Trash or treasure?

Today is all TALK!!  As I've explained to a few people who've asked, it's hard to create NEW recycled, repurposed, reused, reclaimed, or upcycled art every day for 22 days after I've been doing it for several years.  The particular type of art using recycled or recyclable materials I see on the internet can, for the most part, be placed in two distinct categories: high end and kids crafts.

Neither child craft nor high end, this mixed media piece I made one year shows how I recycled a can lid I burned in my chiminea.  For the background and owl, I used magazine images.  Over the body, I placed a found metal spacer and two found bird feathers that reminded me of an owl's feathers. For the legs and feet, I used calligraphy pen nibs. The bottom color is a bit distorted due to my previous scanner.

It's easy to find kids crafts on the internet.  The problem is, as I've said before, when it's made, it looks like a six year old made it.  Some artists have made a living at it, though.  Take for instance, a blog I found yesterday while doing an internet search for recycled art called Glue and Glitter.

This looks like something I could make with my limited skills.  But I think my friend Halle would do a better job with this than I.

There's an old Chinese saying, "The onion you are eating is someone else's water lily!"  What it means is, someone’s trash is someone else’s treasure.  If we manage to look beyond the current purpose of a product and see its next life, we turn trash into treasure.  Sometimes that new life is obvious, but sometimes it's hidden for years until another person finds a similar use for it.

Another idea from Glue and Glitter shows having a great graphic on a tin-can can work in your favor.

I've been told there's a universe out there with millions of ways of turning trash to treasure.  I've also been told there are forums where you can find instructions to create something really sophisticated. The conversion from trash to treasure doesn't need to look homemade or like a Kindergarten school project.  I personally haven't found any of those forums, but I've not been much of a forum person since grad school, when forums were the only internet option and DOS was the operating system of choice.

Also from Glue and Glitter, this planter, made from a mesh produce bag looks like something I could make.   I read on someone's blog (sorry, I didn't save the link) that turning trash to treasure and creative recycling is all about learning new skills. Although I don't need a new skill to make the above planter, I would need new skills to make

these metal craft pieces found on RecylArt,

or this dinosaur


or wolf made by Andrew Chase.

Recycled materials should be your first choice, but if you don't have what you need, look for eco-friendly craft materials. Very often eco-friendly materials are actually the result of creative recycling since they often consist of post-consumer waste.

Paper is a great example. Why not make your own handmade paper like I do (yes, this is my craft room before I started watermarking my photos) using recycled paper and junk mail, or cards from old brochures, security envelopes, book pages, or colorful magazine images.  Sew or glue envelopes together made from magazine and craft book images.

One thing that's always bothered me is, you can often find tutorials for how to make gorgeous art using one recycled product, along with several that are not recycled, but brand new.  This chalkboard, also from Glue and Glitter cost the artist $25.00 (USD) to turn her old picture and frame into a chalkboard.  To me, that may be recycling, but I can't believe all the new materials she had to buy in order to recycle that frame.  Maybe I'm wrong and looking at the world of recycling the wrong way, but that simply doesn't make sense to me.

I would love your input on this timely issue, as we work our way to Earth Day (or bEARTHday in my world).  Many of you are followers who lurk and I appreciate that.  It's never bothered me that I get about six or more times more visitors per day than comments.  But today is the day I ask you to come out of the dark and be heard.  Today I need your input.

This is Day 13 and I'm asking for your input on Trash to Treasure.  Does a project have to cost more than it saves in order to be called beautiful?  Does it take mad skills and loads of expensive equipment to make?  Can a project be inexpensive as well as recyclable without looking like a child made it?   All comments are really, really gratefully appreciated, because it will help guide me in my quest to find truly unique ways to recycle junk I have been given over the years.

I'll be back later today with my T Stands For Tuesday post, which will count as Day 14.  Now I'm off to finish my taxes.   I admit there's nothing like waiting till the last minute.