Welcome to the Third Carnival of Green Crafts!

Before we begin, let me just thank all of the crafters who participated in this month’s carnival for taking a weight off my mind. After reading all of these posts, I now have NO worries at all about landfill space anywhere in America. Seriously, y’all, crafters are obviously the solution to the trash problem. Go us!

Before we begin, a few administrative notes: We’re pleased as punch to announce that the fourth Carnival will be September 4th at Whip Up. Send in your posts via the carnival submission form today! For background information about the Carnival, please see the Carnival of Green Crafts home page. And in case you missed the previous editions, here are the first Carnival, here at Crafting A Green World, and the second Carnival, at BlogHer.

Thanks so much to all the crafters who shared their posts with us for this edition of the Carnival. Let’s dig in!

Eco-Friendly Materials

Tiny Decor gathered a list of the Top 10 Modern and Eco-friendly Fabric Sources on Etsy. You HAVE to see what she’s collected, there are some real knockouts.

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We have been so pleased that so many green crafters and craft aficionados out there have sent in posts, commented, and visited the carnivals thus far.  For those who haven’t, we have the following invitation for you:

• Submit one of your posts! Submissions are accepted on a rolling basis.  The next two carnivals will be here at Crafting A Green World and then at Whip Up.  The blog carnival submission form is the easiest way for us to keep straight who’s sent in what, but if it gives you fits then email us at greencraftscarnival (at) gmail (dot) com.
• Suggest someone else’s post! If you see a post out there and you think “this would be perfect for that green craft carnival thingy,” then by all means let us know about it.  We’ll touch base with the author and make sure it’s ok with them before we link to it.
• Host a carnival! If you want to be more involved in the green craft community or get more exposure for your blog, hosting a carnival is a great way to do it.  Don’t be scared, we’ll help make it easy and fun.
• Let us know about your blog! We love it when people send in their posts, but we also know that people get busy.  So we have come knocking to several of you and asked for permission to include your posts.  We’d also love to build up a list of blogs that hosts can pick from and know that the blog owner is fine with being included in the carnival whenever.So if you have a blog, and it has some green crafting content, and you just keep forgetting to send in a post - or if you’re shy about submitting - leave your blog’s address in the comments here.  You can feel free to send in a post when you have something you’re extra proud of, but we’ll also keep an eye on it and quite possibly surprise you.

So that’s our invitation to you, to help make this carnival a fun community event. Let us know if you have any other thoughts as well.

Now you can take a virtual walk with me through a few of my favorite festival crafts…

It never ceases to amaze my inner child when I see someone has taken funked out metal parts and welds them together to make whimsical creatures. This flying bird monster & friends looks like it all began with a tiny BBQ propane tank.

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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.

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Mary Jane’s Farm, a publication of Mary Jane Butters, appears to be Martha Stewart Living for organic farm girls, or those of us who wish they were organic farm girls. Usually, I have a big problem with putting one person’s name and image all over things that were the combined effort of many talented people. However, my distaste of personified brands was trumped by aesthetically charming, recycled pages awash with useful content, and the company’s dedication to recycling and alternative energy usage.

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Since I am learning to sew (better) right now and actually don’t own t-shirts I want to cut up I decided to delve into the saucy project #69 “Cinch City” with some organic cotton scrap fabric. I bought my organic cotton for $2 downtown Asheville NC where the Spiritex warehouse sells off the leftovers from their locally woven organic fabric production. (Major score!) The “Cinch City” skirt truly was easy, although they say to only cut one rectangle to make the tube skirt, I actually had to go back in and make more of an angle to fit my waist. To make this skirt all you need is a swatch of organic or upcycled fabric big enough to wrap around your waist & hip, a ribbon, and the most basic sewing skills. It really inspired me to use more drawstring and cinching in my sewing for decorative effect! You can get super creative with this simple design too by making a longer more sultry skirt, instead of the Vegas style mini- or even adding a drawstring cinch at the waistline too so that you can fluctuate in weight and still sport your skirt, well, forever.

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It has gone beyond being relegated to the novel and expanded into all other aspects of art and design, making its 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 modded phones and computers are all created with vintage or thrifted items to achieve the proper “look.”

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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.

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The First Runner Up is Becky, a loyal fan of Crafting A Green World and a wonderfully obsessed crafter who writes the blog Sew & So. Becky’s upcycle fashion is totally awesome cause she is willing to experiment with some really super fugly clothes and manages to  resuscitate life back into their once doomed future. Her ability to take a way out of style bridesmaid’s dress belonging to her mom and turn it into this adorable cocktail dress rocks! For the record, Becky has inspired me to go on an upcycling 8o’s prom dress binge that has been really fun. The Before and After shots of her mad sewing skillz really drive home the point… lame can be made cute.

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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:

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The last few years have thankfully brought us far beyond the once confused crunchy DIY & organic wedding designs into a realm where your green wedding dress fantasy will now become a memorable reality. This is a joyful list of craft culture worthy bridal gowns that will not only beautify your celebration but will solidify your environmental beliefs.

For those of you who may cower at the thought of sewing your own organic or upcycle wedding dress, don’t stress- there’s affordable eco designers who will handcraft your dress, plus bridal gowns are available from charities, vintage, or on auction.

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Gather your materials and ideas. Here’s what’s involved:

• An inkjet printer
• The seed packet outline template (download here in JPG or PDF file formats)
• Embellishment option 1: A graphics program such as Adobe Photoshop or GIMP (free open-source software)
• Embellishment option 2: Decorate the packet post-printing by hand
• Embellishment option 3: Do both!
• Paper grocery bags
• Iron and scrap fabric
• Scissors
• Ruler
• Pencil
• Glue stick
• Paper creaser or popsicle stick
• 1 can of wildflower seeds
• Optional: rotary cutter with dedicated blade
• Optional: stamps, stickers or other embellishments(as long as they don’t poke holes in the paper)

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  ]]> http://craftingagreenworld.com/2008/05/28/printer-friendly-grocery-shopping-brown-paper-seed-packet-business-cards-tutorial/feed/ http://craftingagreenworld.com/2008/05/23/girl-reconstructed-upcycling-old-clothes/ http://craftingagreenworld.com/2008/05/23/girl-reconstructed-upcycling-old-clothes/#comments Fri, 23 May 2008 13:30:51 +0000 Leslie Richard http://craftingagreenworld.com/2008/05/23/girl-reconstructed-upcycling-old-clothes/ Reduce, Reuse, Upcycle! In the wild wonderful world of crafting you know these are our way of life, in spite of what the mega big box craft stores would like us to think. So this week I set a goal: what can I do with only thrifted pre loved materials? Second hand stores are gleaming with craft finds like retro sewing patterns, stacks of fabric, old curtains, sheets and clothes. Clothes that not even your grandmaw could love anymore…but what if all these things could be reconstructed into something new? Craftalicious designers like Amour Sans Anguish and Supayana take discarded and way out of style garments and turn them into brand new eco fashionista dreams. Layer upon layer of eco couture and smart redesign. While so many are singing the praises of new fabrics like organic cotton, bamboo and peace silk - the most eco savvy choice is actually the fabric that requires nothing new to be produced, cutting out the intensive waste it takes to grow, break down and weave the fibers. While this might not be the #1 choice for those who are chemically sensitive, it is the most gentle on our sensitive earth.

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  ]]> http://craftingagreenworld.com/2008/05/23/girl-reconstructed-upcycling-old-clothes/feed/ http://craftingagreenworld.com/2008/05/16/diy-easy-eco-lingerie/ http://craftingagreenworld.com/2008/05/16/diy-easy-eco-lingerie/#comments Fri, 16 May 2008 14:01:06 +0000 Leslie Richard http://craftingagreenworld.com/2008/05/16/diy-easy-eco-lingerie/ If you’ve ever cruised the Internet & local boutiques for eco friendly lingerie you know right away that these tiny little intimates cost an entire day’s work (and then some). But the thought of turning back to slave made big box skivvies just does not feel sexy! To fuel my *ehem* addiction to having new earth lovin’ panties I had to learn how to upcycle my own. Here is how to make yourself some luscious green lingerie for less $ then a gallon of gasoline, using one old scarf for fabric.

  You Will Need:

  • One large thrifted or kidnapped scarf
  • Wide ribbon
  • Stretch lace/Elastic (optional)
  • Scissors
  • Thread (that either matches your ribbon or is a fun contrasting color)
  • Sewing machine or Olympic hand sewing skills

  Step One: Choosing- Find, beg, thrift, or steal a scarf that has a pattern you want to flaunt and is made of a comfortable fabric. Avoid overly crunchy polyester fabrics that feel like your 1984 taffeta holiday dress, and lean more towards soft cottons and silk. I found my scarf  for $1 at a local thrift shop that supports ending domestic violence. The organic satin ribbon was already waiting in my craft box.

  Step Two: Cutting- In order to get the sizing perfect without having fret over a pattern that may not fit, I use a pair of panties & bra (or) bikini I already have to outline the shape I need. Bikini’s are great for sizing since they usually have side ties and can be taken apart and laid flat for measuring. Remember when cutting that you will be sewing a seam line, so cut a tad wider then the exact outline of your previous lingerie. Note: You can make your new lingerie set have more coverage by cutting the triangle shapes wider, or less coverage by thinning them out even smaller.

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  ]]> http://craftingagreenworld.com/2008/05/16/diy-easy-eco-lingerie/feed/ http://craftingagreenworld.com/2008/05/15/gorgeous-denim-quilts/ http://craftingagreenworld.com/2008/05/15/gorgeous-denim-quilts/#comments Thu, 15 May 2008 21:32:43 +0000 Skye Kilaen http://craftingagreenworld.com/2008/05/15/gorgeous-denim-quilts/ I know, I know, it’s like we’re obsessed with denim around here. Gavin showed us how to patch our jeans if we’re not ready to let them go, then Leslie showed us how to recycle a pair into a sexy miniskirt and use the leftovers to make a shopping bag. (Personally, I’m waiting for Gavin to upcycle HIS jeans into a miniskirt…)

  My favorite jeans have finally died, and before I saw Gavin’s post I was planning to start a denim quilt. Denim quilts are heavy duty for picnics and playing on at the park, and I was just at Goodwill this past weekend so I’m inspired by the availability of cheap denim that needs a second chance at life.

  Then I started to think about my “dead” jeans from a green point of view. The mantra Reduce, Reuse, Recycle doesn’t include the word “repair,” but it probably should. Reducing is best, reusing or repairing is good, recycling is a last resort. I had decided to recycle my jeans rather than repair them because I had this notion that patched jeans look “run down.” It’s like I’ve been trained by society that if a repair is visible, it makes the garment worthless.

  Let’s get serious, people. I am a stay-at-home / work-at-home mother of an eight month old baby. I spend most of my waking hours in my own house. I get spit up on a lot. I crawl around on the floor to retrieve pacifiers and toys. Who the heck is going to put me on What Not To Wear for sporting a pair of patched jeans? I thrifted a “new” pair to replace them for going out, but if I can get more life out of the old ones, why not do it? Also, that way the new ones won’t be worn every day and they’ll last longer for occasions nicer than than cleaning pureed sweet potato out of someone’s hair.

  I’m not saying that I’m going to spend all day in clothes I hate in order to be green, but I think it’s time for me to fight my way out of the trap that equates repaired with flawed.

  At this point you may be thinking “Um, excuse me, wasn’t the title of this post DENIM QUILTS?”

  Yes! Even though my favorite jeans aren’t going to be included, I still want to make a denim quilt.

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  ]]> http://craftingagreenworld.com/2008/05/15/gorgeous-denim-quilts/feed/ http://craftingagreenworld.com/2008/05/11/meet-your-maker-faire-lo-fi-solutions-for-a-planetary-crisis/ http://craftingagreenworld.com/2008/05/11/meet-your-maker-faire-lo-fi-solutions-for-a-planetary-crisis/#comments Mon, 12 May 2008 05:00:26 +0000 Autumn Wiggins http://craftingagreenworld.com/2008/05/11/meet-your-maker-faire-lo-fi-solutions-for-a-planetary-crisis/ Nearly two weeks ago I hopped on a plane to San Francisco(again) and translated a presentation based on my “Make Like a Tree” articles into binary code, so the computer programmers would understand it.

  Maker Faire is much more than your average craft show. Around every corner, you’ll find a a pointless yet poignant doodad, a jaw-dropping technology demonstration, or the tools and materials that invite you to imagine the possibilities…because we hope to inspire others to make stuff too.

  Why is this reconnection to our creativity so important? It was one purpose-driven thought from ordinary individuals that invented the wheel, set out to cross the Atlantic, and revealed the fabric of space-time. Making things, both literal and existential, pulls us through history, and simultaneously brings humanity to the verge of a collapsing eco-system. Most of us had no hand in executing modern manufacturing techniques, but we must use both hands to fix them.

  Eco-consciousness was a dominant theme throughout this event. The concerns are now common knowledge, and solutions are surprisingly revealed through grass root efforts.

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  ]]> http://craftingagreenworld.com/2008/05/11/meet-your-maker-faire-lo-fi-solutions-for-a-planetary-crisis/feed/ http://craftingagreenworld.com/2008/05/02/diyupcycle-old-jeans-into-a-sexy-mini/ http://craftingagreenworld.com/2008/05/02/diyupcycle-old-jeans-into-a-sexy-mini/#comments Fri, 02 May 2008 14:30:44 +0000 Leslie Richard http://craftingagreenworld.com/2008/05/02/diyupcycle-old-jeans-into-a-sexy-mini/ This is a fabulous fun mini skirt project that will leave you some left over scraps for a DIY ‘bring your own bag’ project after. Don’t fret, it’s quite easy to make those jeans into a denim mini!

  Supplies Needed

  :

  • Funky jeans past their prime (beyond patching or your style threshold)
  • Scissors
  • Sewing machine or mad hand sewing skills
  • Thread of any color you enjoy

  Step one: Choosing

  Use either old jeans, or thrift jeans that you really love the color of but you just don’t wear that MC Hammer style anymore. Just make sure the jeans fit your hip or waist where you plan to wear the skirt.

  Step two: Length

  I like mine short, and I measure it against a skirt I already own that is the length I like by laying them flat on top one another. It’s a good idea to start with a longer length, since you can always go back and cut it shorter. Decide whether you want it to hit your knee, mid thigh, or super high.

  Step three: Cutting

  Once you know the length, cutting will be easy. Cut straight across both the legs at the length measured and wa-la, now you have some jean shorts! But you want a sexy mini, so take the scissors and begin cutting the inner seam line and cut open the crotch of the jeans. Then cut along the front seam up to the zipper. (If you made your skirt longer you may want to cut along the back seam 2-3 inches, so it doesn’t pucker in the back when you sew it back together.)

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  ]]> http://craftingagreenworld.com/2008/05/02/diyupcycle-old-jeans-into-a-sexy-mini/feed/ http://craftingagreenworld.com/2008/04/14/reiter8-upcycled-sail-art/ http://craftingagreenworld.com/2008/04/14/reiter8-upcycled-sail-art/#comments Mon, 14 Apr 2008 14:07:46 +0000 Juliet Ames http://craftingagreenworld.com/2008/04/14/reiter8-upcycled-sail-art/ Everyday I come across something on Etsy that surprises and gets me excited about the endless recycled craft possibilities. This week I came across reiter8, an upcycling crafter from Brooklyn that takes sailboat sails that would otherwise go to the dump and creates bags and pillows out of the canvas.

  The designer came up with this idea while visiting her mother in Maine. After taking notice of the strong canvas material that made up the sails on a boat, she realized that this material would make a sturdy alternative material for bags and pillows all while saving them from going to landfills.

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  ]]> http://craftingagreenworld.com/2008/04/14/reiter8-upcycled-sail-art/feed/ http://craftingagreenworld.com/2008/04/10/what-can-you-do-with-sheets/ http://craftingagreenworld.com/2008/04/10/what-can-you-do-with-sheets/#comments Thu, 10 Apr 2008 21:24:36 +0000 Skye Kilaen http://craftingagreenworld.com/2008/04/10/what-can-you-do-with-sheets/ A couple of months ago, I bought a super-cute twin size sheet at Goodwill. Originally from Target, and probably sold in a package very much like the one pictured here, my sheet has spirograph-esque designs in mauve, persimmon, and lime on a white background. It was $5 with its matching pillowcase. I thought that was a bit high, but I had fallen in love with it, so it came home with me.

  Problem #1: Nothing in my house is mauve, persimmon, or lime.

  Problem #2: I don’t have a twin size bed.

  So what do I do with this sheet?

  Granted, sheets are just really big pieces of fabric, so there are plenty of options. But this sheet is so cute, I want to use it for something special.

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  ]]> http://craftingagreenworld.com/2008/04/10/what-can-you-do-with-sheets/feed/ http://craftingagreenworld.com/2008/04/09/wallpaper-journals/ http://craftingagreenworld.com/2008/04/09/wallpaper-journals/#comments Wed, 09 Apr 2008 19:32:15 +0000 Tara Hogan http://craftingagreenworld.com/2008/04/09/wallpaper-journals/

  My friend, Nicole, from Freshly Blended Press, is amazing with recycling wallpaper. She uses all those old wallpaper swatchbooks for material that would otherwise be thrown away . All of the wallpaper is used exquisitely for the covers of her wallpaper journals.

  So, next time you come across wallpaper scraps think twice before tossing them out.

  Nicole also donates part of her profits to The Humane Society.

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