The lids don’t fit properly once they’re opened, which is a shame, or I could use them to store the food we’re making. The necks are smaller than the jars, which makes it annoying to feed him out of them, or I could use them as dishes. (Might do that anyway, actually, since we tossed out all the plastic in the kitchen a while back thanks to reports about safety issues on our sister blog Eco Child’s Play.)

While I investigate other brands in hopes of better reusability, what the heck can I do with all these bitty jars?

Yes, candles, I know. We don’t burn any in our house. What else? According to the internets, I can also glue stuff on them to make them look like reindeer, snowmen, turkeys, or Santa Claus. Slightly out of season, I’m afraid. If the lids fit, I could definitely make progress on some areas of our home with a baby food jar organizer or two, so that’s something to keep in mind for the future. Speaking of the lids, if I had a small army of slightly larger children, I could use them up by making baby food jar lid finger cymbals. If we’re ever invaded, I should be able to buy myself some time with that project. Then there will be noise.

Really, though, what’s an eco-crafty mom to do?

I love these firefly lights, and you could green them up by skipping the fireflies so you don’t use paint (or would milk paint bond to glass?). Candles outside would be a sweet look for a party, supposing that I ever get organized enough to host one.

If people can make chandeliers from yogurt cups, plastic spoons, and ping pong balls, as well as teacups, and milk jugs and a hula hoop, I’m sure there’s a light fixture idea out there for baby food jars. I just don’t want to unleash my husband to figure it out until he’s finished installing the safety gate at the top of the stairs.

This baby food jar sewing kit is too cute. You can find instructions for a similar pincushion effect on Cut Out + Keep. I don’t imagine I’d need more than one, though. And I could buy this cute blue one on Etsy if I really want one.

Also on Etsy, grass in a baby food jar! Brilliant, and the paintings on the jars are lovely.

I don’t want to invoke the wrath of the Fake Plastic Flower Death Squad, but these baby food jar gardens offer some possibilities. You can probably score them at thrift stores or steal them out of my sister’s house, ’cause honestly, she’s WAY too cool to have silk flower arrangements for decoration. (Rebecca, consider this a public intervention.) However, I’d prefer to see these re-imagined as tiny dioramas, 3-d collages, or what have you. You can mount paper or paper affixed to cardstock on popsicle sticks or something similar but green - perhaps chopsticks?

In the end, I know the best option is to REDUCE before looking for ways to reuse and recycle (though we are recycling, of course). These ideas, though, give me some hope that I can make my limited supply of jars into something lovely.

It has gone beyond being relegated to the novel and expanded into all other aspects of art and design, making it’s way into fashion as well. The style is most often characterized by the use of found and repurposed objects, open circuitry and exposed gear cogs. There is also a blog devoted to all things steampunk called The Steampunk Workshop.

The mentality of do-it-yourself, that is pervasive within steampunk, is what helps this aesthetic cross into green culture. The clothes, jewelry and moded phones and computers are all created with vintage or thrifted items to achieve the proper “look.”

Growing up, my mother had several pieces of jewelry that she no longer wore. Not wanting to get rid of them because several pieces had sentimental value, she searched out what to do with the hardly worn items.

She happened upon a woman that would take old jewelry and recreate miscellaneous items into beautiful new pendents and pins from the old. My mother had at least two pieces created from this woman. The resulting products contained gem stones, pearls and gear parts from old watches. Who knew that my mother was at the beginning of an aesthetic culture called steampunk?

Adjowah Brodi of the Weekend Store offers beautiful handmade items typical of steampunk, such as cufflinks made from old watch parts and bracelets made from old watch faces.

Etsy is also chock full of steampunk influenced handmade items. Dust Design Co offers beautiful pendents (pictured above) and rings, also made from vintage watch parts. They are simply elegant in their nakedness.

Steampunk characteristics have also found a home in clothing too. Check out Bonzie, who specializes in thrifted and upcycled fabrics to create steampunk clothes. I am currently enamored with their antique tapestry jeans jacket (pictured), made with antique fabrics and frilly lace trim.

Image credit: Dust Design Co and Bonzie, respectively.

The three categories that determine a product’s green-ness are health, sustainability, and energy.  Health takes into account the product’s offgassing of VOCs, or volatile organic compounds, especially urea-formaldehyde.  In order to even consider something as green, it must contain very low to no VOCs.  Sustainability looks at the life cycle of the materials used not just in the final product but in the manufacturing process as well.  Products that are made from recycled materials or renewable resources fall into this category, as well as products whose manufacturing process embraces sustainability.  Energy includes the water and energy usage of products such as plumbing fixtures and appliances, as well as the product’s embodied energy, which takes into account the energy used to produce and deliver the product.

Step 1: Design. If possible, design the kitchen with plenty of energy efficient windows or a skylight to maximize natural light and give you that important connection to the green outdoors (or the red bricks of the building next door.)  For indoor air quality, make sure your hood vents to the outside rather than recirculating the air.

Step 2:  Cabinets. We are in an in-between phase right now where the major cabinet manufacturers realize they need to go formaldehyde-free but are still a few years away from mass production.  Currently, formaldehyde-free cabinet choices are limited, and Neil Kelly Cabinets stands out as the leader.  They offer Forest Stewardship Council certified wood cabinets with low VOCs.  Midwesterners might choose to go with ultra low VOC wheatboard cabinets manufactured in Kansas by Koch Cabinets.

Step 3:  Countertops. Silestone offers several colors with recycled content, one as high as 70%, which makes the GREENGUARD certified countertop one of the greenest.  But IceStone recycled glass and concrete countertops, with their  Cradle-to-Cradle Certification, take the crown as  the greenest among an ever growing list of green countertops.  Not just limited to countertops, IceStone has earned points for LEED’s “innovation in design” credit.

Step 4:  Flooring. I’m not quite sold on bamboo, yet.  I do, however, like some of the cool patterns you can get with cork and linoleum.  But the green flooring that impresses me the most is reclaimed wood flooring by Terramai.  Offering a stunning mix of FSC certified wood from around the world, Terramai promotes conservation and sustainable building.  Not limited to flooring, Terramai’s reclaimed wood creates a mosaic of wood in a cool mix of colors.

Step 5:  Appliances. Because of the advances in energy efficiency in appliances, it is often better to replace your old energy wasting appliances, especially refrigerators, with new models.  Visit the ENERGY STAR website for appliance lists, which show energy savings by model.  For dishwashers, some of Bosch and Asko’s models are at least 140% more energy and water efficient than the federal standard.  Fisher & Paykel sells dish drawers that can save water and energy if you just use one for small loads.  (And yes, most energy saving dishwashers are more efficient than washing your dishes by hand.)  For the cutting edge on refrigerator energy efficiency, check out Sun Frost, whose refrigerators are by a large margin the most energy efficient on the market - and they’re ready for solar, wind, or standard power inputs.

Step 6:  Plumbing. Although the EPA’s WaterSense program doesn’t rate kitchen faucets, you can choose to install an aerator or go with a touchless faucet.  While stainless steel and cast iron sinks contain recycled material, I’ve become a fan of recycled content hammered copper sinks that over time can develop a natural patina that is, you guessed it, green.

Step 7:  Accessories. Recycled glass tile can make for a beautiful backsplash.  Instead of a trash compactor, stick one of these home composters from Sun Frost right outside your kitchen door.  Many of the products listed above can be used in creative and innovative ways.  IceStone can be used as a backsplash.  Terramai can be used as paneling.

Please offer your own thoughts on making your kitchen as green as possible below.

Related Posts:

• Green Counter Culture
• Green Cabinets:  When Wood is Good
• Low Impact Living:  Green Your Kitchen

Photo source:  RSI Kitchen & Bath.  Used with Permission.

1) Gather your bags. I separated mine by color, but why not go crazy and mix and match?

2) Start by cutting off the handles and the bottom of the bag. The result will be a nice smooth rectangle, as the bottom gatherings will have been removed.

3) Cut the bag into long strips of “yarn.” You can do this two different ways. One is to cut the bag in one continuous spiral or the other is to cut the bag in a zig-zag pattern as in the picture. Then cut along the yellow lines to get one long strip of plastic.

The spiral method makes a more uniform strip where the zig-zag cut makes the yarn more free-form and lumpy. I like this best because it gives the final project a bit more character.

4) Ball your yarn. I made a center pull ball with my yarn which was no different than with other yarns and the pieces easily tied together with simple square knots.

5) Begin knitting!

Words of wisdom: This yarn is a bit unpredictable. Casting on it’s a bit stiff and doesn’t stretch and move as easily in the process as real yarn. Be careful not to pull your stitches and make them too big. Once you get going, it is relatively easy to use, though. If you are a tight knitter, you might want to double up on your needles or use a bigger needle for your stitches as the yarn is a bit hard to move on and off the needles. It can be both slippery and un-slippery at the same time.

You can also find plarn for sale on Etsy from smallboxdesigns and silverblayze, just to name a few. Use your new plarn with some amazing patterns from My Recycled Bags, a blog that we all love. Try the cute Ribbon Sling Bag or how about a dishcloth?

Have other ideas that plarn would be good for? Leave them in the comments!

Ok, good. That’s just about everyone.

Raise your hand if you try and reuse them for random things like other trash bags and carrying lunch to work?

Great! I think that’s still a good chunk of you.

Now, raise your hand if you still have all these bags and still don’t know what to do with them but refuse to throw them away?

Yup, that’s what I thought.

Well you’re in luck because this week I am going to explore a bit about what to do with all those plastic bags. I’ve already told you about Conserve, a wonderful company that employs rag pickers in India to pick up plastic bags and then uses the bags to create the most amazing purses and totes. I’ve always wondered how to make bags out of plastic and knew that it involved fusing plastic together, but that’s about it. So I started to do a bit of research into what it take to do it yourself.

From the looks of these three tutorials it seems pretty simple. All you really need to fuse plastic are your plethora of plastic bags, an iron, freezer paper, parchment paper or other scrap paper, and a well ventilated area.

Start by cutting open your bags and cutting off the handles so they will lay flat. Layer between 6 to 8 pieces of plastic together and place them between the paper of your choice. Place a hot iron down on the paper and keep it moving. You want to continue to iron until the plastic has fused into one smooth piece. Depending on your iron this varies, so keep an eye on it! Once it is all “one-piece” let it cool and you are ready to use it however you see fit.

This fused plastic is really easy to cut and sews well too. Use it as a fabric substitute for either of these patterns. Or if you just like the look of the plastic and don’t have the time or can’t possibly add another craft to your crafting repertoire, check out these Etsy sellers and their take on fused plastic.

Have you tried this technique? What did you make? Have any tips for the rest of us? Leave them in the comments!

Photo credit:I’mStillME!

What if you could guarantee exactly how much you’d get, based on how long you’ve owned it, at the time of purchase? This is now a reality, via the company Tech Forward. You can buy a product at any store you like, then purchase their Guaranteed Buyback service, which covers a wide range of electronics, from MP3 players to desktop computers.

Who would benefit from this service? Anybody, really, but here are some examples:

• You are going to be in a 2 year certificate program, and know you’ll need a laptop primarily for that, you can now do it, knowing what you’ll have coming back to you when you sell it.
• Or perhaps you are someone who is a fiend for the latest gear or worried about what you’re about to buy becoming outdated (iPod Touch, before the recently announced half price iPhone) Tech Forward’s plan allows you to buy without worry.
• The end buyer, who has a chance to get a quality piece of electronics that they can be assured is of good quality.
• The planet, with a reduced load of toxics from disposed of electronics.

And the kicker? The quoted values are only for products in what they consider “good” condition! As in if it’s what they consider excellent condition, you can get 15% more then you signed up for. What an incentive to take great care of your electronics.

So, given the fickle nature of this industry, what happens to these electronics? TechForward first work to get it sold, which I should think is fairly easy, given that not everybody needs/wants the absolute latest thing, and would be glad to get a well taken care of older device. What if they can’t sell it? Tech Forward will, “recycle, in an environmentally-friendly way, any item that cannot be resold.” I’d prefer if they said how, with who, and where, but that’s something you can ask them about if it matters to you.

But there’s one problem with TechForward. No phones allowed. What to do?

For you, FlipSwap is a great new option that goes beyond what Second Rotation offers. They have partnered with a number of electronics retailers, so that you can go into a shop, have them analyze the phone, and get instant credit, to be used in buying a new one. And FlipSwap isn’t just for single phone returns. They work with cell phone businesses that could perhaps have 1000s of phones in storage. And with both, they don’t charge shipping. From their site, it appears they are quite conscientious with recycling, should it need to happen.

If it’s found that the phone isn’t functional or sellable, FlipSwap, in addition to recycling, will plant a tree. And internally as a company, they “closely monitor our consumption of resources and continually strive to reduce waste.”

Readers: What are other ways you’ve found to responsibly and easily reuse or recycle products? Have you used either of the above services? What’s been your experience?

Additional Resources:

What to Do with Your Old Electronic Devices: Get Paid, Help Those in Need! : Ecopreneurist

How to Green Your Mail : Ecopreneurist

10 Business Practices that Reduce Your Footprint : Ecopreneurist

“More ways to spend time on the internet instead of working.” Probably true, but slightly too cheeky.

“More ways to spend time on the internet instead of crafting.” Again, probably true, or maybe I’m just projecting my personal issues?

How about: “These are cool, you should read them!”

Slightly dull, but honestly I’m a bit tired today and that may be as good as it gets. So without further ado, here are some of my personal favorite green craft blogs, big and small. Check out our blogroll for more, and feel free to add your suggestions in the comments!

The Recycled Crafts blog on the Craft Gossip network focuses on crafts that turn trash into treasure. Editor Alissa Cyphers does a great job linking to tutorials, Etsy sellers, and green crafting news. This one is fun and fresh.

The tagline on Sew and Sew is “Because I can’t find a twelve-step program for my creativity addiction.” We’re so glad Becky hasn’t yet discovered a program like this, because otherwise we’d be deprived of her fab sewing projects that repurpose clothing into new stuff.

Organic Clothing, a blog by the owners of Lotus Organics, isn’t updated very often. That’s perfectly okay, because we don’t expect anyone to write such wonderful, information packed articles every day. If you care about issues in fabric and fashion, you should check it out.

No list of green crafting blogs would be complete without including Earth Tones on Etsy. If it’s green in the wonderful world of Etsy, you’ll find it here.

Online fabric supershop Near Sea Naturals has a blog, and you really should be reading it if you want to know about new organic fabrics, trims, and sales.

My Recycled Bags is, you guessed it, about recycled bags. Cindy is all about the green crafting. She’s also dealing with breast cancer right now, so send all your good thoughts her way.

All right, now it’s your turn. What blogs do you read for green crafting inspiration?

Related posts: A Fine Mess of Indie Craft, The Eco-Crafters List of Demands, Green Crafts on BlogHer.

Just like Be Sweet, Conserve is a company with a conscience. Based in Dehli, India, Conserve employs rag pickers in the slums of the city to collect an abundant resource; discarded plastic bags (the bags are so prevalent that they clog water drains and cows will try and eat them.) The bags are then washed and prepared and made into beautiful fashion bags. The process they use to make the bags produces no extra pollution and uses less energy than conventional recycling methods.

Getting the plastic off the streets and made into bags is a win-win for Conserve. They offer income to an otherwise disenfranchised people and help clean up the streets. They use no dye in their bag making process, relying on the variety of colors and color combinations that is found on the streets instead.

Because many of the people employed by Conserve don’t have common words for different colors, Conserve named their color combinations after Indian movie stars, songs and movies. Chand (pictured above) is a cute stripped hand bag that comes in large or small in colors named: Mall and Swiss Alps.

To learn more about Conserve and the good work that they do you can read about them at Forbes and on BBC.

Images credit: Conserve.

I’m happy to report that Friends of Socktopus found a viable alternative. Handmade from recycled sweaters, these adorable soft toys are an imaginative use of an abundantly unwanted article of clothing. In their shop, you’ll also find sweater monkeys and owls, alligators…even kits to make your own.

Be sure to sign up for the “I’m a Friend oF Socktopus!” Sweepstakes on their website, and you’ll be entered to win a Deluxe Socktopus or your very own.

That’s the message from “Stop Trashing the Climate,” a report prepared by The Institute for Local Self-Reliance, the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA) and Eco-Cycle, a non-profit recycler. The study finds that waste prevention and increased recycling and composting could reduce as many greenhouse gas emissions as are produced by 21 percent of the U.S.’s 417 coal-fired power plants.

Why? There are two basic reasons. One, by trashing stuff instead of reusing or repairing it, we create the demand for new resources … and extracting, manufacturing and transporting those resources generates carbon dioxide. And, two, by tossing biodegradable materials into landfills instead of composting them, we’re creating emissions of methane, a greenhouse gas that is shorter-lived but 72 times more powerful than carbon dioxide.

“Recycling is as important for climate stability as improving vehicle fuel efficiency, retrofitting lighting, planting trees and protecting forests,” said Brenda Platt, co-director of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance and lead author of the “Stop Trashing the Climate” report.  “By avoiding landfill methane emissions, composting in particular is a vital tactic in the battle to stop Arctic ice melting. Biodegradable materials are a liability when buried and burned but an asset when composted.”

The report asserts that “A zero waste approach based on preventing waste and expanding reuse, recycling and composting is one of the fastest, cheapest, and most effective strategies to protect the climate.” It also notes that, per megawatt-hour, a trash incinerator produces more carbon dioxide emissions that a coal-fired power plant. Incinerators also waste three to five times as much energy as recycling helps to conserve.

“A zero waste approach is not only good news for climate stability, it’s also good news for America’s businesses and economy,” said Eric Lombardi, a report co-author and director of the Boulder, Colorado-based Eco-Cycle.

“Stop Trashing the Climate” urges a local and national 20-year goal of zero waste. We can get there, the authors argue, by not subsidizing landfills and incinerators, putting an end to waste incineration, composting biodegradable materials and expanding the nationwide infrastructure for reuse, recycling and composting.

As part of World Environment Day, community supporters of better recycling and composting lobbied officials in several parts of the country, including Tallahassee; Providence, Rhode Island; Bridgeport, Connecticut; Los Angeles; and Massachusetts.

Gail Gibbons is well known for her children’s non-fiction books. From Weather Forecasting to Chicks & Chickens, the text and illustrations are loaded with detailed information. Recycle! is no exception. The book begins by talking about the problem of garbage and how to dispose of it. Recycling is presented as a solution that can “cut down the amount of trash we make.” From a simple explanation of recycling, Gail breaks down the specifics of recycling paper, glass, cans, plastic, and polystyrene. She explains how each is made, recycled, and reused.

It takes lime, soda ash, and sand, called silica, to make glass. These three elements are mixed together and heated at a very high temperature to make a glassy liquid. Measured amounts, sometimes dyed, are dropped into forming machines, where the liquid hardens to make bottles and jars. Many products come in glass bottles or jars. Sometimes, when they are through being used, they are just thrown away. It would take thousands of years for them to biodegrade at a landfill. Instead, these bottles and jars could be reused. RECYCLE!

This book should be a basic primer for all Americans (including our president), no matter what the age. Learning how plastic and polystyrene never break down, or how making paper from recycled paper uses less energy and resources than making virgin pulp should be basic knowledge in these times of climate change.

As a preschool teacher, I have found Gail Gibbons’ books to be difficult for young children to understand if you read them word for word. Instead, the illustrations provide wonderful sources for developmentally appropriate discussions with young children, and the text can be read minimally to not overwhelm the children. It is important to make reading an interactive experience with young children, and Gail offers many opportunities for such interactions in her books. Older children can appreciate the full volume of information found in each book, and Recycle! is geared for children ages four to eight.

Read more about eco kids’ books:

• Teaching Your Kids to Cook

• Eco Kids’ Books: How to Turn Your Parents Green

• Eco Kids’ Books: William is Going Green

• Breaking the Princess Stereotype: Princess Bubble

Kelly has written about Ex Libris journals and Night Owl Paper Good journals, and Tara tipped us off about her friend Nicole’s recycled wallpaper journals from Freshly Blended Press. I took a spin through Etsy to see what other upcycled, recycled, and handmade journals I could discover…

Holy cow, it’s insane over there!

I had to narrow it down to journals that use recycled, found, or scrap paper inside as well as recycled material in the covers, because otherwise my brain was overloading. I didn’t even scratch the surface, but here are some of my favorites:

Lilypad Lounge has quite a few journals and notebooks that are a combination of vintage papers and found papers. The vintage postcard one looks intriguing.Ivy Lane Designs has tons of notebooks made with various themes: food, drinks, music, games, pets. I particularly love the Lime Fruit Bars one and the Crayon one and the Sweethearts one (even though I can’t eat them because they’re not vegetarian) (the candy, not the notebooks), and the root beer one and the motorcycle.

Nightjar Books makes some lovely things. The Avocado and Wool handbound journal and the two small notebooks are just gorgeous. There’s also a found paper notebook.

Cabin + cub has cute little 4×6 notebooks with squirrels, swallows, and chipmunks on them.

lamidesign makes some smooth, pretty journals. The bonsai and the blossom are my faves. (Eeek, I just admitted on the internet that I like something pink!)

If that’s not enough, here are even more to choose from:

• Green Travel Journal (pictured above)
  
• Magic Shaquille O’Neal Basketball Card Note Pad Recycled / Upcycled Journal Notebook
• Recycled post card notebook
• Mature set of 2 journals
• Monopoly Game Property Mini Journals
• The Specials Recycled Vinyl Record Journal (and you have to read the story she tells about it)

And this journal roundup would not be complete without mentioning a couple of journal makers outside the land of Etsy.

Papergeist makes notebooks from reclaimed office paper. They’re so serious about recycling, they’ll buy back the coil from your journal when you’re done with it so they can use it again in your next one. You can choose from blank, lined, a weekly calendar style, and a to-do list style. Available covers are shown in the store.

Great Green Goods just posted about the gorgeous tree-free journals from Ecopaper. I’m not entirely sure what Mango Paper and Lemon Paper are, but they sound really good.

And finally, the Rowan Morrison found paper journal. I may have to buy one of these today.

I’m sure I should have some amazing closing statement here, but all I can say is “Wow!”

EcoSpun felt is made from post-consumer recycled PET plastic bottles. It’s sold in a 72″ width for $5.99 a yard with a minimum order of one yard.

PET, in case you were wondering, is polyethylene terephthalate. PET is the plastic used to make #1 bottles. There are issues with plastic recycling, and I’d rather see fewer plastic bottles made and used in the first place, but since they exist I’m glad there are some options for using them to make new products.

Here are the color choices for EcoSpun felt: blue, yellow, gold, orange, baby pink, shocking pink, fuschia, red, ruby, baby blue, cadet blue, royal blue, navy, grape, orchid, purple, apple green, pirate green, kelly green, white, antique white, cashmere tan, cocoa brown, silver grey, charcoal, and black.

Yes, I just did all that so I could type in “pirate green.”

They also carry organic cotton and organic cotton blends (woven, stretch jersey knit, fleece, several lovely colors of canvas, and terry), hemp and hemp blends in some nice warm colors, and eco-friendly pillow forms and batting.

Other Fabulous Online Fabric Shops

• Fabrics Ltd (UK)
• PM Organics
• Near Sea Naturals

Seeing such amazing wildlife just reinforced why I care so much about this planet and why we need to find a balance between people and wildlife. It solidified in my mind just how precarious that balance is and how precious clean air, water and land really is.

Like a typical tourist, I spent some time perusing gift shops at various points of interest throughout the park. I was taken aback by the amount of well, stuff, to put it politely, that I found in them. Much of the, ahem, stuff, was made from China, too. All I could think of was lead and the recalls. Ick. But I really wanted to bring back something special to the special people in my life.

Charles Gordon, writing in Maclean’s, agreed with me and stated “We live in a souvenir society, a world in which everything we do, everywhere we go, has to be commemorated.” And according to answers.com, by the mid 1990’s shops that catered to gifts and souvenirs had become a billion dollar industry, with no signs of slowing.

So I gave in to the need to commemorate and share, and purchased some items. I think in the end I made some positive choices in my gift buying and giving, and avoided products made from China. I bought things that contained recycled materials and printed with soy inks. I also sought out items made by local craftspeople who were suppling some of the shops with their wares.

But now that I’m home, I wonder:

Is there a way to fulfill the need to commemorate trips with souvenirs that is more environmentally friendly? Oh, and make it a craft project?!

Taking the premise of Leave No Trace and the edict of take only pictures, leave only the lightest of footprints, and bring home only memories, here are a couple of projects that I came up with:

• Using several photos from the trip, make a small photo collage of your favorite shots.
• Take a thifted frame and matte medium and cover it with your photos, taking the photo collage one step further.
• Group your photos into fun themes like animals, landscapes or people to make a photo quilt. All you need is an ink jet printer, photo transfer paper and cloth to print on. Make smaller photo quilts into items like potholders or wall hangings. Remember to use leftover or organic fabrics.
• Since a large part of souvenir business is t-shirts, why not make your own? Use that ink jet one more time and reuse an old t-shirt and use freezer paper to transfer one of your favorite pictures onto your t-shirt.
• Use Autumn’s paper bag technique and create personalized souvenir postcards.

Have any other green souvenirs ideas? Leave your thoughts in the comments!

Image Credit: Kelly Rand

I was very excited to see the new Sustain recycled and recyclable mugs from Aladdin. Made from eCycle, a new food-grade safe plastic that is recycled, it can also be dropped in any recycling bin at the end of it’s life cycle. At $9.99, I consider it a bargain, especially when the coffee itself is $5.00.

The real benefit is that by using this eCycle technology to make their tumblers, the company is: using 2/3 of the energy they would if they made the same product from “virgin” plastics; saving oil (which we should all be thankful for since one ton of recycled plastic saves 685 gallons of oil according to the EPA), and they are helping “close the loop” by using something that is not only recycled but can be reused again. It almost sounds redundant.

This is an example that warrants re-purposing and recycling for other products.

]]> http://cleantechnica.com/2008/05/10/sustainable-sips/feed/ http://craftingagreenworld.com/2008/05/06/fabulous-fabrics-vintage-kimono-fabric-at-ah-kimono/ http://craftingagreenworld.com/2008/05/06/fabulous-fabrics-vintage-kimono-fabric-at-ah-kimono/#comments Tue, 06 May 2008 15:01:40 +0000 Skye Kilaen http://craftingagreenworld.com/2008/05/06/fabulous-fabrics-vintage-kimono-fabric-at-ah-kimono/ One of my favorite exhibits at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston is the Japanese Arms and Armor collection… because it’s where they also keep several kimono. So beautiful. So priceless. So likely to get me in trouble if I touch them.

Lucky for me, vintage kimono fabric is available elsewhere without the bother of glass cases and security guards. I found out about online shop Ah! Kimono when I came across Maitreya’s cute flower pin on Craftlog. Ah! Kimono imports used and vintage kimono from Japan and resells the fabric.

Owner Cheri Bridges describes the founding of Ah! Kimono as follows:

In the ’80’s and ’90’s a person could buy 200 lb. bales of used kimono. The very idea of that seemed so amazing, but what would I do with that many kimono I wondered. I really just wanted a few of them to line some hand woven garments. In 1991, I was taking a garment class with a wonderful group of adventurous women. We decided to split a bale of kimono so that we could learn more about the textiles.

Ah! Kimono offers five different fabric packs that include cuts of different sizes, from 4×6 inches to 14×28 inches. Most of the fabrics are silk or silk blends. You can select a color family or ask for a pack split between two color families.

They sell kits for a folded purse and a small bag, as well as monthly and quarterly fabric clubs in case you are troubled with an excess of disposable income.

You may be thinking to yourself, “What would I do with kimono fabric?” If you are, set aside two or three hours and search for “vintage kimono” on Etsy. You’ll find a wealth of crafty inspiration for using these gorgeous fabrics. Here are a few of my favorites Etsy folks who use kimono fabric:

• Kimonocards
• AtelierKanawa
• Run Amok

(Remember to use other crafters’ designs for inspiration, not duplication, unless you have permission!)

Other Posts About Reusing and Remaking Clothing

• Tied Up In Knots About Recycling?
• Upcycle Old Jeans Into A Sexy Mini
• Recycle Sweaters Into Yarn

[Image from Ah! Kimono.] ]]> http://craftingagreenworld.com/2008/05/06/fabulous-fabrics-vintage-kimono-fabric-at-ah-kimono/feed/ http://craftingagreenworld.com/2008/05/01/alternatives-to-batting-for-the-green-quilter/ http://craftingagreenworld.com/2008/05/01/alternatives-to-batting-for-the-green-quilter/#comments Thu, 01 May 2008 14:06:50 +0000 Skye Kilaen http://craftingagreenworld.com/2008/05/01/alternatives-to-batting-for-the-green-quilter/ In Kelly’s recent post Tools To Use: Batting, she outlined several organic and sustainable choices for quilt batting - including my favorite, Hobbs Heirloom Organic Cotton Batting. Kelly was curious, though, about re-using old blankets or sheets instead.

Being creative with your quilt ingredients is part of the history of quilting. Now granted, many of the choices that early quilters made were due to economic constraints. I suspect that if the pioneers had sewing machines and fabric shops readily and affordably available, a lot of them would have taken advantage of those options. However, quilting does have a historical ethic of conservation and re-use. Quilters today manifest this ethic through the obsessive saving of fabric scraps too small for any reasonable project, “just in case.”

So if you’re willing to look past batting, there are other earth-friendly alternatives for your quilt’s insides. Your linen closet, thrift stores, or donations from other people’s sewing supplies may provide just what you need.

When you’re making a heavy quilt, such as a denim quilt or a flannel rag quilt, you may not want to add the weight and warmth of batting to your project. A flannel sheet is a good alternative. You can also use a flannel sheet for the batting of a traditional quilt, but check first to make sure the pattern doesn’t show through the top or backing. For an even lighter weight, you can use a regular sheet. Regular sheets will give the quilt less body than flannel.

If you’re going to tie your quilt, regular or flannel sheets might be a great choice because they remove concerns about batting shifting over time. If you’re quilting, sheets will give you a very flat look for the finished quilt relative to batting, and the quilting stitches will be quite visible. You can also get away with less quilting.

For wall hangings, felt can be a good choice because of its stiffness. I’ve received leftover felt from a couple of people once they moved past making Halloween costumes for their children. I’ve been using it to practice free-motion quilting, but I could even re-use those pieces as the middle layers of small quilts. Like sheets, felt won’t have the same crinkly outcome as batting after washing.

You can even use an old, somewhat worn-out quilt as batting for your quilt. I know it may seem like heresy, but there are older quilts out there that are ugly and have no historical value. Caryl Bryer Fallert’s first quilt used a quilt as batting, and she says in the description that she’s pretty sure the batting in that quilt was worn-out long underwear. If you’re going to use an old quilt, make sure the batting of that quilt is in good condition. A quilt I recently inherited had batting that had turned into lumps and pellets. Not a good choice for your next project.

(You can take this idea one step further and use a lame, boring, mass-produced quilt picked up at a thrift store as the batting for your lovely, interesting, handmade quilt. Take that, Tommy Hilfiger!)

Other possibilities include light fleece blankets, or any other large piece of fabric with a weight that you think would work for your quilt. The two risks you run are uneven shrinkage and bearding (when the batting fibers “leak” through to the outside of the quilt, as can happen with polyester batting), so pre-wash your fabric in hot or warm water before using it and inspect it carefully for signs of fuzziness.

Finally, if you’re going to do fairly dense quilting, you can always piece together leftover batting scraps from previous projects. My good friend Stephannie of Silana Stitchworks gave me the following advice:

I just make sure that I quilt it densely enough that that section won’t shift around. I zig-zag stitch (widest I can manage) with the two pieces butting up right next to each-other - but not overlapping, since that would create bulk. I use a similarly colored thread. It’s amazingly easy to do, and really doesn’t take much time or patience. And it soothes me not to have to buy more batting when in total I have enough. I’ve successfully pieced like 5-6 little pieces together to make something large enough for the whole quilt. Sometimes the pieces all go in one direction, and sometimes it’s more of a puzzle piece sort of thing.

I’ve done this for a wall hanging, but now I think I’ll try it for a larger quilt and see how it goes.

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