Bookstore

Although we recycle more, our mounds of garbage continue to grow. The EPA expects the total volume of municipal trash generated annually in the USA to grow to 223 million tons in 2000. Confronting the problem, Stein concludes we must stop throwing things out and re-use materials and products--not recycle them. To this end she presents 336 ways to re-use 70 types of common products and names businesses and organizations that accept products not suited for household re-use. Good ways to help both the environment and your pocketbook!

Choose to Reuse: An Encyclopedia of Services, Business, Tools &Charitable Programs That Facilitate Reuse
Nikki Goldbeck, David Goldbeck /Paperback/ Published 1995.
Price: $15.95

A "must" resource for individuals and businesses trying to cut waste. The Goldbecks' three "Rs"-- Reduce, Reuse, Recycle -- are guidelines for conscientious consumerism.  This  comprehensive encyclopedia contains more than 2000 services, products, programs and charitable organization that help prolong the life of  everything from air filters to zippers.

Clean and Green: The Complete Guide to Non-Toxic and Environmentally Safe Housekeeping
Annie Berthold-Bond /Paperback/ Published 1994
Price: $9.95

Clear the cupboard of brand-name specialized cleaning products.  Stock a few inexpensive ingredients: borax, vinegar, baking soda, washing soda, vegetable-oil-based liquid soap.  And follow Berthold-Bond's simple recipes.  The ones I've tried produce the same results as store-bought ones.

Environmental activist Danny Seo believes that small choices, made every day, can change the world. To prove his point, this book chronicles his three-month makeover of his parents' standard suburban home in Pennsylvania. Using only earth-friendly products, Seo transforms his parents' home and garden into "a comfortable, stylish living space without harming our planet." Contains many decorating ideas and "how to" tips using readily available products.

Ecodesign: The Sourcebook
Alastair Fuad-Luke/Paperback/Published 2002
Price: $24.50

A farsighted guide of functional design, this book shows innovative everyday items that are recycled, recyclable, renewable and/or energy efficient. Featuring work by designers and manufacturers from 30 countries, "the book is intended to stimulate new ways of thinking," and prove we can live comfortably while treading lightly on the planet. It shows biodegradable furniture that can be broken up and added to the compost pile, lawn furniture made from compost, pool rafts made from soda bottles and more.

Living Cheaply With Style: Live Better and Spend Less
Ernest Callenbach /Paperback/ Published 1993
Price: $11.16

A "how-to" survival handbook for living fulfilled lives while consuming less to save both our pocketbooks and the earth. It offers sensible advice on a wide range of topics including buying inexpensive watches, economical travel, child care, holiday celebrations and water conservation.

The authors asked themselves "What happens around the world to support a day in the life of a North American. . . ?" To find out, they investigated the routes that coffee, a pair of shoes, a can of cola (among other daily "staples") take to get here. It shows that a two-cup of coffee a day habit will annually consume 18 lbs of beans produced by 12 Columbian coffee trees. Forty-three pounds of pulp will be stripped from these beans and tossed into the rivers. Enlightening. Not an easy book to read--best taken in small doses.

Use Less Stuff: Environmental Solutions for Who We Really Are
Robert M. Lilienfeld, William L. Rathje/ Paperback/ Published 1998
Price: $5.29 and up

"Lilienfeld and Rathje hit the nail on the head with this excellent book. They demonstrate convincingly that we can not recycle our way out of environmental problems. The challenge is more fundamental -- we must learn to live in a way that places less demand on material and energy resources. Yet theirs is not a Luddite call to 'return to the caves.' Rather, they outline literally hundreds of ways to use less stuff while simultaneously improving the quality of our lives." Stuart Hart, Professor of Management Kenan-Flager Business School. University of North Carolina

The Salvage Sisters' Guide: to Finding Style in the Street and Inspiration in the Attic
Katleen Hackett & Mary Ann Young/Hardcover/Published 2005
Price: $15.61

The Salvage Sisters say, "When in doubt, DON'T throw it out." And then they show how many roads lead to Rome. To mention a few: Need a bookcase? Use mismatched drawers. A large decorative bowl? Use the top of a broken birdbath. A bed? Put a mattress on a pile of wooden pallets. The Sisters also see an indoor stair railing in retired dock line and a dory oar, room dividers in lengths of shredded silk and a toilet paper holder in a wrought-iron plant stand. The book contains 50 DIY projects (well illustrated with 125 photographs) by the Sisters, who have both contributed to Martha Stewart's and other lifestyle publications. While all designs may not appeal to every reader, and the book may be offer the most practical help to people setting up households, the "can-do", "consider-all-the-options" attitude is one that may appeal to all readers.

[return to top]

The Body Book: Recipes for Natural Body Care
Anne Akers Johnson/Hardback, Spiral-bound, Published 2001
Price: $15.37

This clearly written book provides recipes to fill everyone's grooming needs from head to toe (literally). You'll find recipes to help care for your face, hands and feet, hair as well as bath products. And, best of all, most of the ingredients can easily be found in local grocery and health food stores.The book comes with a starter kit including a facial brush, pumice stone, bath infusion bag (to hold herbs you immerse in your bath water), nail buffer, headband and three vials of essential oils. Fun for all ages!

After reading this book, you too will build collections of plastic bottle caps( any type), 2-liter plastic bottles, detergent scoops, popsicle sticks and plastic grocery bags.  With little effort, these objects can be easily transformed into toys, decorations and games. Fun for all ages.

This is an unusual looking book. The "book" itself consists of words and pictures, but the back cover opens into a three-panel press to squash and squeeze any plant you can find. The book also contains a packet of supplies--sturdy rubber bands to keep the press tightly closed and a few materials used in the projects. After you've gathered a good supply of dried flowers, the wonderful illustrations and instructions show you how you can easily decorate stationery, gift tags, place mats, stickers, light switches, window hangings, lampshades (and more) with dried plants.

Windowsill Gardening: Year-Round Gardening Projects for Kids
Klutz editors/Hardback, Klutz Guide Format Published 1999
Price: $4.95

Learn how to grow plants from seeds, seedlings, carrot tops and sweet potatoes in your home, at any time of year and in any climate. This book also tells how to grow and dry herbs, grow gardens in old lunchboxes and boots, and make a coat hanger topiary. Great for city dwellers who don't have a garden patch of their own.

Nature Smart: Awesome Projects to make with Mother Nature's Help
Terry Krautwurst, Gwen Diehn, Joe Rhatigan, Heather Smith and Alan Anderson
Price: $12.98

Written for ages 9-12, this unusual book is divided into two sections and contains 150 craft projects. The first (and largest) section, Seasonal Natural Projects, helps the reader understand how the natural world works by providing random essays e.g., Why Do Flowers Have Colors and Different Shapes? and Incredible (But True!) Hummingbird Facts interspersed with clearly explained projects to make a pocket sundial, a daylily leaf hat, a twig wreath and turnip lanterns, among others. The second section, Awesome Eco-Adventures (Ecology Crafts) focuses on the importance of recycling and keeping cast-off materials out of landfills. It contains essays about Earth Day; Recycling Kids, Inc.; and the Rain Forest. It also contains craft projects made incorporating recycled and reused materials and art materials found in nature including birch bark baskets, bottle gardens, a sketch-and-press nature journal, an eggshell mosaic and a bat house. Some projects require an adult's supervision.

Recycled Crafts Box: Sock Puppets, Cardboard Castles, Bottle Bugs & 37 more Earth-Friendly Projects & Activities You Can Create
Laura C. Martin/Paperback/Published 2003
Price: $8.76

Written for ages 9-12, this amply illustrated book begins with a brief history of trash including a "trash time line" showing the invention of disposable products (1810--tin cans through 2002 -- disposable cameras) and explains how these conveniences have created mountainous waste. Making a case for recycling, it makes suggestions how each person can reduce the waste stream and a list of books and websites for further study. The craft projects are organized into sections: paper, plastic, metal and fabric.

Awesome Things to Make with Recycled Stuff
Heather Smith with Joe Rhatigan (who collaborated with 15 kids who tested all the projects and posed for the pictures)/Paperback/Published 2003
Price: $14.95

Written for young adults, this collection of 50 practical projects range from making pick-up sticks with used bamboo skewers to making a tin can xylophone to turning a used pizza box into a vanity case. Easy to read and well illustrated, it contains diagrams showing where garbage goes when you throw it away, suggests activities to make your house earth friendly and contains random tips and facts like: "According to the nonprofit organization, Conservatree, nearly 3 billion magazine issues a year are never even read. That's enough magazines to circle the Earth 20 times."

[return to top]

Striking illustrations and fact-filled text explains where all the trash goes. The book examines five different types of garbage--aluminum, paper, glass, plastic and polystyrene--and shows how these items can be recycled by individuals and industries. It is filled with dramatic facts that might remain in a reader's mind for a lifetime (e.g., "New York City alone throws out enough garbage each day to fill the Empire State Building.") Ages 4-8.

[return to top]

The author is an arborsculptor who patiently grows tree furniture, houses and other things for himself and clients. His inclusive book provides a brief history of the tree and its importance to us, and another history of tree shaping including coppicing, pleaching and topiary. It also documents his arborsculpting projects and techniques and provides instructions and diagrams for do-it-yourself projects such as how to grow your own chair.

The book is filled with many beautiful pictures of painted furniture and accessories by the author (whose painted furniture is collected by well known people). It also features the work of six guest contributing artists with distinctly different ideas and styles. The pictures will lure even the most casual reader into picking up a brush and trying something, too.

This is a self-published book that is not available through Amazon. Available online as a print-on-demand publlication: http://www.lulu.com/content/2508533

A lavishly illustrated "how to" book about using recycled, plastic bottle caps from milk jugs, orange juice cartons, water, cola and shampoo bottles and margarine tubs to make decorative projects. The author is a professional artist who uses recycled materials in her work which has been featured on HGTV's "That's Clever." The book contains detailed, step-by-step instructions to make Mod Magnets ( "flowers" of various sizes to decorate a refrigerator); Lollipop Flowers--outdoor yard flowers; a mural (either a bottle cap mural (either an interpretation of a well known painting or an original design) -- a great group project for children and adults to work on together; and a group project to make 65-75 "flowers." Because the projects require a cordless drill, adults should be around to help out with children up to 14.

Cheap Frills: Fabulous Facelifts for Your clothes
Jennifer Knapp,David Magnusson (Photographer), David Armstrong (Photographer)/Hardcover/Published 2001.
Price: $13.27

Cheap Thrills includes 40 projects with a free-spirited approach to adding zing to stale clothes and accessories languishing in your closet. Best of all, you don't have to spend a fortune to do it. Using sequins, ribbon, rubber stamps and other easily found materials, you can convert a baggy T-shirt into an Italian peasant tee; overhaul an old skirt by adding a panel of color and decorative ribbon; create an easy drawstring evening bag; and decorate bobby pins, chokers and hair clips, in no time at all. Some makeovers can be done by hand; others require minimum experience using a sewing machine.

Creative Candleholders
Deborah Morgenthal/ Paperback/ Published 1999
Price: $16.95

Provides instructions for 60 different candleholders designed by 26 designers. These designers transform lead pipes, 18-gauge steel wire, terra cotta pots, drinking glasses, bottle gourds and new rubber drain plungers (among other things) into candleholders. Some projects can be done quickly and require little work while others require more time.

Flea markets are designed for optimists. It's not too difficult for some to spot potential in a piece of broken furniture, grubby oil painting or rusty metal tray. The trick is to know how to go about restoring these finds. Flea Market Finds provides answers for many common problems and advice on what to look for before buying anything. It also offers advice on caring for these treasures and how to display them.

If you've impulsively bought too much castoff jewelry for a song at the close of a church bazaar or yard sale and now don't know what to do with it--this book is for you. Lavish with ideas and photographs, it shows how to either transform slightly damaged old jewelry into attractive accessories or use it in different ways (e.g., stringing necklaces around a chandelier, vase or framed picture). A brief section offers tips on collecting and caring for vintage jewelry.

Cinderella projects for transforming homely yard sale furniture into just what you've always needed. Step-by-step instructions for no-sew slip covers, distressed-paint makeovers, and mosaic tiling, among other techniques.

Don't empty your closet of old T-shirts before checking out this book, a collection of stylish ideas (some have an edgy, punk-like look) to help convert the ubiquitous T-shirt into a personal statement. Megan Nicolay - who learned to sew from her mother, a professional clothing designer - shows how to turn ordinary shirts into a basic tote bag, tank top, tube top, peasant blouse, T-skirt, leg warmers, drawstring purse, beanie, pillow, pot holder and braided rug. Non-experienced tailors will also find something of interest here, too; one-third of the projects require no sewing.

Instant Period Costume: How to Make Classic Costumes from Cast-Off Clothing (Paperback)
Barb Rogers/Paperback/Published 2001
Price: $12.97

This 87-page book provides creative suggestions for transforming flea market finds and out of date personal clothing into period costumes, without sewing. The author recommends substituting a low melt glue gun for stitches because it takes less time to do and allows people with more imagination than sewing skills, to pitch in and improvise costumes for Halloween, fancy dress parties, historic re-enactments and low budget theatrical productions. Black and white illustrations only.

Bits and pieces (also known as memory ware, putty pots and pique assiette) is a freewheeling and universal folk art which adapts the techniques of traditional mosaics. Piece of broken china, pottery, glass,buttons, marbles and jewelry are cemented on a base to create a new surface. Think lamp base, fireplace, kitchen backsplash, birdbath, garden walkway -- almost any form can be used as a base and any combination of bits and pieces can be applied. Amply illustrated and containing detailed instructions for projects for both home and garden.

Perfumes, Splashes & Colognes: Discovering and Crafting Your Personal Fragrances
Nancy M. Booth/Paperback/Published 1997
Price: $10.47

A knowledgeable and easy-to-read guide for determining and crafting your own personal fragrances. It contains: recipes for scents preferred by men, women and teens; miscellaneous ways to add fragrance to your home; gift packaging tips; and a list of suppliers. Most of the ingredients used are easily found and, best of all, some can be grown in your garden. Great gifts for you and your friends.

The Practical Guide to Container Gardening
Susan Berry and Steve Bradley, Paperback, Published 2001
Price: $11.87

A comprehensive sourcebook for container gardeners. Amply illustrated, it includes information on what types of containers work best for specific plants, seasonal planting schemes; care and maintenance, dealing with pests and diseases. Provides a directory of more than 100 plant species and detailed information on how to grow them.

Retro Revamp: Funky Projects, from HandBags to Housewares
Jennifer Knapp, Teresa Domka (Photographer)/Hardcover/Published 2000.
Price: $12.57

Have fun while turning "useless objects" into stylish urban folk art! The book's 39 projects (beautifully photographed) include decorative techniques to spruce up any hideous piece of furniture, instructions for making free-form stuffed animals from leftover fabric (unlikely combinations, welcome), and a beach bag made from an embellished potato sack.

Rustic Accents for Your Home: 45 Projects from Vines, Twigs & Branches
Laura Donnelly Bethmann and Ann Ramp Fox/Paperback/Published 1999
Price: $19.96

"The natural world is our home, and we like to bring a little bit of it into the house," writes Laura Donnelly Bethmann in the preface to this unique home decorating guide. She and co-author Ann Ramp Fox practice twigology, which they define as "the art of forming whimsical, practical, naturally pleasing twig things while enhancing one's knowledge of the unique characteristics and beneficial qualities of trees."

Salvage Style: 45 Home and Garden Projects Using Reclaimed Architectural Details
Joe Rhatigan with Dana Irwin/Hardcover/Published 2001
Price: $19.56

Architectural details--doorknobs, flooring, windows, doors, etc.--are removed from buildings during renovation or demolition. Projects in this amply illustrated book incorporate discarded salvaged pieces into new designs- where the salvaged pieces have an entirely different function. Balusters become lamp bases, basement doors are used to construct a chest, a double-hung window with casement is transformed into a curio cabinet. The book contains projects for all skill sets: beginners through master handypersons.

The Scented Room: Cherchez's Book of Dried Flowers, Fragrance and Potpourri
Barbara Milo Ohrbach, Joe Standart (Photographer), Anne Marie Cloutier (Photographer) Hardcover/Published 1986
Price: $14.00

A classic reference for making potpourri, sachets, pomanders, flower arrangements, herbal waters and more by a popular author who creates fragrances for the home.

Note: Because the book was published in 1986, the list of suppliers is out of date. For current sources for supplies, see the list on our Crafts page.

Simple Fountains for Indoors & Outdoors: 20 Step-by-Step Projects
Dorcas Adkins/hardback/Published 1999
Price: $18.87

A beautfully illustrated guide to help novices add the sound of falling water into daily life. The book's varied projects include table top fountains, a small mosaic fountain incorporating found objects (clay shards, beads, coins, beach glass, etc.), a birdshower fountain, and directions for creating a small waterfall and pond.

The author, who has professionally designed and created fountains and other garden art for ten years, also tells you where to buy materials, and how to maintain your fountain. She lists plants and animals that enjoy living in outdoor water gardens.

Stylish Storage: Simple Ways to Contain Your Clutter
Paige Gilchrist/hardcover/Published 2001
Price:$19.57

A guide for people "who want practical, easy ideas for containing some of the clutter that their busy lives generate." Provides practical suggestions for making space and finding places for "must haves" in every room of the house. Also includes a few carpentry projects for building wood shelves, storage units and ledges in potting sheds (and more). Non handy-people will find this useful, too.

Super Crafty: Over 75 Amazing How-To Projects
Susan Beal, Torie Nguyen, Rachel O'Rourke & Cathy Pitters/Paperback/2005
Price: $12.89

Written by four designers who meet regularly at their crafts club, the book contains unusual DIY projects for all ages, including oilcloth placemats, home shrines, decorated bike helmets, leg warmers for dogs, sweater clips and a knitting needle organizer. There is a section of five projects designed to recycle commonplace materials, but many supplies needed for other projects can be easily found at yard sales and flea markets. Some have exact patterns and directions while others are open-ended - they provide enough information for readers to use their own experience and imagination in developing the design. Each project is marked with a symbol indicating degree of difficulty, appropriateness for kids and expense of materials.

Trash to Treasure: The Recycler's Guide to Creative Crafts (Memories in the Making series)
Ann Van Wagner Childs (Editor), Leisure Arts, Inc./ Hardback/ Published 1997
Price: $19.95

140 easy ways to transform everyday household discards into gifts, home accessories, holiday decorations and assorted projects that children can help make.

Urgent 2nd Class: Creating Curious Collage, Dubious Documents and Other Art From Ephemera
Nick Bantock, Paperback/Published 2004
Price: $13.57

The author/illustrator of Griffin & Sabine shares his techniques for combining paper memorabilia - maps, engravings, money, photos, stamps, photos, seed packets, etc. - with photocopying, rubber stamping and collage techniques to produce personal visual poems. Each technique is fully explained in general (no step-by-step instructions) and well illustrated with nearly 200 pictures in all.

[return to top]

The In Katrina's Wake: Portraits of Loss from an Unnatural Disaster 
Susan Zakin (Author), Bill McKibben (Author), Chris Jordan (Photographer)/Hardcover/ Published 2007
Price: $23.10

Chris Jordan, a photographer whose images put a concrete face on abstract concepts of runaway consumerism, visited New Orleans in November and December of 2005, following Hurricane Katrina, show the cost of Hurricane Katrina on a personal scale--a refrigerator in a tree, gate with no fence beside it or a house behind it, a tattered phone book in the mud with no phones and no people near it. Along with the pictures, are first hand accounts from Jordan, conservation writer Bill McKibben, science and nature writers Elizabeth Royte and Susan Zakin and poems by Jordan's wife, Victoria Sloane Jordan. 

Jordan wrote, "From that perspective, my hope is that these images might encourage some reflection on the part that we each play, and the loss that we all suffer, when a preventable catastrophe of this magnitude happens to the people of our own country. Katrina has illuminated our interconnectedness, and it makes our personal accountability as members of a conscious society ever more difficult to deny. " Book proceeds go to hurricane relief.

The Fine Art of the Tin Can
Bobby Hansson/ Paperback/ Published 1996
Price: $15.37

You'd never believe what artists can do with a tin can! Bobby Hansson teamed up with 90 artists to demonstrate the versatility of this medium. (Aluminum cans were excluded.) Their creations include a 42' long mural in the San Francisco Airport, armor made from beer cans, and a collection of objects made from Kikkoman soy-sauce cans.

Hansson, a professional photographer, has produced art from found objects since 1955. In this book, he set out to explore the formerly uncharted parameters of the tin can.

This book is fun. It's an eye-opener.
(Learn more about Bobby Hansson in our newsletter.)

Lavishly illustrated, the book presents a varied collection of extraordinary art created by 86 artists who give new life to objects most people throw away, Author Dorothy Spencer is also a designer, She curated a show of recycled art in 1994, and has continued to conduct extensive research about artists working with found materials. This well-illustrated book includes: pointillist-like pictures consisting of painted postage stamps, sculptures made from recycled brass zippers, a purse made from expired grocery store coupons, a basket woven from Sunday comics. Who knew? You may never see trash the same way again.

Pure Sea Glass: Discovering Nature's Vanishing Gems
Richard LaMotte, Sally Lamotte Crane, Celia Pearson Published 2004
Price: $23.07

Helpful to both beginning and advanced sea glass hunters and collectors, this coffee table book is filled with helpful information: the history of sea glass, the history of sand, different types of sea glass, and tips for finding and identifying glass. Includes 150 beautiful photographs.

This catalog, for a traveling exhibition of the same name, is a spritely survey of folk art from different continents produced from salvaged materials (e.g., bottle caps, license plates, sardine cans, rubber sandals).Contains essays by twelve prominent scholars on recycled folk art and aesthetics.

A unique collection containing 81 postcard collages which Ms. Tawney (1907- ), a prominent weaver whose work is contained in collections of the New York's American Craft Museum and the Renwick Gallery in Washington, D.C., mailed to friends and family between 1961-1990. Most were made of paper - photographs, newspaper clippings, magazine ads, musical scores, illustrations from art history books, manuscript pages in foreign languages, letters from friends - in addition to her own drawings and notations. They contained no written personal message or signature and were sent through the mail without protective covering because Tawney considered the postmark to be a record of passage to be included in the design. The book also includes an essay by New York Times art critic Holland Cotter.

Trashformations: Recycled Materials in Contemporary American Art and Design
Lloyd E. Herman/Hardcover/Published 1998
Price: $18.95

Watch out! This beautifully designed catalog for a recent traveling exhibition, Trashformations, will either provide validation for the creative reader who saves string and haunts yard sales for tools or broken necklaces for future projects or encourage you to do so. The collection of 80 pieces (selected from thousands of entries) was created in the 1980s and '90s by environmentally aware artists throughout the country. It's sometimes hard to believe that this ingenious jewelry, furniture, clothing, etc. is made from discarded sink drains, suitcases, plastic garbage bags, lineoleum floor tiles and other materials we wouldn't normally see as art supplies.

[return to top]

The Use-It-Up Cookbook: Creative Recipes for the Frugal Cook
Catherine Kitcho/Paperback/Published 2003
Price: $11.87

The Use-It-Up Cookbook by Catherine Kitcho, a former caterer, is designed to be a friend for cooks trying to think outside the box. It is organized alphabetically, by ingredient (from Applesauce to Wine with Bananas, Jam, Olives, Tomato Paste and other staples inbetween) and offers five recipes for each ingredient just to get you started. The book encourages readers to develop their own recipes and provides space for handwritten notes. Vegetarians will have to adapt several recipes which contain meat, fish and milk products.

[return to top]