Crafting Green
My friend Joan is a gifted crafter. She is a genius at the pottery wheel and makes all kinds of cool homemade gifts for birthdays, Christmas, and wedding gifts, making them unique and special. She has recently begun trying to teach her niece and nephew to enjoy crafting and has been learning about green practices and natural arts and crafts materials. I love all of the things the family makes and can’t wait for my next visit to see what she’s working on. She suggests the following if you want to craft greener:
–Try making crafts with recycled or otherwise discarded materials — my mom used to take anything (jeans, placemats, pillowcases) and turn them into purses. Incorporate old buttons, beads and wood fixtures into crafts as well.
–Try using natural dyes for Easter Eggs — blueberries, spinach, onion skins, and beets work well. I have only tried dying the whole eggs with natural dyes, but if you’re more ambitious, you can try creating a textured finish, or using rubber bands as a mask and dying an egg multiple colors.
–If you knit, explore the world of sustainable yarns — there’s such a variety of animal-based and plant-based yarns. There are also some beautiful crochet hooks carved of wood.
–For kids, try a variety of natural playdoughs — there are a variety of recipes to make natural playdough. Be sure to use non-toxic ingredients.
–Try kool-aid finger paint for a non-toxic, mostly washable fun paint.
shared at Works for Me Wednesday
Thanks for all the green crafting ideas! These are great!
Sherry, thanks for stopping by.
I have never done the natural egg dyes but it sounds like fun. One question though…does using them change the flavor of the eggs at all?
niki, if the shells are unbroken during the dye process, when you peel them, they may be lightly colored on the inside, but not really flavored. You will want to rinse them well since the dye is usually set with vinegar.