Summer 2003
Designs That Surprise
I recently saw Madonna in a guest spot on Will and Grace. This time the material girl and celebrity mom appeared as a bickering office manager/neighbor.
Our associations with Madonna's public image - quite the contrast to her usual job description and lifestyle - were supposed to add a chuckle to the story. It worked.
And even if it didn't work for some, it probably caught their attention.
Recognizable recycled elements used in an unfamiliar way immediately charges any creation, be it Will and Grace, or a song, painting, poem, or crafted product.
In the case of crafted products, components may be reused because something else was needed, it was at hand and could be adapted; to preserve memories or for
the pure challenge of seeing what could be done with leftovers.
Museum of International Folk Art
Dress. Maker unknown, Native American, late 19th century. Leather, glass beads, metal thimbles. The designer used metal thimbles to create an
attractive fringe and make a nice sound when the person moved.
Museum of International Folk Art
License Plate Dustpans. Maker unknown, Michoacan, Mexico. 1970s and 1980s. License plates are
bought by the kilo from professional collectors and made into dustpans and other household implements by
cottage industries.
Imbenge (basket) by a Zulu weaver, South Africa. 2001.
Contemporary Zulu artists adapt techniques of traditional
grass basketweaving to create baskets from recycled telephone wire. To order an imbenge, please visit our catalog.
Image courtesy of The Ames Gallery
House built from bullet casings and wired as a lamp.
Contemporary metalsmith, lecturer and teacher Jan Yager lives Philadelphia. In the 1980's, out of curiosity, she started "beachcombing" the streets near her studio,
which was located in a once not-so-desirable district of the city. Collecting everything - crack vials, syringes, cigarette butts, spent cartridge casings and other local castoffs
- Yager incorporated her findings into a series of necklaces. The gun casings in this necklace add a deeper edge to a beautifully crafted decorative object.
Shells and Pebbles, 1999 by Jan Yager. Brass spent bullet casings, found white quartz pebbles, 18k bead, gold-filled chain.
While used gun casings may not be your personal choice for formalwear, there is inevitably an emotional response to this symbol of violence and
death when recognized in the beautiful results of Yager's work. The contrast of the casings, out of its element, is what makes you stop, look and think.
The necklace is more than debris and more than jewelry. It is timeless, with a life of its own, while marked by its place and time. It expands our notion of
what recycled art can become.
Book Review: Flea Market Finds & How to Restore Them
Looking for advice to help repair a flea market mirror or an abandoned leather chair? Suggestions for decorating plain glasses?
Tips on cleaning and caring for leather? Check out a wonderful reference book for wannabe Pygmalions: Flea Market Finds & How to
Restore Them by Caroline Atkins, a former editor for House Beautiful.
Brimming with practical advice, each chapter covers a different material: glass, ceramics, metal, prints, paintings and paper, stone,
textiles, leather, wood and "other." In each section, Atkins offers facts about the topic, how-to suggestions for restoration, offers tips on what to
check out before buying a "find," and answers eclectic questions you might have about the objects you have gathered.
Short of having telephone access to a good friend who restores antiques for a living, this is the next best thing. Atkins answers questions like:
- "I couldn't resist a job lot of old red bricks that were going cheap - but what's the best way to use them in my garden?"
- "I've bought a box of old china very cheaply, for the sake of a few cups I really wanted. I'm now left with a lot of chipped oddments - how can I use the pieces?"
- "How can I restore a 1940s mirrored bathroom cabinet which is smothered in grungy layers of paint?"
Recycling Printer Cartridges,
Part 2
In response to an article about Recycling Printer Cartridges in our last issue, Eco-Artware.com newsletter subscribers Fern G. Weis and Jeff Zanders both wrote to
let us know that some companies offer money for empty cartridges needed for remanufacturing. It is estimated that close to one million ink jet cartridges are thrown away
each day. We investigated further and learned that, indeed, we can all get more than brownie points for recycling something we might not otherwise use.
- Until September, 2003, Office Depot will exchange a ream of EnviroCopy recycled copy paper for any empty cartridge.
- Planet Green has developed a fundraising-recycling program for organizations. They accept lots no smaller than 20 and no larger than 200
and provide prepaid mailing labels. Note: They don't accept all cartridges, but provide a long list that they do want.
Contact:
Phone: 800-377-1093;
http://www.planetgreeninc.com;
Email: PlanetGreenInc@aol.com.
- C-REP (Printer Cartridge Recycling for Environmental Protection) is another fundraising program designed to help organizations raise funds through
recycling empty printer cartridges and pay cash for qualified empty cartridges collected.
Contact:
Phone: 800-908-9893;
http://www.c-rep.net.
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