs

Becky H — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 21:18:31 +0000

This is a guest post by Becky Haas, who is an amateur crafter/environmentalist who also tries to make a living as a professional musician. You can also find her at the craft blog Sew and So.

I have a confession to make…I’m addicted to music. I guess it comes naturally, since that’s what I spend a lot of my time doing. So I always love it when I stumble across a craft project that uses music-related materials, like Kelly Rand’s recent article on things to do with old cassette tapes.

By this point, I don’t have too many old tapes lying around, but what I do have is a lot of CDs–most of which I still listen to. But we all have those CDs that are too scratched up to play properly, or came free in the mail with unwanted software, or have those songs that seriously tempt you to throw the disc out the window if you hear them just one more time, if it wouldn’t be considered littering. So here’s a couple of ideas for things to do with them.

My first thought was jewelry, and it turns out that it’s pretty easy to transform an old CD into that. Here’s what you need for a very basic set of earrings and a necklace:

Glass Bottles Turn Useful Again

Kelly Rand — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 17:00:41 +0000

–Don’t forget! Carnival of Green Crafts is fast approaching. Send in your submissions now.–

Out of all the items found in my recycle bin, glass bottles are the ones that puzzle me the most. I know that we can make plastic beer rings into beautiful silver necklaces and the bottle caps into pendants and pincushions but what about the bottle itself?

Glass is one of those crafts that is very elusive to me. First there is the process of creating it which involves very high temperatures, taking hot molten glass and using tools that, by necessity, keep you at a far distance. Second, there is a certain aesthetic that glass caries that just isn’t my cup of tea.

I am definitely intrigued by the process of glass making and have spent much time interrogating friends that have taken glass blowing workshops. I am oddly fascinated by it, even if I’m not attracted to it aesthetically. Juliet got me thinking with John Bassett’s glass sculptures but I wanted more. That is why I was pleased as punch to come across a group of Etsy sellers that recycle empty glass bottles and turn them into a variety of wonderful and quirky objects.

Weekend Review: Palma Collection Jewelry

Victoria Everman — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 16:43:54 +0000

With all the media attention on "blood diamonds" and unsustainable metals, a more natural option has become necessary. Wood jewelry has been popular for many years, but as clear-cutting takes the spotlight, these options can hardly be labeled as sustainable.

The Palma Collection, based out of La Jolla, California, is pioneering a new, versatile option for green accessories - tagua nuts. The "fruit" of a particular breed of palm tree in tropical South America, tagua nuts are referred to as vegetable ivory and it widely used as a replacement for inhumane elephant ivory. "The nut is harvested seasonally, only after it falls off the palm tree. Furthermore, it’s non-toxic," according to the company’s website. While used specifically by the Palma Collection to make jewelry, the tagua is often used for buttons and figurines as well.

Alvaro Toledo from Palma also gave me some insight on the treatment and benefits for the workers in Columbia that make the jewelry.

All the artisans are paid a living wage and they are hired as permanent employees so they can get all benefits as required by the laws in Colombia. This includes paid vacations, sick days, and a bonus at the end of the year. Additionally, the manufacturer we deal with provides such benefits as: providing economic help for employees’ kids under 18 years of age during the beginning of the year for school materials; yoga workshops to improve the posture of employees; teaching of exercises to rest the back and head; option of paid work at home on Saturdays so employees can share more time with their families; and workshops about human values.

But what about the jewelry? Don’t worry, I was getting to that. Alvaro was nice enough to send me three of the very affordable and stylish necklaces from their first collection. Ranging from $10-$44 for each piece, earrings and bracelets, along with the aforementioned necklaces, comprise the Palma Collection. Other than the impeccable, vivid colors I was greeted with, the most arresting characteristic is how lightweight tagua nut jewelry is.

For clarification’s sake, I’m not one to wear jewelry - why, I’m still not sure, but it seems needless most of the time. I also happen to favor classic and somewhat simplistic style, letting the person beneath the clothing and accessories shine thorough. So, now that we have that out of the way, I can safely say that you will be able to catch me walking around San Francisco with a Palma Collection necklace hanging from my neck. Why? Because the beauty of nature only stands to enhance the bit of beauty that humanity has left within itself. From a logistical standpoint, you barely notice that you are wearing anything until someone stops and says, "hey, great necklace!" (I can’t even begin to tell you how many times that has happened in the past week.)

So, how do you end a review here on Green Options? Well, if we are going to use a star system, I would give them a 3.5 out of 5. Pros: natural ingredients and dyes, fair labor, "uber" stylish, comfortable for everyone. Cons: No fair trade certification (will help sales and brand credability, I bet).

UPDATE: The Palma Collection was so happy with this review that they’ve extended a special offer to GO users: enter the coupon code "greenoptions" (without the quotation marks) at check out, and you’ll receive 10% off of orders placed by September 1st.