Green Craft
Consumerism. It’s on my mind from last wekend. I promote handmade items a lot, I think it’s worthy of thinking about what it is I ostensibly promote, and why. For me, that’s sidestepping mass commercialism, supporting local or independent businesses. But am I really?
Exhibit One: I’ve pondered going a month only spending my money at local stores. Can I do it? Is it even possible to do so and still procure all the things I might need? Where does internet shopping fall in that equation?
Exhibit Two: Say you have an independent seller. What about the stuff that person sells? Is it just as mass-produced as it would have been in the Big Box store? Is there a difference between purchasing Item A in either place? How about independent design but mass production?
Exhibit Three: Say you have someone who makes handmade stuff. So how are the supplies produced that a person uses to make that handmade stuff? At what level do we have to go to find something that’s really not mass-produced? Is it actually possible to avoid that? What’s the value of avoiding it?
So where does Ecology come in? There are a million questions and not a lot of great answers, I think. In honor of Earth Day, I am going to link to a lovely story from Crafting A Green World that looks at some of these questions and then takes off on considering craft and the crafters’ supplies from an ecological standpoint. Some interesting thoughts, some interesting survey results. You’ll see more of this soon via Etsy and the Maker Faire.
And don’t forget to read down and check out the DIY Guide (of course) to Drawing Your Own Conclusions about the Craft Supply Industry.
And there you have it, my contribution to earth day.
Blog Action Day: Crafts, Environmentalism, Swapping, Etc.
Today, October 15, is what they call Blog Action Day – a day during which bloggers are encouraged to make posts about the same thing – in this case environmentalism. Count me in.
What shall I post, thought I? I’ve already posted about crafts made from recycled stuff. It’s fairly obvious, if you read my blog at all regularly, that I approve of being environmentally conscious, and try to be environmentally friendly myself.
The main way that I try to be environmentally friendly, craft-wise, is by reusing things. For example, I shall soon be going on a hunt for wool sweaters and thrift and vintage stores that I can felt and turn into other shapes. Plus I tend to read Treehugger. Sometimes I feel like an environmentalist just for reading it. Is it totally cliche to like the Sierra Club these days? I still do, and I find myself envying their fundraising budget whenever I go to work, too.
SWAP STUFF:
Participating in swaps also helps with the re-using things. For example, there’s SwapDex, which posts swaps you can participate in. You can also check out the Swap Area on Craftster or log onto Get Crafty and check out the Swap Forum. On this coming Saturday you can participate in the Swap-O-Rama at the Maker Faire Austin or check out the Swap-O-Rama website for other swaps they do. Plus a lot of blogs/websites do swaps periodically, you just have to keep your eyes pieeled.
RECYCLED ART/CRAFT:
Your trash is truly someone else’s treasure. My friend Paula was halfway sure earlier today that a glittery top she gave away found its way into a costume store.
I live in a city that’s fairly environmentally conscious – for example the Keep Austin Beautiful campaign. This city is a place where I’m completely not surprised to see a Cathedral of Junk (and particularly unsurprised to see it on the south side) or have you ever heard of the “Enchanted Forest” work/live space here? I used to read articles about the “forest” back when it was a living place for the homeless. Interesting repurposing. Plus, I swear, Austin has the largest number of resale, consignment, thrift, junk, trash and/or secondhand stores on Earth.
Outside of Austin, the recycle/reuse thing is huge in the Craft world in general. Have you heard of Trashion? It’s a group of Etsy artists that make their art from what others throw away. They even have fashion (trashion, ’scuse) shows! And you can always find some kind of recycled art/craft being featured on the Craft zine. Re-made plastic shopping bags are completely chic at the moment no matter what they’re turned into.
Plus there’s lots of places to find/get/use vintage, but I’ll get into that on another date!
