The Upcycle Exchange

Part of the thrill of being a trashion artist is the hunt for supplies. Looking through thrift shops, close out sales, auctions and flea markets for the perfect find. It is nice however to sometimes have the supplies come to you. Thats where the upcycle exchange comes in. As an artist at the recent 'Green with Indie' craft show I feel the upcycle exchange was a success. The basic premise is artists in the show submit ahead of time a list of supplies they could use, be it paint, bottle caps, wine corks or candy wrappers. The list is distributed to people who will be attending the show. The people who bring supplies from home for the artists get a 10% discount at participating booths and the artists get free supplies. I would definitly participate again in the future

St. Louis Upcycle Exchange

Green with Indie

Now that St. Patrick's Day is over its time for another green occasion: The Green with Indie craft show! This coming Saturday and Sunday, March 21st and 22nd, artists from the St. Louis area will be getting together to show off the earthfriendly portion of their crafty sides. I'll be there with my candy wrapper bracelets and I can't wait to see all the goods that the other artists will have.

The most exciting part of the show is the upcycle exchange. Visitors are encouraged to bring craft supplies from home like fabric, buttons, and paper as well as non-traditional supplies such as potato chip bags, pop tops, and candy wrappers. The otherwise unloved supplies will be put to good use by the artists and in turn the donators will get a discount at participating vendors.

For more info on Green with Indie go here: http://www.greenwithindiecraftshow.com/

And go here for the upcycle exchange: http://lucoop.com/pilot/

That's not garbage!

As a trashion artist I often find myself saying 'That's not garbage' when convincing people to not throw away their potato chip bags, candy wrappers and other 'art supplies'. They often look at me like I'm crazy. This time I think its my turn to give the crazy eye. When helping to organize a silent auction for a local charity last week I found two hand crocheted lap blankets among the donations. They are covered in beautiful bright colored flowers. The auction organizers told me to put the blankets aside 'Nobody will want those we'll just throw them away'. I was shocked and insisted that they not be simply tossed in the trash. So today I'd like to say thank you to the anonymous crafter who donate these blankets, they will always be treasured in my home.

T-shirt yarn addiction

Last Saturday I had the opportunity to attend Swap a rama rama, a great event where crafters bring old clothes they no longer want and shop from others donations. At the event I learned how to make a skirt out of old blue jeans, which I will probably try out over the summer. I also picked up a few bright colored T-shirts so I could bring them home to try and make T-shirt yarn.

Here's the tutorial I followed:
http://lost-arts.blogspot.com/2007/04/how-to-spiral-cut-t-shirt.html

So big thanks to Alwen at Lost-Arts for taking the time to post it.

Anyway, now I'm addicted. I've been cutting up T-shirts right and left. I'm still not sure what I'll be doing with my yarn, but I'm excited by the possibilities.

Magnets

My love of magnet art started with my first locker "A metal surface of my very own? - Bam! Let's get some color on there" My first locker magnets were mostly cut outs from magazines, carefully 'laminated' with packaging tape and superglued to a magnet.

10 years later I still have some of those original magnets (plus lots more) and now I'm making some fancier ones for sale at www.candycalamity.etsy.com.

Here are some of my current favorites:

Craft 365 week of February 8-14

This has been a week of trying new things. I'm working on introducing some new stuff for spring and have been bouncing ideas around for what might work. Its frustrating to put in a lot of time and not end up with something usable (such as the yarn and poptop mess from Sunday) but I truly enjoy the process of invention and the steps involved in making something for the first time.


My picture of the week is my valentine from the Etsy Trashion Street Team 'My trashy valentine' collaboration. You can learn more about the project on the trashion blog.

Check out my flickr photostream to see my other Craft 365 photos.

Craft 365

I'm mostly just looking for an excuse to upload my cupcake picture (aka day 11).


On January 1st, 2009 I started my Craft 365 project. I plan to take a picture of my craftiness of the day for 365 days (non-consecutive). Its a great way to show the things I do both for candy calamity stuff and on my own, brush up my photography skills, plus it keeps me honest about how I spend my time (aka nothing to post today, but I did watch Maury, Judge Mathis, Dr. Phil, and Oprah hmmm). Its February 10th now and I am up to day 27. Its my goal to get to day 365 by the end of 2010.

On Saturdays I'll be doing a 365 of the week feature as a recap of what I've got going on.